Finlandia Apple Pear Cider

[mr hoppy]

Yep, a second bucket increases the risk of infection - but not by much - as long as you clean and sanitise properly.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I'm a bit anal about cleaning and santising so thats fine.  I've been looking into it and I'm concerned as to how do you clean the Siphon tube?
As an experienced tropical fishkeeper this question of cleaning siphons has crossed my mind before . . .

[mr hoppy]

Personally, (thanks to Will D) I always give siphons a good soak in Lidl W5 Oxy for 10 minutes, and then spray with Star San before using. More soak in Oxy, VWP or the like should hopefully shift stubborn stains.

[benji]

Any update fishjam, have you had a taste yet?

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I had a taste last Sunday. I knew it was way too early but I tried it anyway.
It's not fully carved yet and it will need more time to develop too, it has bags of potential but it's still nowhere near drinkable. Will try it again in a week or so.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

ok . . . i sampled a bottle tonite and it was flat as a pancake!!!
Can i re-carb the bottles?
I presume that i could open them, pop in a carb drop and then cap the bottle again?

HELP!!!

[benji]

Try another bottle, sometimes but very rarely I get the odd flat bottle, probably due to a weak seal when capping

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I did and sadly they were all flat . . . recarbed em all last night. Heres hoping that I havent created bottle bombs!!!!

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Cracked open a bottle tonight and theres two things I noticed.

1 - The taste has really improved with a bit of ageing.  Its good to have something to show for being patient. Now, for more patience . . .

2 - My effort at recarbing didnt work aswell as I'd have liked it to.  I might have to try something else suggested to me using Cider Yeast to re-seed(?) the bottles along with more drops.  The ABV has obviously gone up too after two attempts using carb drops to carb it.

[Eoin]

Cracked open a bottle tonight and theres two things I noticed.

1 - The taste has really improved with a bit of ageing.  Its good to have something to show for being patient. Now, for more patience . . .

2 - My effort at recarbing didnt work aswell as I'd have liked it to.  I might have to try something else suggested to me using Cider Yeast to re-seed(?) the bottles along with more drops.  The ABV has obviously gone up too after two attempts using carb drops to carb it.

How is the ABV increasing if it's not carbing? You can't have one without the other unless you have bad seals.....

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

True, an oversight on my behalf.

[lampie]

Cracked open a bottle tonight and theres two things I noticed.

1 - The taste has really improved with a bit of ageing.  Its good to have something to show for being patient. Now, for more patience . . .

Yes that amazed me too when i tasted mine.. I managed to save some bottles so will leave them to see if the taste is getting better.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I was patient with this one and I've loads of it left. Just popped a litre bottle in the fridge that I'll hopefully enjoy tomorrow evening.

[Drzava]

Started this last night as my second ever full sized homebrew. After the hassle of sanitising gear etc, and then bottling my 1st brew (stout), setting this cider up was a breeze! Still on a learning curve with homebrewing and last night's lesson was not to heat the kit can too much before opening. Put it in simmering water for 15 minutes and the bottom was bulged when I took it out. Opened it (ring pull) very carefully facing away from me and, sure enough, it gave a small explosion when pierced, complete with hot sugar solution flying into the air! Wouldn't have done much good to my face if it had been in the way!

Kit contents, plus 1kg dextrose.
Made to 20L.
OG 1.046 @ 23C, so looking at 6.5% in the bottle.

Checked it this morning (it went on about midnight) and I'm slightly worried as there's no airlock action (I know, I know - not a reliable indicator!), in contrast to my stout batch which was bubbling like mad the next morning. 13L of headspace though so I guess it has to produce a fair amount to raise the pressure.

Question on gravities - should they not be consistent between brewers? Looking at the OP of this thread, they got an OG of 1.038 with the kit plus 1.25kg dextrose, brewed to 20L. Yet, I got a higher OG with less sugar (1kg)? That shouldn't be possible no?

[Drzava]

Airlock action had died off last night so decided to take a gravity reading, hoping it might be heading toward completion. Only down to 1.028 - disappointed with that. Sample was quite fizzy - would that have had a major effect on the hydrometer I wonder (I did pour it from one container to another a few times before reading, and spun the hydrometer)? Temp was down to 19.5. I stuck a few hot water bottles around it and it's back up to 22.5C this morning, and airlock back in business.