• Welcome to National Homebrew Club Ireland. Please login or sign up.
March 28, 2024, 10:17:06 AM

News:

Want to Join up ? Simply follow the instructions here
Not a forum user? Now you can join the discussion on Discord


2017 AJ GB Notes

Started by Will_D, November 04, 2017, 07:15:14 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Will_D

So, lets start a new thread about this years juice.

First of all big thanks to everyone involved in the logistics,

So checvking the juice I get:

OG:  1.051 at 20C
pH: 3.6

Number of Campden tablets required:  2 per gallon so its 10 per drum if you want to suppress the natural yeasts.
Remember: The Nationals are just round the corner - time to get brewing

willk

Apologies for (possibly) muddying the water on the GB thread.  At 1.051, do you guys add sugars or ferment as is?  1.050 has been my traditional target, this is the first year I've seen that kind of ripeness at these latitudes (over the last 10 years)

lyonsie


Will_D

Given ideal conditions, 1.050 'ish is good for about 6.3%abv which is strong enough!!
Remember: The Nationals are just round the corner - time to get brewing

cruiscinlan

Thanks for providing the readings guys, I was quite surprised when I saw a report of 1.051 from one of the members, but it must be correct.

Those using the natural yeasts could see it finish even lower than 1.000 as that's been my experience in the past.

Water_Wolf

I got an S.G. reading of around 1.051 too.

I also did a titration test and got an acid result of about 3.5g/l which is surprisingly low, so I'll be adding some malic acid.

DamienE

Thanks for organising group buy

lyonsie

The natural yeast foams a lot. I decanted 5l from one container and just let the other 20l do its thing in the container. Its nearly at the top now.

Keg

Thanks to all involved in arranging the group buy, 2 drums happily bubbling away this morning!

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


ianm

Even with 10 campden tablets in the drum showed signs of fermentation.  I transferred the juice to a fermenter this morning and added US04.  How prominent do you think the flavor from the yeast might be compared to the natural fermentation.   I thought 10 tabs would have knocked the natural yeast on the head.

bigvalen


Simon convinced me to leave the natural yeasts to it - I threw in some cider yeast anyway, but I assume that'll get going, and the natural yeasts will force out a ferment later.

Malic acid; is that added because it's curiously low-acidity, so it might spoil later ? Especially if it wasn't sterilized with campden tablets ?

Water_Wolf

I added the acid partly because a higher acid level will protect against infections and oxidation but also just for the purpose of taste - I want this to be a semi-sweet cider and need a decent acid level to balance that out.

I'm using campden and my own yeast. I'm not sure how it will taste when fermented to dry with a natural yeast as I've never tried that. It will be interesting to see how different peoples ciders turn out!

lyonsie

I didn't kill the natural yeast in any of my ferments. If you add your own yeast before the natural yeast takes hold it easily outgrows them rapidly.

cruiscinlan

It should outgrow it, but you may still end up with the super-attenuation of natural yeasts.  Interested to see how it turns out either way.

lyonsie

Yeah i would not reccomend leaving it too long. Id a late night the other night. Did it all when i got home.  ;D