So, a while back I started a grapload of Cider - based booze. One fine fall day I rolled through a local orchard farmstand and bought out a signifigant portion of the cider they'l pressed for the day. Apparently only local suburbanites normally come through for a half - gallon at a time, so some Scadian brewer looking for 5 or 6 throws them off.
Here's what I put down:
Cyser (Cider / honey mix)
2 Gallons Cider
1 gallon water
2 lbs. Local honey
Cinamon.
-Boiled, pitched with champagne yeast, and set to ferment.
- 3 weeks later it's a very tart, dry headfucker with a note of cinamon. I want to serve it a bit more spiced, or fortified with honey liquer to sweeten it up a bit.
The Straight Cider Shit
-3 gallons cider, shut in a carboy and left to it's own devices
- 3 weeks later it tastes a lot like the cyser, but a bit sweeter. I'm serving this at Thanksgiving. Family members have heard of this, and have suddenly found themselves in Atlanta or Hawaii respectively. Approximate ABV will be clearly labeled on both this year.
Local spags are encouraged to drop by, or ask about some. LARP apgs will be inflicted by this brew regardless.
I may start another batch if I can be arsed
Have you been sampling that cider as you type?
:lulz: Aw, I thought he just sounded excited about his homebrew, LMNO.
Richter, please tell me more about this honey stuff. I have been meaning to try honey + cider combo, and I think I've halfway convinced the old Muslim husband to give it a whirl (he's always suspicious of me trying my hand at this stuff for some reason).
Quote from: Jenne on October 28, 2009, 03:03:37 PM
:lulz: Aw, I thought he just sounded excited about his homebrew, LMNO.
Richter, please tell me more about this honey stuff. I have been meaning to try honey + cider combo, and I think I've halfway convinced the old Muslim husband to give it a whirl (he's always suspicious of me trying my hand at this stuff for some reason).
You can get recipies and scientific advice up the wang about making mead / cider / cyser, or you can just fucking wing it. There's a lot of brewing advice about from Suu / 000 / Me.
Regular mead I don't do as much, since I'm not as much a fan of the flavor. I'd recomend checking for recipies for a "Quick Mead", which will be done in a few weeks.
For Cyser (apple + honey mead), I jsut throw honey into the apple concoction, add yeast and let 'er fly. Basic advice overlapps with general brewing how - to, but here are a few mistakes I've made
-sterilize and rinse tubes, bottles, carbois (or other brewing - vessel) first. Bleach.
-boil your product first. Both cider and honey have natural yeast / bacteria which might outcompete and fuck up your brewing yeast.
-let the yeast sit in a small covered bowl full of very sugared / honeyed water before adding it to your carboi.
-let the stuff cool before adding (aka pitching) the yeast. too hot will kill it.
- More honey = more sweet results. Some yeasts will be able to stand their own alchohol longer to make more of said honey into alchohol, whatever's left when it's all dead (or you stop it) will be adding flavor.
-Don't let it sit in the yeast once it's done. Weird flavor. Siphon it off to clean containers as the crap settles out of it.
Quote from: LMNO on October 28, 2009, 02:50:53 PM
Have you been sampling that cider as you type?
I'm at work. That should explain a lot.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I can confirm I had my best initial tryout results with apple juice ("100% pure from concentrate") and (cheap) honey and .. bread yeast :-)
About the temperature, I've always learned that yeast dies above body temperature, so that's a good estimate.
That's a good tip. If it's too hot to put a finger in comfortably, it's likely too hot for the yeast.
No, quite a bit colder than that! It needs to be below body temp, and afaik a hot bath of 40°C can be quite comfy, but kills yeasties
Quote from: Richter on October 28, 2009, 02:49:30 PM
Local spags are encouraged to drop by, or ask about some. LARP apgs will be inflicted by this brew regardless.
:banana: This sounds good! Next summer, remind me to make a bigger batch of blueberry beer to share with everyone.
