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Jun 20, 2011 23:03:04 GMT
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Lift the tarp off the ground with those temporary fencing stakes (you know, the ones mad of rebar that hold up plastic netting at car shows etc.)? That way the apples won't hit a hard surface. Either that or surround the tree with matresses.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,842
Club RR Member Number: 174
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***Home Brew Thread***stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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Jun 20, 2011 23:57:53 GMT
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The problem is their proximity to the Leeds Outer Ring Road. That tree is straight opposite my house. So far we've found 43 apple trees of similar size within a mile of here. Last year we picked 1 tonne and that was only with 15 foot grabbing sticks, there was still about 2/3rds left on each tree. Mostly cider apples too btw but I eat them, though there is a line of Golden Delicious trees in a field over the road. Matt
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col
Part of things
wut
Posts: 190
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theres bot all around here apart from crab apples. plenty of cherry trees though...... hhmmmm, cherry cider.
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Jun 24, 2011 11:58:00 GMT
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How's your WOW coming on J69? It's clearing at the moment. I'm seeing if it'll clear without finings, but it's taking its time and I have my doubts. In the meantime I have some pretty good ciders. The stuff made from Lidl cheapest apple juice is quite nice. Add about 3/4 of a teaspoon of sugar and pour it over ice. The stuff made from the cloudy apple juice has turned fantastic though. It was a bit rough at first but it has mellowed. It is so apply and refreshing, but deadly alcoholic at the same time. I have two more gallons on, one the same as before, the other with a bit more sugar in to see how it comes out...
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Jun 29, 2011 20:55:07 GMT
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A lot of sediment for 2 tsp of yeast... In with some more sugar syrup and a campden tablet. Looks... less murky, the one on the right has actually gone orange, you can't see it in this photo! Bit odd as they are from the same batch of apples. I have tasted some, and I would estimate it to be about 16% although it may be stronger. It has a taste not unlike sherry, or Thunderbird. Actually just Thunderbird.
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camper damper
Part of things
Another car bites the dust
Posts: 606
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Jun 30, 2011 13:25:21 GMT
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i knocked up some odd smelling pineapple thing in my shed over the past week gave it to my aunt and she said its bloody rock fuel so i put a drop on the table and it fizzed then i said may be i can use it to clean oily car parts bad idea this thing burns your hands and anything plastic looks like I'm back to the drawing board on another note the vodka i made and gave to my dad worked
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How's your WOW coming on J69? Update. Though I'd put in pectolase to clear the pectin in the orange juice, it wasn't clearing. It tasted pretty rough too. I've popped in some Vin Clear finings and within 48 hours it is noticably clearing, with the top inch now completely crystal clear. I'm going to give it another week or so and I think it'll be ready for final bottling.
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How's your WOW coming on J69? Update. Though I'd put in pectolase to clear the pectin in the orange juice, it wasn't clearing. It tasted pretty rough too. I've popped in some Vin Clear finings and within 48 hours it is noticably clearing, with the top inch now completely crystal clear. I'm going to give it another week or so and I think it'll be ready for final bottling. That's odd. Everything I've done has cleared really easily and fairly quickly without the need to add finings but from what you've said, it sounds like clearing is hard going on your brews? Have a very approximate recipe for ginger beer that I have had great success with. It makes a gallon but I see no reason why it wouldn't be scaleable IngredientsA piece of root ginger about the size of a lady's/effeminate gentleman's hand. A lemon About half a kilo of granulated sugar Tsp yeast Tsp yeast nutrient MethodGrate your lady hand of ginger into a big pan. I did it by hand, and used a stock pot for its capacity. I'd use a food processor if I owned one but it doesn't take long by hand, you just have to unclog the fibrous bits occasionally. Cut your lemon in half, squeeze the juice in, chuck one of the halfs in the pan too. Put some water over the ginger and lemon and let it simmer on a low heat for some time. I used probably 3 litres or so. It's one of those, the longer you leave it, the better it'll be type things. I left it an hour or so. Once you're happy that your water is sufficiently gingery. Mash any remaining flavour you can from the ginger and attempt remove the majority of it, and the lemon from the pan. Add your sugar and nutrient whilst it's still hot and dissolve it in. Pour into your sterilised demijohn using a sieve and a funnel. Top up with cold water and wait for it to get down to a temp where your yeast won't fall over and die. Pitch the yeast, add an airlock, let it ferment, rack after a few days because of the amount of ginger solids in there, allow to continue fermenting to dry, let it clear a bit (it'll always look very murky so don't worry too much) and bottle using white sugar for priming and sucralose sweetener to taste. I used half a teaspoon of sugar and a stingy half teaspoon of sweetener per pint bottle. I thought it was about right, though my dad said it would have been better a bit sweeter. I've put on an experiment batch ,using more ginger left to steep in the water for far longer, a cinammon stick, and demerara and muscovado sugar instead of white granulated. It's still going but when I started it, it smelt like Jamaican ginger cake. I'm excited about that one. EDIT: I used the usual Youngs super wine yeast from a big pot from wilko but I reckon using an ale yeast would give more of the correct 'character'. Something else to try
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Last Edit: Jul 8, 2011 11:58:58 GMT by ben711200
...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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That's odd. Everything I've done has cleared really easily and fairly quickly without the need to add finings but from what you've said, it sounds like clearing is hard going on your brews? Yes, most of my other brews have cleared by themselves, but I did read on the home brew forums that WOW needs a bit of help. No worries though.
