Cider No More

The ciders gone bad. It's going down the drain.

Cider Once More

Five years between posts. Classic blogging.

I've only done one brew between then and now. Other stuff to do.

I may have out-waited the winter, but I started a 3 gallon cider batch in February. Kegged it yesterday. In hindsight I should have boiled it, but I thought: "Hey, it's already been pasteurized, right?". So we'll see how it turns out.

I'll start with a small glass and wait a day. See if there are any unexpected reactions.

Partial Mash Good

I tried my partial mash IPA, and it sure is tasty. Two weeks in the bottle and should probably get a little better.

I hear the longevity isn't that great, but that shouldn't be a problem. I doubt there will be much left in a few months!

Growlers

There have been a couple RedEye articles about growlers. Here they are:

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-beer-travelers/2010/01/growlers-in-chicago.html

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-beer-travelers/2010/03/growlers-in-chicago-2.html

New IPA

Brewing ingredients make a great Christmas presents.

My buddy Ben gave me some awesome ingredients, including leaf hops for my first partial mash.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 lb Two Row Pale Malt
1/2 lb 40L Crystal Malt
1/2 lb Carapils/Dextrin Malt
1/2 lb Wheat Malt
4 lb Briess Golden Light Dry Malt Extract
2 oz Nugget Hops
1 oz Centennial Hops
1/2 oz Columbus Hops
Wyeast American Ale Smack Pack
4 oz Corn Sugar

Hop Schedule:
1 oz Nugget - 60 min
1/2 oz Cascade - 30 min
1/2 oz Cascade - 15 min
1/2 oz Nugget - 15 min
1/4 oz Columbus - 2 min
1/2 oz Centennial - 2 min
1/4 oz Columbus - Dry Hop
1/4 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop
1/2 oz Centennial - Dry Hop

Cider Again

I made another batch of not-from-concentrate cider. It's alright, the Chinese cider tasted better before fermentation and perhaps after fermentation as well. The pricier half gallon of spiced cider I picked up is really good, so good I don't want to ferment it.

I'll throw some spices or cinnamon in to compensate for lower quality juice.

Cider

There's a new brew in the fridge. It's the first day of October and that means Cider time!

I was looking for a simple hard cider made from cider rather than apple juice. I went with a simplified version of this recipe. Some fellow home brewers recommended an fining agent or else "it will never clear". Personally, I've never had a clear cider (besides mass market hard apple beverages), cider isn't supposed to be clear. Also, I cut out the spices etc. from the recipe. I'm trying to recreate the sharp, fizzy unpasteurized cider I remember. Albeit with more alcohol, because I'm sure there was some alcohol in those gallon jugs!

1 gallon jug of cider from Target (from Chinese concentrate, I'll try and get some US cider next)
1 cup sugar boiled in
1 cup water
1/5 a package of Safale US-05

Into the fermenter it goes. I had it in there for a week and pumped it back into the original jug. I say pumped instead of racked because it was still so fizzy a siphon wouldn't start. The jug is now in the fridge with a loosely attached lid so the fermentation will cool down.

I tried some on the third day of fermentation, it was a little sweet tasting, improved with a little cinnamon.

We'll see how it turns out after it settles over the weekend