phillc
Regular.
Busy day on Sunday.
Had some apples in the cellar over winter. Needed to do something with them, so made this 8 litres of cider. Starting gravity 1052. Used Mangrove Jack Cider Yeast M02.
I also learned that using a juicer to make cider sucks.
Last week I bought a juicer. I thought to myself, self, wouldn't it be easier for small batches just to use a juicer, rather than get out the whole grinder and press. Well, it's not. All the apples have to be quartered by hand to fit in the juicer top. And the juicer pulps stuff rather than presses it. That means the juice is thick and pulpy, which is not really what you want. I had to strain it twice before getting to this point, and was already spooning off creamy head constantly. Also, the juicer i bought said it could do 3 litres before having to empty the pulp. It's not true for apples! I was lucky to get 750 mls before I had to stop and empty the pulp catch tray. Seriously, even just for 8 litres, knowing that the clean up would be bigger, I'd still next time go the grinder and the press. Less fiddling around and a better quality of juice. I also reckon the press is more efficient. The pulp from the juicer was always quite wet. The pulp from the press is actually quite dry.
Anyway, two days later, everything is bubbling away nicely. My cellar is about 15 degrees Celsius at the moment, so I wrapped the ferment up nicely, which seemed to do the trick.
Also made a small 5 litres batch of beer from this keg thing I was bought for Christmas. That was quit easy actually. Pour in the liquid malt, add water, shake hard, add liquid hops, add water and that was it. Apparently 5 days at room temp and two in the fridge and it's ready to drink. We'll see.....
Had some apples in the cellar over winter. Needed to do something with them, so made this 8 litres of cider. Starting gravity 1052. Used Mangrove Jack Cider Yeast M02.
I also learned that using a juicer to make cider sucks.
Last week I bought a juicer. I thought to myself, self, wouldn't it be easier for small batches just to use a juicer, rather than get out the whole grinder and press. Well, it's not. All the apples have to be quartered by hand to fit in the juicer top. And the juicer pulps stuff rather than presses it. That means the juice is thick and pulpy, which is not really what you want. I had to strain it twice before getting to this point, and was already spooning off creamy head constantly. Also, the juicer i bought said it could do 3 litres before having to empty the pulp. It's not true for apples! I was lucky to get 750 mls before I had to stop and empty the pulp catch tray. Seriously, even just for 8 litres, knowing that the clean up would be bigger, I'd still next time go the grinder and the press. Less fiddling around and a better quality of juice. I also reckon the press is more efficient. The pulp from the juicer was always quite wet. The pulp from the press is actually quite dry.
Anyway, two days later, everything is bubbling away nicely. My cellar is about 15 degrees Celsius at the moment, so I wrapped the ferment up nicely, which seemed to do the trick.
Also made a small 5 litres batch of beer from this keg thing I was bought for Christmas. That was quit easy actually. Pour in the liquid malt, add water, shake hard, add liquid hops, add water and that was it. Apparently 5 days at room temp and two in the fridge and it's ready to drink. We'll see.....