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ShaunOfCalder
Part of things
Yes - I should know better....
Posts: 120
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Jul 15, 2011 12:43:19 GMT
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Well, yesterday I decided to make a batch of turbo cider, 3 parts apple to one part cranberry, and it's bubbling away a treat today, my only thought is that it looks lonely all on it's own, so I might have to make batch two today.....
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Another bloody Mx5 The wifes' Suzuki Grand Vitara Mercedes Sprinter Ambwilans (Rescue Unit)
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My WOW is completely cleared and I bottled it today. It's much improved in flavour and sparkly clear, but needs a little sweetening to make it drinkable. I have 5 bottles for on the shelf, so I'll leave them a few months and see how they improve. I also put on two more gallons of cloudy cider because I'm drinking the last lot way too quickly and there will be none left for the Gathering ;D
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Colonelk
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,740
Club RR Member Number: 83
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***Home Brew Thread***Colonelk
@colonelk
Club Retro Rides Member 83
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Jul 19, 2011 19:57:40 GMT
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Hello chaps, need some advice. Did a very successful turbo cider experiment recently in a very small batch, and thought Id have a crack at some apple and cranberry. (around 20ltrs worth LOL) Anyway, was racking it today and had a sneaky taster and, well, it wasnt good very tarte (I think thats the right word) which may be due to the cranberry. Thinking of leaving it to clear and adding some really nice apple juice as primer and some sucralose and crossing my fingers it turns out ok.
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Jul 20, 2011 11:57:58 GMT
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Hello chaps, need some advice. Did a very successful turbo cider experiment recently in a very small batch, and thought Id have a crack at some apple and cranberry. (around 20ltrs worth LOL) Anyway, was racking it today and had a sneaky taster and, well, it wasnt good very tarte (I think thats the right word) which may be due to the cranberry. Thinking of leaving it to clear and adding some really nice apple juice as primer and some sucralose and crossing my fingers it turns out ok. That was my experience of cranberry and raspberry flavoured cider. Came out very tart and needed a hit of sweetener to stop you making the 'ooh, goodness, this is bending my face' sort of face. I used some sucralose sweetener (splenda etc.). As an aside, I made one with five alive berry juice drink in it recently. Minging. Very artificial tasting. I'm yet to find a better 'fruity' additive than the Asda Forest Fruits stuff. Gallon of TC and a gallon of gingery TC went on last night. Gathering stocks
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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ShaunOfCalder
Part of things
Yes - I should know better....
Posts: 120
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Jul 23, 2011 13:47:26 GMT
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Hmmm...... Whereas both of my brews went absolutely nuclear for the first few days, bubbling a treat, now they appear 'static' there's a good layer of sediment, and the brew appears to have cleared a bit, but they've only been on the go nine days....
Is that it?
Should I bung in a campden tablet or some finings (maybe sweeten too) and risk bottling the stuff? I'm itching to know what it tastes like!
