I like dry cider, I just bought the Westons to try . Its quite Appley but too sweet for me. This is my go to home booze
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So, basically, homebrew snakebite?My Slovakian neighbour's Hungarian partner has taken to using Sainsbury 50% juice blackcurrant cordial to temper his bone-dry 8% cider.
I may have introduced him to blending it half & half with his homebrew stout, too.
Very interested in hearing how this goes
So, basically, homebrew snakebite?
The bubbles have now stopped after 5 days and not started again. The temperature dropped down to 13/14 degress so ive now put it o a heat mat at 24 degrees. Will the initial temperature drop have caused the fermentation to stop and will it start again on its own or will i need to add some more yeast?
Yeast is quite a survivor. We freeze our fresh yeast and only activate it when we’re ready to use it. I would think warming it will get it a bit livelier. It’s also possible, perhaps, that it is done. How long as it bubbling?
5 days max, and it wasn't double lively.
Have you got a hydrometer? If you do, you can check the gravity of the brew, and that will indicate whether fermentation has completed. If you haven't, draw off a small sample and see how sweet it is - but that's a much rougher guide.
Might just have a a slow fermentation, although that does sound unlikely. If I were you I’d warm it with a bit of fresh yeast and see what happens.
), and make up a little yeast batter with some warm (below blood heat) water and a little sugar. Keep it somewhere fairly warm until it starts to froth up, then stir it up and whip it into the brew - hopefully an infusion of busily active yeast will encourage the thing to start again.
Well, that's a trade-off! The sooner you bottle it, the less likely it is to become cider vinegar; on the other hand, not having a huge layer of yeast in the bottom of the bottle is an advantage. Perhaps give it a day or so - move the vessel to the point where you are going to decant it first, if you can - and then bottle and be damned!
Ive lifted the fermentation vessel to a worktop where i will rack of into demijohns/bottle. Its beginning to clear a little so should i leave it to clear completely for another day or two ( your comment about vinegar has wobbled me a bit) or rack it now and let it clear in the demijohn?. Also, im going to add sugar to half, but how much per litre?Well, that's a trade-off! The sooner you bottle it, the less likely it is to become cider vinegar; on the other hand, not having a huge layer of yeast in the bottom of the bottle is an advantage. Perhaps give it a day or so - move the vessel to the point where you are going to decant it first, if you can - and then bottle and be damned!
Priming sugar wise, I'd be going for a scant teaspoon per litre - from recollection, 80g of sugar in the whole batch should be about right. But I imagine you're not racking off the whole batch at once, so go with the teaspoon measure.
Particularly if you're using kits, it's not usually necessary to add things to remove haze nowadays.
You are aware, aren't you, that it makes no difference legally whether you sell home brew or give it away - it's illegal for anyone other than you and your household to consume it unless duty is paid?
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