SirPublius
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- Nov 9, 2013
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(Question is in 4th paragraph) Newbie here. The only batch of anything I've ever made up until this point was in high school when me and some buddies bought 2 plastic five gallon gas containers at Wal-Mart, a bunch of Welches concentrate, some yeast, and we put a balloon on the top for a few months...I think one of them turned into alcohol if memory serves.
At any rate, my folks have a half dozen huge old pear trees on their property, and despite making pear juice and pear sauce, they still have probably a dozen modest sized boxes of pears left that they picked. So, I decided to try and make some pear cider, and just started doing so.
The way I'm doing it is there is an attachment I have for my Kitchen Aid that juices things, where it pulverizes them, and spits out the pulp and seeds from one valve, and drops the juice from a second valve. I then sieve the juice into my primary fermentating containers. I only did a gallon today. What I did was a gallon of cider, and I added a cup of brown sugar and a campden tablet and shook it up. Tomorrow I'll add my yeast.
My question is, How will I know when it is done with its primary fermentation? I'm planning on getting one, but I don't have a hydrometer. So I'm kinda just taking my chances on the proper sugar amount. I've seen recipes where no sugar was added, and others with a cup or so was added per gallon, which is what I did. So I'm certainly taking my chances of the sugar amount on this one. I've heard some recipes say wait 5-7 days before racking, others say a few weeks. I just don't really get this step. What if I rack it too soon? Will it continue to ferment even after racking? What if I rack it too late? Should I just rack it when the airlock stops bubbling? Seems to me this is one of the most crucial stages, because once its racked, if done at the proper time, I've heard age and additional rackings will only HELP with the flavor and clarity. But will prematurely racking arrest the fermentation? Think I already asked that....any recommendations on this step??
As an aside, man is pear cider tasty. When I think of pear juice I think of the sugary stuff canned pears are canned in, but when you press pears without cooking them, just the raw filtered juice.....mmm mmm mmm, it tastes more like apple cider than anything else, with a darker color to boot, at least he way I do it. Think I'll keep a gallon or so of non-hard cider when all is said and done.
At any rate, my folks have a half dozen huge old pear trees on their property, and despite making pear juice and pear sauce, they still have probably a dozen modest sized boxes of pears left that they picked. So, I decided to try and make some pear cider, and just started doing so.
The way I'm doing it is there is an attachment I have for my Kitchen Aid that juices things, where it pulverizes them, and spits out the pulp and seeds from one valve, and drops the juice from a second valve. I then sieve the juice into my primary fermentating containers. I only did a gallon today. What I did was a gallon of cider, and I added a cup of brown sugar and a campden tablet and shook it up. Tomorrow I'll add my yeast.
My question is, How will I know when it is done with its primary fermentation? I'm planning on getting one, but I don't have a hydrometer. So I'm kinda just taking my chances on the proper sugar amount. I've seen recipes where no sugar was added, and others with a cup or so was added per gallon, which is what I did. So I'm certainly taking my chances of the sugar amount on this one. I've heard some recipes say wait 5-7 days before racking, others say a few weeks. I just don't really get this step. What if I rack it too soon? Will it continue to ferment even after racking? What if I rack it too late? Should I just rack it when the airlock stops bubbling? Seems to me this is one of the most crucial stages, because once its racked, if done at the proper time, I've heard age and additional rackings will only HELP with the flavor and clarity. But will prematurely racking arrest the fermentation? Think I already asked that....any recommendations on this step??
As an aside, man is pear cider tasty. When I think of pear juice I think of the sugary stuff canned pears are canned in, but when you press pears without cooking them, just the raw filtered juice.....mmm mmm mmm, it tastes more like apple cider than anything else, with a darker color to boot, at least he way I do it. Think I'll keep a gallon or so of non-hard cider when all is said and done.
