Message from @Deleted User

Discord ID: 403580704723697665


2018-01-11 15:18:54 UTC  

I also have a home-made mash tun that I use for my all-grain batches

2018-01-11 15:25:31 UTC  

I have three five gallon kegs, four carboys, a co tank, and one regulator. I also have a mini freezer with a mechanical temperature switch

2018-01-11 15:27:35 UTC  

@Deleted User - The mini-freezer would be nice. Have you had any luck with lagers? I've tried a couple times and failed miserably

2018-01-11 15:28:06 UTC  

I haven't tried. We mainly do stouts and an ipa. I'd like a much lighter drink for summer if you have any recommendations

2018-01-11 15:30:03 UTC  

Am not confident enough to give you advice on a lager! I'd recommend trying a kolsch. Thats what i did after my lager failures lol

2018-01-11 15:43:10 UTC  

Here's a good 5gal Kolsch recipe. If the malts listed aren't easily available to you, you can sub the 10lbs of pilsner out for regular old 2-row and the 1/2lb of Munich for Vienna or 60L Crystal.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/05/brewing-a-kolsch-beer-recipe-beer-styles/

2018-01-11 21:31:21 UTC  

Thanks!

2018-01-11 21:32:34 UTC  

👌

2018-01-12 05:24:35 UTC  

@Jbieszczat1031 that looks great man

2018-01-14 12:58:57 UTC  

@Alfred Hoshall - TN#1685 Thanks! I've been experimenting a bit with the smoker, trying to find cheaper alternatives to the priciera cuts of meat usually used. 'Course nothing beats an actual brisket. I'm doing deer today and one of my next days off, game hens.

2018-01-15 00:36:05 UTC  

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/402259614239817728/image.jpg

2018-01-15 00:36:13 UTC  

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/402259645424467969/image.jpg

2018-01-15 00:36:16 UTC  

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/402259659555078145/image.jpg

2018-01-15 00:38:40 UTC  

About as organic as it gets. Smoked, wild hunted deer.

2018-01-18 02:36:54 UTC  

Lovely

2018-01-18 15:44:15 UTC  

http://cideroad.com/switchel/
My wife's people have been making swtichel for generations. I'm just now drinking it. Pretty good.

2018-01-18 15:58:40 UTC  

Interesting, what's the main flavor? Does it taste really vinegary?

2018-01-18 16:04:52 UTC  

Water, ACV, maple syrup, lemon juice, sliced ginger

2018-01-18 16:05:07 UTC  

Obviously mostly water but you can tweak it to taste

2018-01-18 16:05:38 UTC  

That’s the article she recommenda

2018-01-18 16:05:57 UTC  

Haha I sounded Italian. *recommends

2018-01-18 16:06:01 UTC  

Ah okay. i googled it and looked at some recipes. Most of them had apple cider vinegar in them. o.O

2018-01-18 16:07:46 UTC  

I'll make some when weather warms up

2018-01-24 12:32:03 UTC  

***Long post warning***
Okay so here's my hard cider process/recipe.
I explain through some basic stuff here & there just to make it noob-friendly. So for the griseled veterans, don't take offense.

2018-01-24 12:32:13 UTC  

Base Ingredients:
(6) Gallons of apple juice ($18)
(1) Pound of brown sugar ($2)
(2) Cans of apple juice concentrate ($3)
(1) Packet of dry cider yeast ($3)
-------------------------------------

2018-01-24 12:32:36 UTC  

Some basics:

***-Juice-***
Your juice can be apple juice or cider, it can be organic or non-organic, you can press your own apples, buy it from a farmer, grow your own trees, whatever. I personally am not a puritan with this stuff, so I use Kroger and CostCo brands (Kroger brand is pictured). There's just a couple things you want to look around on the labels and see if they're present. One of those things is whether or not it's pasteurized. 99.99999% chances are that it is. Most stores, and even apple farmers, won't put something on the shelf that could possibly get them sued. If you are a better man than I am and decided to crush & juice your own 100lbs of apples, then it is NOT going to be pasteurized. The only difference this is going to make in the process is whether or not you need to boil just a little of your juice, or ALL of it.
If you're going with store-bought stuff, you just want to keep an eye out some harmful preservatives. I won't get into the science of each, but here's a quick & easy cheat sheet for the most common one's you'll see:
Sodium Benzoate = BAD
Potassium Sorbate = BAD
Sulfur Dioxide = BAD
Ascorbic Acid = Perfectly fine
The bad preservatives will hurt your yeast's progress or halt it completely. Avoid them.

