Cider Brewing: the Charge
My little hard cider homebrewing experiment is going well. After 10 days, it’s time to seal-off the cider. This will cause the fermentation to build-up and effectively carbonate the beer (though its well on its way already). The brew should have about a 3% alcohol content. Frankly, its neat to see the brew coming along. The yeast has steadily consumed the sugars, and you can smell the faint whiff of alcohol off the cider and the yeasty goodness. After a couple days of charging, its into the fridge for cooling–which will kill/stop the yeast from consuming the rest of the brew. I figure by the middle of next week it’ll be ready for consumption. If it goes well, I’ll immediately launch into a Thanksgiving brew. I’ve picked up some light peach cider from a Jersey farm–gonna turn that into hard cider too.
Good evidence of fermentation
Hard peach cider for the next brew
Again, this was a dead simple project that was inspired by the recent launch of the Hudson Valley Cider Route.
.png)
Looks good, been wanting to try this, something other then making beer. Let us know how it turns out.
Will do. Opened one bottle today, this one I poured off some of the yeast before charging and its definitely a fine apple wine–but the carbonation is low, just a tad below sparkling. Taste is dry and crisp though. I hope the others are a bit more carbonated.
This is how it starts Joel. It starts with hard cider, than graduates to moonshine, then suddenly you’re hiring a marketing firm to get press about the awesome Rum you’re making out of your apartment, only to have the Mayor’s office try and take you down for not registering as a proper distillery. I’ve seen is a hundred times.
This stuff looks great!