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

Update

Yup, still haven't brewed anything. It's been a few months. Thinking about doing another IPA.