IdiotBrewing
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Last year I moved from a small tiny cramped house in the South of England to a sprawling money-pit in the Northest bit of North Lincolnshire, where amongst the acreage was a small orchard including apple and pear trees. The original plan was to split them and produce cider and perry, but as is typical of plans around here, it soon crashed and burned! Instead of cider and perry I ended up making a combination brew which I msuppose could be called Ciderry or Perrider! I prefer the latter as it sounds like Pariah, which would have been a good name for the drink had I not already opted for Magic Jesus Finger (don't ask; it's not a good reflection on my sanity)!
While the idea of having defined cider and perry might sound good in theory, it did mean that I’d have to split the fruits and manage two lots of pressing and fermentation. As I almost always behind schedule I deemed Perrider to be the experiment needed to retain the idiot approach to brewing.
I had apples and pears. I had fermentation vessels. I had yeast. All that was required was turning the fruits into must (that’s what proper people making cider and perry call juice; I’m ballsacked if I know why they don’t just call it juice, but they don’t).
Time is a fickle mistress, so I had time to either make a scratter or a press, but not both. I was aware that the freeze/thaw cycle tears the cellular structure of fruit so I opted not to scrat.
Instead I built a press. It’s simple in design. It’s a wooden frame held together with threaded rod, with a wide base unit which allows a collection vessel to be placed under the workings on the press. A sliding wooden piston sort of thing and a collection of spacing blocks (they’re really just off-cuts of wood) are used to apply pressure from a five tonne bottle jack.
The frame has a piece of cold steel plate attached to the top to spread the load from the jack. For pressure plates I used thick LDPE cutting boards and the must then falls into the collection vessel (an old stainless steel catering gastronorm with a hole cut into it) which in turn fills the fermenter.
I ended up with approximately 48 gallons of must, which was split into six batches.
I didn't add anything but yeast. I varied the yeasts for each fermenter; as it’s the first year of Perrider I wanted to try a few options. The following have been used: Generic Champagne yeast; Safale S-04; Safale S-04 plus Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois; Wyeast 4766 (Cider); Mango Jack M02; Mango Jack M02 plus Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois.
The base must had an OG of 1.055, and fermentation started in the middle of November.
Once the initial fermentation slowed I added some reserved must to bring up the levels. I also retained some for topping up after racking. Since then I've pretty much ignored them.
I was in the brewery yesterday, plumbing in two new sinks (golden rule of building a brew space - work out how much cleaning area you need, then triple it) and I ended up looking at the Perrider vessels. They called out to me: 'check me, taste me, rack me'. Honestly, that's what happened. Being a shamblingly disorganised wreck of a human, I only managed to do the first three fermenters.
With regard to final gravity, FVs 1 and 2 reached 1.009. I wasn't that surprised by this as pear juice has non-fermentable sugars (sorbitol). FV 3, which included Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois yeast, hit 1.010. This puts the Perriders at around 6% ABV, which is fine for me. I didn't add anything other than the juice because I wanted a true reflection of the fruit characteristics as it's the first batch from the orchard.
FV1 used generic champagne yeast. The Perrider is crystal clear despite no pectolayse, and very light in colour. It has a very acceptable level of dryness; it's not puckering but refreshing. The sharpness is pretty much spot-on, giving a pseudo-effervescence to the mouthfeel. Right now I'd say it's drinkable and would be perfectly fine as a still Perrider due to the mouthfeel making it feel a bit lively, like Tracey Cahill after a babycham or three. However, it will continue bulk-ageing until the trees blossom in Spring (I know; I'm a romantic fool).
FV2l used S-04 ale yeast. The Perrider has a very slight haze (the internal surface of the fermenter was covered in yeast slurry, but the liquid is clearer than I would have been expected. Despite this haze, it has no yeast taste. It's similar to FV1 in terms of dryness, but is a tad sharper with a little harshness more akin to a scrumpy than a perry or cider. It's perfectly drinkable, but a bit more 'oo-arr' than 'ooh-la-la', if you get my drift. I'm sure that the bulk ageing will round things out a bit. Carbonation might also lift it a bit.
