NOOB's first batch with backyard apples

[Pogue_Mahone]

So I have finally gotten my first batch going. I have three large apple trees in my back yard, and this year I rented a cider press, bought a bunch of brewing equipment (I plan to brew Gluten Free beer too!) and finally made it happen.
I don't know the variety of Apples, except that there look and taste kind of like a pink lady or a fuji. Here is the recipe I used:
5.5-6 Gallons Raw cider straight from the orchard (no preservatives),
5 campden pills (let sit overnight)
2 lb lt brwn sugar, (mix w/2qt H2O, boil for 20 min)
Mix
pitch yeast (LALVIN 71B-1122)
Adapted to my needs, but the original is here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-good-cider-recipe-newbie-125107/index2.html

Cider in the fermenter

I added the sugar then took my sample and got a OG of 1.073
I have it in a dark room that ranges from 58-63*. I realized too late on the yeast package it says to mix with 2oz of water 104*-109*. I just dumped it in and stirred a bit. After a bit of reading it seems this shouldn't matter.
I've definitely gotten the bug. I'm excited.

 

[NateG]

Looks/sounds good so far, you should have so pretty good stuff when you are done with an OG of 1.073 Keep us updated and remember not to peak

 

[podz]

Put the red cap thing back onto your airlock. It slows down evaporation of the water inside your airlock. It's meant to stay on.

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

Thanks! Yeah I'm leaving it alone for 2 weeks.
I bought a bunch of used equipment, most of the airlocks don't have caps. I'll put one on it. That's not water though. Its vodka.

 

[rocketsan]

Thanks! Yeah I'm leaving it alone for 2 weeks.

just enough time to clean those baseboards...

 

[podz]

That's not water though. Its vodka.

That's alcohol abuse!

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

just enough time to clean those baseboards...

That dirt bugs you huh? A little OCD? I love things to be clean, but there are sooo many things I would rather do than clean. I don't always clean, but when I do its usually the garage. The kitchen is more her department.

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

That's alcohol abuse!

Haha. Well that is what I was told to use at my LHBS. It kills anything that ends up in it. Its good potato vodka too, Monapolowa, I really don't drink much cheap booze these days.

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

Well its still bubbling away. Its been 5 days, and going strong. Temp is between 60-65 degrees. I can see it has quite a bit of krausen, or whatever it would be called in the headspace. looking forward to bottling. We also have some apple cider vinegar going and that is really taking off too. I can't wait to start making beer!

 

[rocketsan]

That dirt bugs you huh? A little OCD?.

No, just not a fan of a dirty home. Plus having a sanitary kitchen leads to less chance of skunky brewing.

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

So after two weeks it is still bubbling away. I racked it to the secondary. Fermentation is now more vigorous. I think I may have aerated it a bit, I didn't realize the hose was pointing up in the carboy. So the first couple gallons may have gotten a bit aerated. I managed to leave behind the yeast cake and the stuff that was floating on top, I just stuck my racking cane through the airlock hole. I also filled up a Growler with what didn't fit in the carboy and put an airlock on it.
I took another hydrometer reading. Its down to 1.023. I tasted it. Has a bit of a wine taste to it, but definitely better than pruno!

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

Just bottled 29 22s of cider. After 2.5 weeks in the secondary fermenter it finished at 1.000. I added 1/4 cup per gallon of light brown sugar to Carb it and some stevia to back sweeten it. Doing the math starting with an OG of 1.073 it came to 7.6 ABV. It tastes kind of wine like. It really didn't mellow as much as I had hoped. Perhaps a couple weeks of bottle conditioning will help. I'm concerned I may have stirred up the yeast cake a bit, there is a fair amount in the bottoms of the bottles.

 

[Randzor]

Nice. Let a 6 pack sit for 3 or 4 months. Then it'll taste more mellow and super tasty.

PS auto correct sucks.

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

Kind of an overdue update. After 2 weeks in bottles I tried one. It cleared up and tasted decent! I was stoked. They had been sitting in my spare bedroom with the heat off so 50-60*. I had to turn the heat of for a guest after that first 2 weeks. I tried another bottle (these are 22oz) at about week 3 and it was a gusher. It stirred up all the sediment in the bottom of the bottle and gave it more of a yeasty taste. Overcarbed. I really didn't know what to do with it, got busy with other stuff and forgot about it. Now a week later I drank a couple and they were both gushers, but the one I gave my buddy out of the fridge in the shop was fine. (The shop got real cold when it got to -9*) So I SEARCHED and determined I need to cold crash them, and that I should have done that before bottling. So I put them in my deep freezer for a couple hours until I felt they better come out before they freeze. I moved them to my fridge. Looking forward to hopefully calmed down a bit cider.
On another note I started my first batch of beer. I'm excited to see how that comes out.

 

[rocketsan22]

Might want to prepare for bottle bombs...

 

[Pogue_Mahone]

Might want to prepare for bottle bombs...

Yeah I forgot to mention I had one blow up. Hopefully they should stabilize and chill out now right? It makes me tempted to like pour them all in the bottling bucket and re-bottle.