Recent content by wiredpanic

I've done a couple batches using the store bought cheaper juices and have been very surprised about how good they are. Now I wish to jump up to the big league and use some quality juice. Where I am now there is no fresh cider available until later in the fall and I am itching to start brewing a...

My batches tend to lighten a bit, but yours is difficult to judge because that is alot of sugar for not alot of volume. Likely a color change is probable as a result of the sugars being broken down (brown sugar specifically)

I've done raspberries in a 3 gallon batch. I'd recommend frozen raspberries so you can thaw them, refreeze and crush them in the bag and dump that pulp into the carboy. I let it sit for about 2 weeks until the pulp lost its red color and the cider had a dark red color. After it carbed up it had...

I meant to do an update since no one ever followed through with this. But it turned out spectacular. Ill have a more detailed report soon since i also did a similar process with raspberry. Its tough to give an exact amount, but when i used a piece of ginger about the size of my hand, whixh is...

thanks! Just got nervous since i was planning on handing them out. i feel that would be a crappy gift.

So my first batch required lots of sugar for back sweetening so I took extra precautions. I was gonna pasteurize to keep them from exploding essentially. I am just now getting half way through and I checked one of the bottles I had already pasteurized and it was a gusher. I check two more and...

My goal is to bottle about 3 gallons and throw the other 2 into secondary with the ginger and a little extra sugar to allow for a little more fermentation and let the ginger soak in. This way I don't potentially make 5 gallons of a strong ginger wine as described byWVMJ.

So I'm nearing the end of my Primary and was thinking ginger might be a nice flavor to add to spice things up. This is my first brew and I've used 5 gallons store bought juice, s-04 yeast, added 2 pounds dextrose at the beginning, used pectin and yeast nutrient if that gives any insight as to...

Well I am underway in my 1st brew and its going nicely, more activity then I imagined. I actually see bubbles in the carboy! New question/thought: I have a big root of ginger and was wondering if slicing some ginger up and throwing into the secondary with the cider would make a nice flavor...

Thanks for all the replies, but in terms of plastic has anyone had luck with one of the Better Bottle brand plastic carboys? And I've read a few people actually backsweaten with more cider/juice. Can anyone here attest to that method?

Would you recommend to splurge and go for glass carboys right away? Or should I start small with basic buckets? Also would it work to have one glass carboy, one bottling bucket, and after primary switch to a second container, wash the carboy and move it back in to save some money from the get go?

My first and most important question is about pasteurizing. Using the sticky up top I read all about pasteurizing bottles once you have your desired level of carbonation, but I would like to know is if once it is pasteurized can it be unrefrigerated without fear of a potential bottle bomb...