National Homebrew Club Ireland

Hi guys,
Not sure who else is in the apple juice buy, but wondering about a drop point, it looks like it might be during working hours which may prove difficult, if its outside of working hours I don't mind acting as a drop point but I m in Ballina so not sure how that suits, the other possibility is that we nominate a location and all meet there. What ye think

If it is on Tuesday the delivery i am working till 12 so i think CH will be after that so I could take the delivery and you can pick it up from me.??

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Quote from: evansannagh on November 11, 2016, 04:17:54 AM
If it is on Tuesday the delivery i am working till 12 so i think CH will be after that so I could take the delivery and you can pick it up from me.??

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So long as it suits CH that would be great

That would be great folks, can you ping me your contact details and address.
Cheers
John

Ok guys will pick up the juice on Tuesday am also off Thursday so can do that one as well if it helps. Just let me know when you will be collecting. Cheers

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TY!

Fair play thanks very much.

fair play for volunteering; can you pm me your address please so I can collect on Thursday.

Thanks again.

No problem any ideas on how we sort out the Balanced problem am quite happy just to go with the 20ltrs as never done before so less chance in fucking it up 😋

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I'm also happy to go with 20L. If nobody wants to take the balance, I'll bring a 5L water bottle with me and fill that up.

Also happy with 20 litres, as your the drop point Evans maybe you should get the extra bit. I wonder if you would mind messaging me your address. Thanks again

Hi Gents I have acquired the first batch of Apple Juice we have 4 Drums between 3 of us. I appreciate the offer of the extra but would rather give it to a more experienced brewer as never done the AJ before ( but would love a few bottles of the finished article next year). You can either pick it up today or tomorrow of wait till Thursday for both batches. John thinks there is about 22/23 litres per drum.

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So we're not really down that much at all then if it's 22/23L.  I've got extra yeast as a back up (I bought 4 yeast packets between 2 drums) - so I'm happy to give one of ye a yeast packet if ye want to give it a go... Alternatively I'm happy to look after it and divide it out at a meet next year when it's done.

Happy to do that Keith, Till brewer (Leo) is the other one but he doesn't have access to the forum during the day. What yeast are you using??

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Thanks Dave for being the drop point. I m happy with whatever ye decide in relation to extra drum. I almost knocked myself out with Camden tablets dissolving them in hot water gives off a few fumes. I took 5 litres out for a go with wild yeast. We LL see how that goes. Pretty tasty juice in fairness.

What a star Dave is, didn't even have juice this morning but collected others at the side of the road from me

Ok gents Juice is ready for collection 😆

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Quote from: CH on November 17, 2016, 12:37:40 PM
What a star Dave is, didn't even have juice this morning but collected others at the side of the road from me

I didn't realise you weren't getting any juice today Dave, Fair play! ... We'll have to keep a few bottles aside for you when it's done.

What else would you be doing on your day off but helping fellow brewers 😉

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I didn't realise you weren't getting a drum either Dave. Doubly thanks for that.

Absolutely, I didn't realise you were not getting any of the Thursday juice until I collected it! Fair play.

So lads how is it going. I put my starter going last night (half juice half dme with cal ale yeast) and it took off like a rocket! 

Will add the starter to the rest of the juice tomorrow.

I took two drums from the first batch and split them into a 25L and a 15L fvs (I had a bigger and smaller FV free and decided not to ferment in the drums).  I put in campden tablets on Tuesday night, little bit of pectolase on Wed morning and pitched yeast Wed night.
I put Bulldog Brew cider yeast in the 25L fv and it took off straight away, I put Mangrove Jacks Cider yeast in the 15L one and there's still no activity. 
I pitched Bulldog Brew yeast in the second cider batch a few hours ago and it's taken off already.

I split 1 packet of yeast nutrient between the 3 FVs. Hopefully the MJ cider will take off soon, 15L should be no problem for one packet of in date yeast!

Didn't do anything too exotic, took 5 litres off the Tuesday juice and letting it do its own thing, bubbling away, the remainder of that one I treated with Camden and added a standard cider yeast. Its also fermenting away now. The Thursday batch was pretty frozen, a bit like a slush puppy so waited 24 hours for it to defrost and pretty much did the same thing. I LL add the cider yeast tomorrow as I m away tonight. I kinda forgot the nutrient, I have some but am not sure whether to chance it without it.