2018-01-24 12:33:04 UTC  

-

2018-01-24 12:33:06 UTC  

***-Yeast-***
The presence of yeast is crucial to making cider, ale, wine, etc, however the type of yeast isn't very important to the un-snobbish amongst us.
I've used wine yeast, ale yeast, cider yeast, and wild yeasts, all with fine results. The only one I have yet to try is bread yeast, so I can't speak to that. Out of all that I've used, I found that the Cider House brand (pictured) is one of the more balanced, at least for the taste I'm going for. You may or may not find it at your local homebrew store, but you can buy it off of Amazon for $9 for a 3-pack. https://www.amazon.com/Cider-House-Select-Premium-Yeast-3/dp/B00N2WGUPW

***-Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate-***
I use this to back-sweeten, add some fermentable sugars to the batch, and to give back some appley-ness to my cider. Much like the juice notes earlier, you don't have to get very fancy with this unless you want to. Just read the label and make sure that the preservatives I noted earlier are not present.

***-Brown Sugar-***
This is another preference of mine. You could easily use white sugar or some other kind of candy sugar, but I found that brown sugar gives the cider a nice amber tone along with some nice earthy molasses tastes. On the practical side, it is adding some fermentable sugars to your cider as well as backsweetening it. Any old brown sugar will do, you can be as fancy or as cheap as you like here. I have found that the British stuff is the best, but it isn't always readily available.

2018-01-24 12:33:36 UTC  

***-Temperature-***
Temperature is a big deal. Too hot will kill your yeast. Too cold and they will quit working and go dormant on you. Ideal temperature ranges between 70 to 85 degrees. A bit above or below that isn't going to be a deal-breaker, but be at least slightly conscious of it. Maybe don't leave your cider to ferment out in the garage in the middle of summer or in the garden shed in the middle of winter. I keep mine in my basement, as it has a pretty steady 70 degree range.

***-Cleanliness-***
Sterilize everything. My routine is to wash everything with dish soap and the soft end of a scrubbing pad. Rinse it well.

---------------

2018-01-24 12:34:16 UTC  

Step #1
Gather your tools and ingredients.
If your juice has been in the refrigerator, take it out and let it start warming it up to room temperature. Your yeast will hate you if you throw them into cold juice.
For tools, you should have a stockpot or kettle that can hold at least 2-gallons, a fermenter vessel that can hold at least 6-gallons, a lid for your fermenter, and an airlock of some sort.
In my photos I am using a Catalyst Fermenter, and I really can't recommend these things highly enough. https://www.amazon.com/Catalyst-Fermentation-Craft-Brew-Fermenter/dp/B073W7MGL4
If you don't have $200 handy for getting one of these things, any old food-grade plastic bucket with a lid will work fine. There's also a number of cheap alternatives in your local homebrew store, home depot, Amazon, or wherever. An igloo water cooler works just as well as any fancy fermenter.
An airlock is something that you can find at any homebrewing store for $2. But it isn't a super-duper crucial thing. My Grandmother used to make booze in a metal garbage can with a cheesecloth draped over it. Ultimately you just want to keep critters from getting into your cider.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405701842106974209/1.jpg