Do you think that if you pitched sweet mead yeast instead of champagne yeast the cyser wouldn't be so dry?
Quote from: Suu on October 29, 2009, 12:37:11 AM
Do you think that if you pitched sweet mead yeast instead of champagne yeast the cyser wouldn't be so dry?
Yeah, or if you use more honey.
Quote from: Triple Zero on October 28, 2009, 04:48:10 PM
No, quite a bit colder than that! It needs to be below body temp, and afaik a hot bath of 40°C can be quite comfy, but kills yeasties
Most yeasts like to be room temperature or cooler. They'll ferment faster at warmer temperatures, but will also produce higher alcohols that will give it a solventy taste and make hangovers worse.
Edit: Re-read the thread, and you were talking about pitching temperature, not fermentation temperature. My bad. For pitching, as long as it's below 85F / 30C you should be fine.
Ooh, I so want to try this. Hmf.
Quote from: Pastor-Mullah Zappathruster on October 29, 2009, 01:27:42 AM
Quote from: Suu on October 29, 2009, 12:37:11 AM
Do you think that if you pitched sweet mead yeast instead of champagne yeast the cyser wouldn't be so dry?
Yeah, or if you use more honey.
Sounds right, I THINK you should choose the yeast to get it as close to your target flavor / ABV as possible without waiting for the yeast to stop on it's own.
ACTUAL TESTIMONIAL!
"I made better behind my desk at school in an old milk jug with a condom over it"
- Richter's Dad
:lulz:
Quote from: Richter on November 02, 2009, 09:41:57 PM
ACTUAL TESTIMONIAL!
"I made better behind my desk at school in an old milk jug with a condom over it"
- Richter's Dad
:lulz:
Your dad sounds awesome.
He's a hell of a guy.
Cynical or optimistic as required, engineering mentality but willing to get as hands on as any mechanic. Taught me loads of stuff, including critical / analytical thinking.
Quote from: Richter on November 02, 2009, 09:41:57 PM
ACTUAL TESTIMONIAL!
"I made better behind my desk at school in an old milk jug with a condom over it"
- Richter's Dad
Typical.
Mom thought I had spiked it with acetone.
Quote from: Suu on November 03, 2009, 07:28:40 PM
Quote from: Richter on November 02, 2009, 09:41:57 PM
ACTUAL TESTIMONIAL!
"I made better behind my desk at school in an old milk jug with a condom over it"
- Richter's Dad
Typical.
Har!
My dad, on the other hand, does dumb shit like "saving money" by buying a turkey in September and sticking it in a cryo freezer at about 10 Kelvin for two months (the resulting household disaster was AMAZING), or cooking canned turkey in an autoclave, with predictable results.
Yeah, there's no boring thanksgivings in our family. And Christmas? Ask me about Christmas, I dare you.
I have to know now.
We have a housefire every Christmas. Our house if no one else's steps up. This is has resulted in last minute repairs to oven, toaster, and gutters, as well as getting to play on 40 ft. icy rooves on Christmas morning patching a hole.
It just sunk in; AN AUTOCLAVE? A CANNED TURKEY? :lulz:
Quote from: Richter on November 03, 2009, 08:20:28 PM
I have to know now.
We have a housefire every Christmas. Our house if no one else's steps up. This is has resulted in last minute repairs to oven, toaster, and gutters, as well as getting to play on 40 ft. icy rooves on Christmas morning patching a hole.
2 days before Christmas in 1985, my mother decides the flooring in the kitchen and dining room has to be replaced RIGHT NOW. We ate Christmas dinner standing up.
I come home from the army for Christmas in 1988, expecting to see my girlfriend. My folks decide a surprise trip to visit cranky old relatives in Canada is in order, and don't bother to tell me. GF not happy, GF's family not happy, Parents surprised that I had made plans to spend time with GF that I hadn't seen in 3 months.
