Jordan Aschaber
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- Joined
- Apr 15, 2020
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First Brew(if you want to skip reading this first brew history and see what I need help with go to second paragraph after the two pictures): In the last couple weeks I've made my first batch of Cider or apple wine (if you can call it that). It was just an experiment that I had high hopes for but also knew there was a chance it could fail miserably. So I took a 2L(.5gal) jug of pasteurized Apple juice from Costco and threw in a teaspoon of Fleischmann's bread yeast in and just let her rip. After about two weeks of fermentation I couldn't wait any longer (very, very little co2 was being generated at this time) so I decided to rack it (having little idea of why I was or what racking even does [I guess it's mostly for clearing?]). I decided to taste a bit of the cider, and it wasn't that bad! However it tasted like not sweet at all white wine and the alcohol content seemed pretty low probably 2.5% range(didn't use a hydrometer). I just decided to bastardize it and after racking added about ¼cup of brown simple syrup and ½cup of apple juice, mostly just to see if I could raise the alcohol content a bit and give it some flavor(it's only on it's 3rd or 4th day of brewing at the time of writing).
Primary Fermentation:
My new and improved 2L carboy that I moved to in the second rack:
Next Brew:
So because of the pandemic I was looking to basically use what I have on hand to brew this next batch. My last brew was only a 2L(0.5gal) this time I can use up to 22L of apple juice or fill a 6gal carboy if I should (I'm hoping for everyone's expertise on this one).
Objective: I need your help to use what I have to make something that resembles cider. I'm not worried about how this Cider turns out, it's more for learning and just something that I can have a drink of in the evening to wind down. My words to live by when asked what I would like to drink is usually "Anything with alcohol in it"(I'm not an alcoholic right? Haha just kidding, but I do like to have one or two stiff drinks a week in the evening.) Even if it's not so tasty it's chuggable that's fine with me, that's probably even better so that I don't actually. However with that said, I'm not trying to make a jail toliet brew so I will sacrifice some alcohol content for taste/etc.
Also with the stuff I have on hand I don't have to make a big batch, but if you think I should then steer me which ever way!
What I have on hand:
- 11x 2L jugs of Costco apple juice as pictured above.
- Fleischmann's Bread Yeast
- 1 or two pounds of brown sugar
- lots of white sugar
- 6 gallon carboy (I have two more 2L glass jars if I should just use smaller containers)
- Also a fairly decently stocked spice cupboard (but I'm not looking for any seasonal twists in the flavor just a simple cider)
- Bleach
- Maybe other stuff
A few notes:
- Most of my brewing equipment is hand me down, so I have a hydrometer but I have yet to use it, it looked so homemade that I was afraid to use it/to lazy to sanitize it(I guess I should check it in water?)
- I think I have most equipment except I don't think I have a wine theif, I have the hose attachment to fill bottles but I'm not sure if that's a theif or not.
Edit: You don't need to spell out every little detail of things I could do, you could always say like well Google "how to see if your hydrometer is calibrated" and such. I'm just curious if this is all you had, and wanted, how would you go about brewing with what I have/want.
... Can't think of much else, and this post is probably getting way out of hand anyway, if I think of more details I'll post them.
Primary Fermentation:
My new and improved 2L carboy that I moved to in the second rack:
Next Brew:
So because of the pandemic I was looking to basically use what I have on hand to brew this next batch. My last brew was only a 2L(0.5gal) this time I can use up to 22L of apple juice or fill a 6gal carboy if I should (I'm hoping for everyone's expertise on this one).
Objective: I need your help to use what I have to make something that resembles cider. I'm not worried about how this Cider turns out, it's more for learning and just something that I can have a drink of in the evening to wind down. My words to live by when asked what I would like to drink is usually "Anything with alcohol in it"(I'm not an alcoholic right? Haha just kidding, but I do like to have one or two stiff drinks a week in the evening.) Even if it's not so tasty it's chuggable that's fine with me, that's probably even better so that I don't actually. However with that said, I'm not trying to make a jail toliet brew so I will sacrifice some alcohol content for taste/etc.
Also with the stuff I have on hand I don't have to make a big batch, but if you think I should then steer me which ever way!
What I have on hand:
- 11x 2L jugs of Costco apple juice as pictured above.
- Fleischmann's Bread Yeast
- 1 or two pounds of brown sugar
- lots of white sugar
- 6 gallon carboy (I have two more 2L glass jars if I should just use smaller containers)
- Also a fairly decently stocked spice cupboard (but I'm not looking for any seasonal twists in the flavor just a simple cider)
- Bleach
- Maybe other stuff
A few notes:
- Most of my brewing equipment is hand me down, so I have a hydrometer but I have yet to use it, it looked so homemade that I was afraid to use it/to lazy to sanitize it(I guess I should check it in water?)
- I think I have most equipment except I don't think I have a wine theif, I have the hose attachment to fill bottles but I'm not sure if that's a theif or not.
Edit: You don't need to spell out every little detail of things I could do, you could always say like well Google "how to see if your hydrometer is calibrated" and such. I'm just curious if this is all you had, and wanted, how would you go about brewing with what I have/want.
... Can't think of much else, and this post is probably getting way out of hand anyway, if I think of more details I'll post them.
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