Wont be a problem. Cider ferments gently. Its probably fermenting more than you think. I suspect it'll speed up a bit. Your measurements will tell you whats up anyway. Lalvin EC-1118 will rip through that juice. It will leave no sweetness. Good if that is what you are going for. I would suggest a yeast that flocculates better better than EC-1118. US-05 will leave a nice clean cider. Nottingham will give you more flavor than US-05. It might be a good choice as well as it will settle out really good.
I should have mentioned to you before that yeast nutrients would have been a good idea. Juice doesn't really have enough of the things that yeast need to be happy. You may have a bit of an off flavor b/c of it. Same thing happened to me I think. I only had a small amount of nutrient left over when I was making my cider. Not as much as I add to beer and beer doesn't need it as much as a must made with juice does. I have a really, really yeasty smell after over two months.
Careful with the bottle pasteurization. I had very mixed results. Have a read through this thread. Its good info that covers both sides of the argument. I put all my bottles in a closed 40L cooler. I felt it was pretty safe that way. Moving them when they are still hot is the dangerous part.
I feel like my first attempt at a cider was a failure. I haven't tried the cider I left to ferment out completely though. It is still carbing up. I bottled a week ago, but I think I'll leave those bottles until mid Dec. The others were pretty nasty.
So 6 days later my reading is 1.01. Like you said it ripped through the juice and didn't leave any sweetness. I should have monitored it more closely. I'm assuming at this point I don't need to bottle pasteurize?
Im cold crashing at the moment, just cause.
Couple questions. What are my options for adding carbonation? I don't have any of the equipment to force carb, or whatever that is.
At this late stage, you may as well let it ferment out the last few points then carbonate your cider just as you would beer. Prime, then bottle. This is a useful resource: http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
If you are carbonating your only method to back sweeten is to add juice at the time of consumption.
Awesome stuff, Mr Guru! Let us know how it turns out. Bottle conditioning is your method to get the fizz into the cider -- basically, you're giving the yeast another snack, but instead of letting the CO2 out (like when it's fermenting), you cap the bottles and it dissolves into the cider.
Big brew day last Thursday. Made 70 litres each of a red ale and an IPA with a couple guys I play Ultimate with... hence the names. Both mashed (with recirculating wort!!) in the new setup with the 5500 W immersion heater (wow!) for 90 minutes, and cranked about 90% efficiency. 90! Had to dilute from the originally planned 65 to 70 L to deal with the extra sugar.
Boils went well, and all 6 carboys/buckets are bubbling happily in my basement.
140 litres of beer! Four corny kegs at 20 litres each getting force carbonated still leaves a massive 60 litres to get bottled! Past experience has shown that bottle conditioning a high-alcohol IPA takes freaking forever (I can't wait 8-12 weeks for it to be drinkably fizzy!) so I'll do three kegs of IPA and one of red ale, then bottle condition the rest of the red ale. After it's all carbed up I'll probably bottle off the rest and leave a keg each of IPA and red ale in the fridge for serving.
We lost a few posts.... I've been brewing all grain. Got two brews finished. I've had trouble figuring out how much pre boil water to use. It seems crazy to me to sparge with 20 litres, so I've been mashing thinner. I usually do a 90 min mash, so I have been getting pretty good efficiency. I have still been not getting enough water into the boil kettle and end up topping up to volume. My new burner is also very powerful and the amount it boils off is pretty large. I'll work it out with a bit of practice with the new gear.
One thing I have noticed is the amount of hop utilization has gone through the roof. Even though I have topped up with 8 litres on my last batch, it is a friggin hop BOMB! 9% and really, really hop forward. I have to figure out how to brew all over again with my new setup.
I also bought a stainless steel immersion chiller. I'm very keen to see what difference it makes. Plus, I figure it pays for itself as I was buying a couple bags of ice ($4/per) every brew in order to help cool it down.
Anyways, happy brewing lads! What you guys have planned?
Brew day this Sunday. My last one was a real ripper - http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/high-slot-iipa. Best one I've ever done. I think the new burner and a larger boil volume really makes a difference.
