Homebrew

[cully]

all ready to drink havn't got enough bottles to bottle it all
still on call so cant even have a quick one or two



   

[Dum-Dum]

My cider is petty much settled.

In hindsight i should of transferred it to another demijohn for a week with some finnings to clear it.

Cant wait for a proper day off work to try some but thats over a week away.


Seriously thinking student brew might be the way forwards for a bit of a "thank f*ck the olympics has finished" party

[THE_Liam]

   

   

This is my cider. A week fermenting and then 2 weeks bottled to carbonate and age. It's very dry and a bit plain tasting, but it's good and it's bloody strong, drunk that full 2 litre bottle and I'm feeling it! Smells a bit skunky bit apparently that happens with wine yeast...

[cully]

ha ha ha we're all a bunch of 306 owning piss heads!

[Dum-Dum]

Smells a bit skunky bit apparently that happens with wine yeast

I thought that about mine but i was using an ale yeast.

[THE_Liam]

Cider yeast seems to be a bit difficult to get hold of though. Might get a few bottles of my lager in the fridge, see how that's doing. Not a huge fan of cider to be honest, so I'm really looking forward to the lager being ready

[rocker8742]

Cider yeast seems to be a bit difficult to get hold of though. Might get a few bottles of my lager in the fridge, see how that's doing. Not a huge fan of cider to be honest, so I'm really looking forward to the lager being ready

I found some to use in mine, seems to be working alright not sure how it will come out but we'll see

Ebay item no. 390249850319

How much yeast have you guys been using per 5l?

[THE_Liam]

I just used a full sachet of wine yeast, will cider be the same?

[cully]

im using a 1/4 a sachet of wine yeast as the full sachet makes 20-25ltrs

[rocker8742]

I'm using pretty much the same as cully as the cider yeast does 20-25l aswell

[rocker8742]

Finally tried a bit of this tonight as i was bottling and was suprised to find its pretty good

[Jonny81191]

Started mine today, started bubbling straight away!

[burnmw]

Really should think about bottling mine, it's all bubbled out and is sat in the back bedroom ready for me. Just need to find a spare half hour to bottle it.

[cully]

ive started a batch yesterday and im trying to make it medium sweet as all i have made up to now have been dry!
so ive started this batch with the hydrometer in the demijon so i can see the gravity so i can stop it fermenting befor all the sugar has gone

[burnmw]

ive started a batch yesterday and im trying to make it medium sweet as all i have made up to now have been dry!
so ive started this batch with the hydrometer in the demijon so i can see the gravity so i can stop it fermenting befor all the sugar has gone

I had wondered how to make it sweeter, my first batch of cider was very dry and a bit nasty.

[THE_Liam]

   

Well here it is, my Coopers Australian Lager, after a week fermenting and 3 weeks bottled. It's come out about 4.2%, and it tastes really good. A bit bitter and hoppy, and I should really have used some more priming sugar in the bottles as its not as fizzy as I like, but on the whole a good beer I reckon

Just started a Tom Caxton Lager kit, that's 3.8% after 3 days

[lolsteve]

Going to start up making the ciders now since up in uni house so can make a mess of the place, just a quick question is there much difference between the wine and cider yeasts? Wanting it to taste nice but more interested in higher alcohol content . Also if wine yeast is the way forward any differences between red/white/champange etc

[cully]

4ltrs tesco value apple jucie
500g sugar
1/4 sachet of win yeast sachet makes 20-25ltrs
ferment till no more bubbles
makes a very strong dry cider with no fiz

if you want a medium/sweeter cider you need to stop fermentation before the bubbles stop
im trying this at the moment by putting the demi jon in the fridge has worked well
and is settling well before i rack/filter off

[Dum-Dum]

Tried my cider and its quite winey and definitely quite dry. Its nice but Id have to be in the mood to drink it.

[burnmw]

Tried my cider and its quite winey and definitely quite dry. Its nice but Id have to be in the mood to drink it.

Mine was very much the same and quite dry, not really to my taste.

[THE_Liam]

You wanna try proper beer kits lads. Costs me about £14 for 40 pints, and once you've got the hang of it it's as good as any commercial beer...

You can brew from grain and hops if you want, then it's about £5-£8 for 40 pints, but you need some pricey equipment like a mash tun, wort chiller and a boiler. Might try that at some point though

[cully]

just been and filtered my fridged cider its very sweet
so...
i blended it with a dry i had
and................
im in love
i have a medium cider @ about 8%
but...............
i have two gallons of the stuff

[cully]

just had a thumbs up from the wife!
she says its very nice and sparkling is there any more

this was a mix of my first batch of apple juice and the polish brew
it has been bottled for about a month and has self carbonated


   

[burnmw]

Did anybody "prime" theirs with the extra sugar? If so is it literally a case of pouring a bit of extra sugar in to the Demi-John, giving it a stir and then bottling it? Only reason I ask is because my last batch of cider I didn't add any extra sugar and it is still flat nearly 12months later, it didn't self carbonate

[THE_Liam]

With my lager I added 1 tsp of brewing sugar per 500ml, it carbonated but not as much as I'd like. The batch I'm bottling today will have double that. You can batch prime in the demi or fermenter but you'll stir up all the sediment, so I'd either prime in the bottles or siphon into a second demi and prime in that before bottling

[burnmw]

With my lager I added 1 tsp of brewing sugar per 500ml, it carbonated but not as much as I'd like. The batch I'm bottling today will have double that. You can batch prime in the demi or fermenter but you'll stir up all the sediment, so I'd either prime in the bottles or siphon into a second demi and prime in that before bottling

Excellent cheers for that, I intend to siphon in to a second Demi then prime, shake/stir and then bottle.

[THE_Liam]

Tried a bottle of my Caxton Lager and it's well carbonated but it has a slightly sour taste and smell, I think it may have been fermented too hot. I've stuck it away in a cupboard, hopefully it'll improve with age. It's mostly bottled in glass now, I bought a bottle capper so I can recycle used beer bottles

I've got an empty demijohn so I thought I'd try a new recipe off the homebrew forum...

3.5L apple juice
1L boiled Vimto
1 sachet wine yeast
1/2 tsp tomato puree (yeast nutrient)
1 stp pectolase
juice of a lemon
half a cup of super-strong tea

Looks and smells like alcopop but it's fermenting away, apparently it tastes like Kopparberg mixed fruits...

[burnmw]

Well, not quite a home brew, but alcoholic all the same!





Not very easy to see I know, but essentially they are two 1litre Kilner jars packed with blackcurrants, now soaking in vodka for 3 months. Then, just before Christmas I'm hoping they will make a very nice liqueur

[cully]

just been and filtered my fridged cider its very sweet
so...
i blended it with a dry i had
and................
im in love
i have a medium cider @ about 8%
but...............
i have two gallons of the stuff

well a month on from when i bottled it i decided to try a bottle last night
its defanatly fizzy it fired half a bottle all over the desk on opening the bottle

it taste good for a medium cider and very fizzy
one trouble ive got 2 gallons bottled and looks like it all needs opening in the garden to save the mess!

[THE_Liam]

Another 40 pints of lager in the fermenter, and my current warm stock, which is 40 pints of stout, about 10 300ml bottles of Vimto turbo cider and about 12 pints of Tom Caxton lager, and I've got 40 pints of Coopers Lager cold conditioning in the shed