2018-01-24 12:34:49 UTC  

Step #2
Get your yeast started.
You can always just dump the dry yeast straight into the fermenter when you're done, but getting them started prior to that gives them a chance to wake up, rub their eyes, stretch, hump their wife, take a shower, have their coffee, maybe stop by the gym on their way to work etc. Put yourself in the yeast's shoes. Would you rather wake up naturally and give yourself ample time to get moving in the morning, or would you rather wake up in a panic to a blaring alarm in your ear. Getting them started is a simple task, so you may as well just do it, the yeast will appreciate it.
Take a cup of lukewarm water along with a tablespoon of the brown sugar and swirl it around until the sugar is mostly dissolved. From there dump your yeast in and swirl them around until the whole concoction is sufficiently mixed. Set it aside somewhere warm.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405701979554316288/2.jpg

2018-01-24 12:35:27 UTC  

Step #3
Start your science experiment.
Add a gallon of your juice to your stockpot and turn the heat up. You don't need to boil it, just get it up to a simmer. Once it's simmering, add (1) can of your frozen concentrate and (1) pound of your brown sugar to it. Get yourself a spoon or ladle that's big enough so that you don't have to stick your hand into scalding liquid, and from there just gently stir it until everything is dissolved. I'd say a good 30minutes should suffice.
*For those of you familiar with brewing beer, you're probably wondering what this devilry is all about. You're used to getting the whole thing to a rolling boil and then leaving it that way for an hour or more. Cider is different, the ingredients are different, and the invasive bacteria that can ruin your beers are different, so a lot of the steps a beer brewer is used to doing aren't at all necessary with a cider. Cider is far more forgiving than beer.*

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405702137666994176/3.jpg

2018-01-24 12:35:57 UTC  

Add frozen concentrate

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405702265467437066/4.jpg

2018-01-24 12:36:05 UTC  

Add brown sugar

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405702295884660737/5.jpg

2018-01-24 12:36:13 UTC  

Simmer for a bit

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405702332962177037/6.jpg

2018-01-24 12:36:42 UTC  

Step #4
Cool it down.
Pretty self-explanatory. Once it's simmered for a good 30min or so, just put it somewhere cool/cold and let it cool down. Wintertime is nice for this, as you just toss the whole pot outside and let the weather do the work. You can also put it in the refrigerator if you have the extra space, or even fill your sink with some icewater and set the pot in it. It really doesn't matter, just cool the stuff down. You'll know it's done when you can put your hand on the side of the pot and hold it there for 10seconds without burning yourself.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405702454374563860/7.jpg

2018-01-24 12:38:34 UTC  

Step #5
Fill up the fermenter.
Dump (4) gallons of your juice into your fermenting vessel, it's as simple as that really. Hopefully it's at room temperature, but if not, don't worry too much about it.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405702921351725056/8.jpg

2018-01-24 12:39:20 UTC  

Step #6
Mix it all together and top it off.
Your concoction sitting out in the winter air should hopefully be cooled down enough after an hour or so. Take that pot and dump it into your fermenter on top of the 4 gallons of juice that you just put in there. The mixture of the regular juice and the semi-hot concoction should bring all 5 gallons to a liveable temperature for your yeast.
Take your last gallon of juice and top off your fermenter with it. Leave it about an inch from the top so it has some room to fizz without making a mess.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405703114465869825/9.jpg

2018-01-24 12:39:32 UTC  

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405703167745982474/10.jpg

2018-01-24 12:40:05 UTC  

Step #7
Pitch your yeast.
Your yeast should be awake and ready to start their day at this point. Ideally they are bubbling along in their container, tasting the brown sugar you gave them, and looking for more of it. They're ready to go.
If you have a thermometer somewhere, do a quick check on the temperature of your juice in the fermenter. Optimal temperatures are between 70 to 85 degrees (Fahrenheit!), a little bit up or down from that isn't too big of a deal. But again, put yourself in the yeast's shoes. Imagine washing ashore on a tropical island full of blonde-haired blue-eyed Caucasian women who are wearing only leaves to cover their bits, you'd be ready to get to work right away! Amirite?! Now imagine that same scenario, only instead of the Bahamas you wash up in Antarctica, or the Sahara desert. It becomes a bit of a different scenario. Not an impossible one, but less than ideal for sure.
If your temperature looks good, then you're all set. Dump that container full of yeast right in!

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338763700750123009/405703303280852992/11.jpg