This weeks its this one: http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/half-boards-iipa I'm using all NZ hops. I was thinking about doing a SMASH, but I like a bit of complexity and enjoy using different hops. Southern Cross, Riwaka and Wai-Iti hops. I have to say, I'm looking forward to this brew day more than any other one. I really think I'm nailing my technique. I understand my equipment and my ingredients more. The immersion chiller will be a new thing, but I cannot see it being that complicated. I think I'll turn it on the day before to clean it out and get to know how to use it.
Nice, AW -- that sounds like a good brew. I have no familiarity with the profile of those hops; what are the aroma and flavours like?
My next brew day is scheduled for the 22nd. Going to be making 60L of pale ale. Should be an interesting one, with some minor toasty malts and it'll be hopped exclusively with Amarillo so should have an interesting peach/apricot character.
FHG, I decided to go all NZ hops as they are cheaper than buyin Amarillo and such. Riwaka (5.5) has a real grapefruit character with some subtle spicy notes. Wai-iti (3.9) has passionfruit flavors and a smooth bitterness. Very strong aroma, beautiful smelling hops, so I'm using it mostly at the end of the process. Southern Cross (12.5) is a piney/citrusy hop with high AA for good bitterness. I decided to tone down on the bitterness for this brew as it could have actually been too crazy. Not for me mind you.... My wife thinks its insane. I like it. Its pretty much right where I like it, so maybe I shouldn't brew for the tastes of others. Anyways, I'll try this brew this way. Not like there isn't many hops in there, but maybe shoot for something a bit more balanced. Thing is.... I cant stop that little devil on my shoulder from whispering "balance is for wussies!"
Brew day was today. First time using the new wort chiller and also first time using a siphon to empty the mash tun. I used to just pour everything from the kettle to the fermenter. I was pleased with the amount of hop trub I was able to leave behind. I think I am at the outer limits for my equipment. The boil kettle was basically filled to the brim and I still had to top up with 4 litres. Still... a 4 litre top up is much better than a 16 litre top up. I sparged with about 12-13 litres. Ended up with 1.078 before top up and after top up 1.060. Shaping up to be a beauty. I'll add 500g of corn syrup, so I think I'll be looking at a 7.5% beer. Just about what I was shooting for.
As mentioned above all NZ hops. Saved a fair amount of money, so I am hoping the finished product is as good as the last beer. Talking about the last beer.... it is a friggin ripper! Best yet.
Thinking back to brew day.... I wasn't that happy with the immersion chiller. It didn't really chill it as fast I thought it would. Maybe it be better when my water is colder this winter? Not sure.
The trick with immersion chillers is to keep good mixing around them so the coil is touching hot wort rather than cooled wort. Immersion chillers are a bit more of a hassle than say a plate chiller, but the big advantage is that your cold break material falls out in the boil kettle, rather than enroute to (and thus carried into) your fermenter.
Brewed last weekend. My awesome wife smartly went off to her parents' house with our little guy all day... so instead of just brewing the one beer planned, we brewed two 15-gallon (30 litre) batches.
What prompted the extra brewing is that the only beer left on tap is a stout, and quite frankly it's too spring-like to be drinking much stout. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic classic irish stout. Really good. But, in an effort to get ahead of the curve, we brewed a summer wheat beer too. Both went very well.
The summer wheat ale is more american style than belgian style (we decided that we'd rather not it have banana or clove flavours, so it had to be american yeast) with citrus and tropical fruit aromas. Yum. http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/citrus-wheat-beer
Bottled up last night. There was about 400ml left over so I put it in a glass and popped it in the fridge as I already had a full beer. Drank it about an hour later.... I was disappointed by the lack of aroma. It is a subtle beer. The bitterness seems ok, but it lacks the depth of hop character that I like. I did save a lot of money using NZ substitutes for Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo, but I lost on quality. It was an interesting experiment and maybe I'll feel difference once it is all carbed up. I can say that I drank the entire glass of uncarbed beer. Actually enjoyed it too, just not as good as I was hoping it would be. There is a reason why Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo hops are scarce and expensive.
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