FV3 used S-04 and Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois. The fact that the current gravity is a point higher than the pure S-04 might indicate that the BBT is still munching away. The Perrider has a hint of farmyard funk which sits really nicely with the overall taste, and it rounds out the slightly harsh taste of the S-04 only version. Currently I don't know whether this would be better as a still or carbonated pint, and will wait until time to package to decide.
Of the first three, I'd say that FV3 has it, followed closely by FV1. Mind you, there's a rather nice smell emitting from the other fermenters so I'm wary of calling it at present.
So that's three down, three to go.
While the idea of having defined cider and perry might sound good in theory, it did mean that I’d have to split the fruits and manage two lots of pressing and fermentation. As I almost always behind schedule I deemed Perrider to be the experiment needed to retain the idiot approach to brewing.
I had apples and pears. I had fermentation vessels. I had yeast. All that was required was turning the fruits into must (that’s what proper people making cider and perry call juice; I’m ballsacked if I know why they don’t just call it juice, but they don’t).
Time is a fickle mistress, so I had time to either make a scratter or a press, but not both. I was aware that the freeze/thaw cycle tears the cellular structure of fruit so I opted not to scrat.
The frame has a piece of cold steel plate attached to the top to spread the load from the jack. For pressure plates I used thick LDPE cutting boards and the must then falls into the collection vessel (an old stainless steel catering gastronorm with a hole cut into it) which in turn fills the fermenter.
I ended up with approximately 48 gallons of must, which was split into six batches.
I didn't add anything but yeast. I varied the yeasts for each fermenter; as it’s the first year of Perrider I wanted to try a few options. The following have been used: Generic Champagne yeast; Safale S-04; Safale S-04 plus Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois; Wyeast 4766 (Cider); Mango Jack M02; Mango Jack M02 plus Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois.
The base must had an OG of 1.055, and fermentation started in the middle of November.
Once the initial fermentation slowed I added some reserved must to bring up the levels. I also retained some for topping up after racking. Since then I've pretty much ignored them.
I was in the brewery yesterday, plumbing in two new sinks (golden rule of building a brew space - work out how much cleaning area you need, then triple it) and I ended up looking at the Perrider vessels. They called out to me: 'check me, taste me, rack me'. Honestly, that's what happened. Being a shamblingly disorganised wreck of a human, I only managed to do the first three fermenters.
With regard to final gravity, FVs 1 and 2 reached 1.009. I wasn't that surprised by this as pear juice has non-fermentable sugars (sorbitol). FV 3, which included Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois yeast, hit 1.010. This puts the Perriders at around 6% ABV, which is fine for me. I didn't add anything other than the juice because I wanted a true reflection of the fruit characteristics as it's the first batch from the orchard.
FV1 used generic champagne yeast. The Perrider is crystal clear despite no pectolayse, and very light in colour. It has a very acceptable level of dryness; it's not puckering but refreshing. The sharpness is pretty much spot-on, giving a pseudo-effervescence to the mouthfeel. Right now I'd say it's drinkable and would be perfectly fine as a still Perrider due to the mouthfeel making it feel a bit lively, like Tracey Cahill after a babycham or three. However, it will continue bulk-ageing until the trees blossom in Spring (I know; I'm a romantic fool).
FV2l used S-04 ale yeast. The Perrider has a very slight haze (the internal surface of the fermenter was covered in yeast slurry, but the liquid is clearer than I would have been expected. Despite this haze, it has no yeast taste. It's similar to FV1 in terms of dryness, but is a tad sharper with a little harshness more akin to a scrumpy than a perry or cider. It's perfectly drinkable, but a bit more 'oo-arr' than 'ooh-la-la', if you get my drift. I'm sure that the bulk ageing will round things out a bit. Carbonation might also lift it a bit.
FV3 used S-04 and Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois. The fact that the current gravity is a point higher than the pure S-04 might indicate that the BBT is still munching away. The Perrider has a hint of farmyard funk which sits really nicely with the overall taste, and it rounds out the slightly harsh taste of the S-04 only version. Currently I don't know whether this would be better as a still or carbonated pint, and will wait until time to package to decide.
Of the first three, I'd say that FV3 has it, followed closely by FV1. Mind you, there's a rather nice smell emitting from the other fermenters so I'm wary of calling it at present.
So that's three down, three to go.