The other two stories, of course, are predictable: Turkey #1 comes out of the cryofreezer and home from the lab, put in fridge to thaw. Next morning, fridge is frozen shut, and everything inside is rock solid.
Turkey #2 happened aboard ship, and resulted in a rocket down the aisle of the galley, the moment the can was punctured. 2d degree burns were had by all.
We did the flooring thing ourselves before Easter when I was 14. Mom and sister were out shopping. It was rainy, and Dad was getting stir crazy. He decided he was sick of the linoleum, so we spent the next two hours with prybars and hammers ripping it up. I asked if mom knew what we were doing, and he'd only admit they'd discussed it. (Not that I blame him for his short answer, he was trying to plunge cut the plywood under the linoleum without severing the supports at the time.)
Mom prepared Easter dinner on slats and tar paper. New plywood was put down quick, but choosing tile took until Thanksgiving.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 03, 2009, 08:38:39 PM
The other two stories, of course, are predictable: Turkey #1 comes out of the cryofreezer and home from the lab, put in fridge to thaw. Next morning, fridge is frozen shut, and everything inside is rock solid.
(http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_lol.gif)
... at first I thought you were kidding about the 10 Kelvin thing ... what a story
I can see where you got your crazy from :)
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 03, 2009, 08:38:39 PM
The other two stories, of course, are predictable: Turkey #1 comes out of the cryofreezer and home from the lab, put in fridge to thaw. Next morning, fridge is frozen shut, and everything inside is rock solid.
Turkey #2 happened aboard ship, and resulted in a rocket down the aisle of the galley, the moment the can was punctured. 2d degree burns were had by all.
:lulz:
There's an Elton John song in that somewhere.
Quote from: Triple Zero on November 03, 2009, 08:56:15 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 03, 2009, 08:38:39 PM
The other two stories, of course, are predictable: Turkey #1 comes out of the cryofreezer and home from the lab, put in fridge to thaw. Next morning, fridge is frozen shut, and everything inside is rock solid.
(http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_lol.gif)
... at first I thought you were kidding about the 10 Kelvin thing ... what a story
I can see where you got your crazy from :)
My father is a hideous freak that would have been put down in any sane society, for his own good. But he wasn't, and here I am. He's me, with 24 more years of weird under his belt.
I remember once showing him the webpage "SloMo, Retard Rapper", I thought he was going to bust a gut.
Quote from: Richter on November 03, 2009, 08:58:31 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 03, 2009, 08:38:39 PM
The other two stories, of course, are predictable: Turkey #1 comes out of the cryofreezer and home from the lab, put in fridge to thaw. Next morning, fridge is frozen shut, and everything inside is rock solid.
Turkey #2 happened aboard ship, and resulted in a rocket down the aisle of the galley, the moment the can was punctured. 2d degree burns were had by all.
:lulz:
There's an Elton John song in that somewhere.
Already done:
Screw You.
Quote from: Richter on November 03, 2009, 08:20:28 PM
I have to know now.
We have a housefire every Christmas. Our house if no one else's steps up. This is has resulted in last minute repairs to oven, toaster, and gutters, as well as getting to play on 40 ft. icy rooves on Christmas morning patching a hole.
Last year's house fire was hosted at my place. In fact, Richter was so happy about it he comes running into my work room going, "WE JUST HAD THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE FIRE! DON'T PANIC!"
Apparently he let the pizza go in the toaster oven a bit too long.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 03, 2009, 08:38:39 PM
The other two stories, of course, are predictable: Turkey #1 comes out of the cryofreezer and home from the lab, put in fridge to thaw. Next morning, fridge is frozen shut, and everything inside is rock solid.
:lulz: :lulz: :lulz: That is awesome!
Quote from: Richter on November 03, 2009, 07:43:32 PM
Mom thought I had spiked it with acetone.
That sounds to me like it fermented too way warm, or possibly has some kind of infection. If the cause was a too-warm fermentation, aging it for a while longer might help.