I'm sure i am not the first, and probably won't be the last, but I decided to invest in some brewing equipment this summer to stave off the $40+ bill of buying commercial beer or the $12+ pints at the local hole. Hopefully some generous soul will take pity on me and spare a quick glance at what I've done and tell me if I need to be concerned or merely patient..
I was planning to brew a cider or mead, but I'm probably heading toward a cyser - thats fine by me.
The equipment: 30L fermenter with a tap, a temperature strip, an airlock, a hydrometer, and some bleach to clean everything up.
The recipe: 6L juice, 9L pure water, 10g cider yeast (Mauri Larger 497) and a kilo of honey ~3L boiled water.
The method: About a cup of bleach into the fermenter with airlock and tap inside, ~5L of hot water, lid on, shake like hell for roughly a minute, then a solid double rinse of cold. Assemble fermenter and off to the kitchen. Throw in 6L pure water, 1KG multifloral honey, 6L juice, add sachet of yeast and further boiled water, stir enthusiastically and add a further 3L pure water. Temperature strip sitting around 26-28C, thrown into the closet to brew.
The concern: 1. No idea how long to wait for the yeast colonies to start bubbling away like a bunch of elves making my christmas a good deal better.
2. Said yeast is not visible at the top of the concoction in question. I've only ever used yeast for making bread, so not sure what to make of it yet, but there appears to be a LOT of sediment on the bottom.
3. So being an amateur i had no idea about using that fancy glass stick i paid for before adding yeast, about 6 hours later it told me 1.028. Hoping that's enough sugars.
4. from a guestimation based on reading elsewhere i should drain this fermenter into bottles in roughly 2-3 weeks, then leave for a further couple of weeks. any advice on this would be appreciated
5. I read elsewhere that if/when i finally get to bottle this, i can add a teaspoon of sugar to the bottle before the brew to carbonate?
Again, any insights would be hugely appreciated
I was planning to brew a cider or mead, but I'm probably heading toward a cyser - thats fine by me.
The equipment: 30L fermenter with a tap, a temperature strip, an airlock, a hydrometer, and some bleach to clean everything up.
The recipe: 6L juice, 9L pure water, 10g cider yeast (Mauri Larger 497) and a kilo of honey ~3L boiled water.
The method: About a cup of bleach into the fermenter with airlock and tap inside, ~5L of hot water, lid on, shake like hell for roughly a minute, then a solid double rinse of cold. Assemble fermenter and off to the kitchen. Throw in 6L pure water, 1KG multifloral honey, 6L juice, add sachet of yeast and further boiled water, stir enthusiastically and add a further 3L pure water. Temperature strip sitting around 26-28C, thrown into the closet to brew.
The concern: 1. No idea how long to wait for the yeast colonies to start bubbling away like a bunch of elves making my christmas a good deal better.
2. Said yeast is not visible at the top of the concoction in question. I've only ever used yeast for making bread, so not sure what to make of it yet, but there appears to be a LOT of sediment on the bottom.
3. So being an amateur i had no idea about using that fancy glass stick i paid for before adding yeast, about 6 hours later it told me 1.028. Hoping that's enough sugars.
4. from a guestimation based on reading elsewhere i should drain this fermenter into bottles in roughly 2-3 weeks, then leave for a further couple of weeks. any advice on this would be appreciated
5. I read elsewhere that if/when i finally get to bottle this, i can add a teaspoon of sugar to the bottle before the brew to carbonate?
Again, any insights would be hugely appreciated