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Another bloody Mx5 The wifes' Suzuki Grand Vitara Mercedes Sprinter Ambwilans (Rescue Unit)
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Jul 23, 2011 18:38:55 GMT
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Anyway, was racking it today and had a sneaky taster and, well, it wasnt good very tarte (I think thats the right word) which may be due to the cranberry. Thinking of leaving it to clear and adding some really nice apple juice as primer and some sucralose and crossing my fingers it turns out ok. It probably will be very sharp. An alternative to using sweetener is to put Campden or sorbate in to kill the yeast and sweeten with sugar. I use half the recommended quantities of both and it works well Probably ;D My ciders are usually brewed completely by 10 days, with no airlock movement. At that point I rack it off the yeast (don't worry about geting a bit in the new bottle) and add Campden and sorbate. Leave it for a week afterwards by itself to see if it'll clear by itself without using finings. No point adding extra stuff if you don't need it You can taste it now; it'll just taste a bit yeasty. Won't do you any harm.
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Jul 25, 2011 19:30:31 GMT
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Probably ;D My ciders are usually brewed completely by 10 days, with no airlock movement. At that point I rack it off the yeast (don't worry about geting a bit in the new bottle) and add Campden and sorbate. Leave it for a week afterwards by itself to see if it'll clear by itself without using finings. No point adding extra stuff if you don't need it You can taste it now; it'll just taste a bit yeasty. Won't do you any harm. I prefer to add as little as possible, so rack when there's no airlock movement (normally 7-10 days on a TC), leave it until it's clear (3-7 days depending on what's gone into it in my experience), then bottle with sugar to prime and some sweetener to taste. I have both Potassium sorbate and campden tablets in stock but haven't really felt the need to use them on ciders. I guess they're more important on wines. Horses for courses, innit I guess this just means I'll have to experiment with different methods by making more cider, doesn't it?
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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aar0sc
Part of things
Posts: 73
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Jul 27, 2011 17:42:51 GMT
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What a wicked thread! Dad and I used to make beer and cider all the time; now I'm old enough to want cheap alcohol he's too busy with work :/ Still; we've got about 25 demijohns in the shed and a ton of apple press too, so if anyone has some apples... Aa
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Jul 28, 2011 10:42:51 GMT
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hmm, my setups are positively traveller by your standards! ;D The last one I tried, was a small batch of fermented plums. Handful of mashed plums (stones removed) handful of sugar, just to make sure, nutrients, and the old faithful wilkinsons super wine yeast! The bottle was simply a 2L bottle, with the lid left loose for a ghetto airlock In my uni room, the heating system was a bit simple - the hot pipe that fed all the radiators, was above ground, and accessable. So my bottle was resting up against that aaaaaaall day After 3 days, I accidently left the lid on too tight, and it exploded... But it did make the room smell VERY fruity Starting a large-scale brew again in a week or so. 25L tub, 6kg of sugar (added over the course of a couple of weeks) nutrientsand yeast. Favouring to be added after fermenting has finished - I find the strawberry and raspberry concentrated flavours (those tiny little bottles that cost about 30p) work really quite well! And ends up DAMNED potent! Ended up selling a couple of gallons to my old manager a few years back. Everyone was rather tipsy a few hours in from what his wife told me ;D Worst I've ever made, was fermented coconut. Was like white spirit!
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You're like a crazy backyard genius!
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Jul 28, 2011 11:49:50 GMT
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Starting a large-scale brew again in a week or so. 25L tub, 6kg of sugar (added over the course of a couple of weeks) nutrientsand yeast. Favouring to be added after fermenting has finished - I find the strawberry and raspberry concentrated flavours (those tiny little bottles that cost about 30p) work really quite well! And ends up DAMNED potent! Ended up selling a couple of gallons to my old manager a few years back. Everyone was rather tipsy a few hours in from what his wife told me ;D kilju My attempt at that failed because I put all the sugar in at once.. It took ages and the yeast all died far too quick so it was ridiculously sweet.
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Jul 28, 2011 11:52:15 GMT
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Well i've taken the plunge, got a demi of WOW on the go, 20 mins later and its bubbling away merrily. Also had a tester using same recipe but with apple and elderflower instead of the orange, only time will tell on that one. If these go alright theres an order in for some ginger beer so "ben711200"'s recipe will get tried out next.
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1977 datsun 810 180b estate
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