Be Excellent To Each Other

I tried lobbing 200g ginger root into the bucket with a kit but it didn't do much. I will think about doing it if I can find a receipe. However, I am not a massive fan of ginger beer. The old Blandford fly was lovely with a good snap of ginger, and something fron the beer festival on Friday so I will find a clone receipt for them. I think I need to crack on with all grain brewing as I need a Christmas Porter and some other things. Annoyingly, after I the all my bottles away because bottling 40 pints is a faff, I find myself considering brewing 20 pints at a time so now I need the bottles (which I can probably get from the cottage).

I made ginger beer the other week using wine yeast. It was great for the first batch, but the second just stank of sulfur.

Hmm... That's odd, I've never known a sulphurous smell. I wonder if the second batch had some contamination?

I think it must have, but not sure from where. Still, will make some more, it is easy and it can be made in 2 litre bottles.

Turbo cider is go. 9l apple juice, half pack of yeast and 6 teabags into 2 5l water bottles with bubble trap through the lids. Should be about 5% according to maths.

It has weird antiseptic properties, too. This girl I met at a Rock Night said to me whenever she had a prick in her hand she always shortly afterwards put it in cider.

Isn't mixing it with normal apple juice going to make it hella sweet?

The sugar turns to alcohol. The tea will provide tannins to make it a bit more tasty.

I hope.

The photos are the wrong way around. The second made the first with the exception of pectolase as it was too concentrated and I cba ti dilute it down.

What is WRONG WITH YOU?!?!

He's timewarped back to 1997.

You guys have met Grim... before, right?

Sadly.

I bought 1m copper pipe and a tap for a water butt. I will drill a hole in a coolbox, stick the tap through and cut thin incisions in the copper pipe. Connect a small length of garden hoes to the inside of the tap thing and on to the copper pipe. Seal end of pipe with muslin and rubber band. Mash tun done.

Holy apples! This cider is going like the clappers! You can hear it hissing in the bottles and the bubble trap is going every second! Music to my ears!

And I found some glass bottles to put it in.

All grain is go go go.

Realised first error: i measured 2kg out of a 3kg packet and gad trouble getting it into the pan. I should have measured 1kg out and poured the remainder in.

Exciting evening!
Measure it, mix it, mash it, strain it, boil it, ferment it.

Numbers to follow...

Cooling it down now ready for the yeast.

Good stuff. Make sure you save me a bottle.

Will do. Chinook and first gold are the hops.

Now I have the process done once it suddenly is not so daunting but I need to finish my mash tun so MrsA can watch telly box rather than hold a sieve.

I have 1kg malt left so might try a 5l brew in the week with first gold.

This might be better sooner than kit beer

Cider update

Who do you think you are?

Looks like it should be above 5%. I have 8.5 litres is of it.

Some kind of superstar

One oh five four. looks to be quite strong. >5%

Daft Punk, surely.

Samwise Gamgee

The cider will go into 500ml bottles (18 of them, if maths be true). I think the Strong Pale Ale (estimated between 6 and 7%) will be going into 250 or 330ml bottles. I think I will need 32. Cheapest way to do this is those ROB stubbies and I guess I need to get drinking.

Names have been decided and labels will be printed.

I think 10l volumes are the way forward as I currently cannot boil down more 12 litres at once. It also makes bottling easier. Other things are to make an immersion coil to chill the wort down quicker (it took an ungodly time and 5 sink fulls of water to go from boiling to 25), build my mash tun (or find a way to support the strainers) and to make more nice beer. And try to stock up on ciders for the summer.

I would recommend giving it a go to anyone as you don't need specialist equipment, just patience and an idiot like me to make mistakes and document them.

That Apple juice is a 'from concentrate' one isn't it?

That's really quite an incredible amount of sugar to be feeding the yeast!

Yes
10% sugar solution.

It might be about 6% as my maths has been wrong

Turns out my maths was wrong and this was a bit stronger than my maths suggested. By 15%

I find that unlikely, the yeast will have died off unless you used wine yeast in your lager.

I thought it was 4%. It was 4.6%. A 15% increase.

Aw, I was looking forward to 21% cider.

Me too!

Cider is at 4.7%, people.

How does it taste?

Very dry. Here is some straight from the FV. It is drinkable but dry and sharp.

Hmm. How can you go about changing that? Pasteurise to kill the yeast and then add more sugar? That or artificial sweeteners, I guess.

Internet suggests artificial sweetness.

mix with ginger wine.

That would be awesome.

Your blending destroys my art.

Indeed. I might try more tonight as I am a few bottles short.

30 bottles of camping beer bought to get the bottles. 30 bottles of camping beer to drink to get the bottles. Tough life.

Now, that does sound good. That, or bramble wine. I've only tasted bramble wine once but zomigosh, I had it at a picnic with a girlfriend, we stung our bums on stoning nettles and I nearly fell in the canal.

Tastes like over-sweet Ribena, with the power of super-alcohol.

Turbo Ribena is possible. Very possible. That'd be proper tramp juice.

Lol! Everyone loves Apple and ginger. Can't believe my phone capitalised Apple.

Put some elderflowers in and you will have the best drink ever