Just opened the drum and there is a foam on top and some gas. Is this normal?  Haven't added yeast yet just the campden tabs.

I noticed the same this morning, I m not too sure but am not overly concerned, still smells like apple juice. I closed mine again and no gas few hours later so don't think its fermenting. I haven't done this before so I m no expert.

I don't have any foam here bit I wouldn't be worried about it. I reckon you'd want to pitch the yeast soon enough though!

Did the same as Keith MJ yeast took a few days to take off walked into the room it was in this morning and the f@#king smell my god it was bad farts smell 😷

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Quote from: evansannagh on November 19, 2016, 03:23:02 PM
Did the same as Keith MJ yeast took a few days to take off walked into the room it was in this morning and the f@#king smell my god it was bad farts smell 😷

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I think we should have used yeast nutrient for each batch, apparently that helps. I split one between 3 (I've no idea why i didn't but 3 at the time -they were cheap) and the house stinks from it! 

Lads tips are open the windows before she gets up and last thing at night, and then also blame the dog

Are ye struggling with temp control?  Cider yeast optimum temp is 13 to 16?  Where are your fermenters? 

Mine are between 18-20 now, that's fine for the start of fermentation and the temp should come down over the coming weeks.  I have them in the coldest room in the house as far as possible from the rads.  It turned out fine last year and then I left it outside from around Xmas to mid February before bottling.  The MJ cider yeast says it has a range from 12-28 degrees.  Are you using a lager yeast?

That's a big temp range for a yeast. I'm using california ale yeast and fermenting at 18 degree's in the coldest part of the house. I pitched the starter around 4 and it's up and running already which leads me to think the campden didn't do its job and fermentation had started.

How much did you use?

I used 15 tablets. Followed instructions on other thread. I'm not too bothered to be honest. As long as it's fermenting I'm happy. The juice is good quality and fresh so should get a decent cider out of it.

Well I arrived back to find a nice thick krausen on the Tipperary aj. I haven't had the chance to add yeast so I guess it was up and running, I only put in 8 Camden tabs so I guess that wasn't enough. Anyway I ll let it go do its own thing now. Anyone know if its worth adding nutrient to the wild yeast. My other batch is bubblng away temp is 14 in the hallway, trying to find the balance between keeping the kids warm and cider cold. Lots of jumpers for the kids I think

What's the smell like with the natural yeast Leo? 

Its kinda slightly sour apple kind of smell, you have to smell into the actual container, I d say its only really starting though as the temps are low though decent krausen which is till growing. I did 5 litres of the Dublin juice without yeast and its been fermenting for a few days and that smells more like cider than juice. The rest of the batch has that sulpher fatty smell though its not shockingly bad, maybe I m just pretty smell tolerant. No real krausen on that one, just a steady fizz.

Well checked the AJ today and down to 1.001 looking good tasting good only a bit dry😉

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Potential to drop to 995
It will be all be dry, mix with 20% apple juice and let us know how you get on.

Interesting, my first batch is down to 1.007 and tasting pretty dry, the later batch is au natural and down to 1.030, I think it had actually stopped so I moved it to a warmer room again and we re off again. It actually tasted fab though clearly still plenty of sugar in there I have 2 cornys to scrub in the shed which I LL be transferring the to in a few weeks. I LL be bottling so will probably have to sweeten, was thinking stevia, anyone tried this before.

I think stevia will add kind of artifical taste ... use xylitol instead more natural taste

Good luck with that it has laxative properties
Just cut your cider with apple juice when drinking if you want something naturally sweet.

I've tried Splenda with previous batches with SHMBO approval  :)

Quote from: Dracusse on November 27, 2016, 06:28:24 PM
I think stevia will add kind of artifical taste ... use xylitol instead more natural taste

Used it before to great effect. Brought the sweetness up on 19L with about 10 tablespoons and it tasted very natural. Try it in a measured test sample to dial in the sweetness you want. SWMBO is normally a good trial subject ;)

Oh yeah, "who" begins with a "W"  :-[

Quote from: Dunkel on November 29, 2016, 02:59:57 PM
Oh yeah, "who" begins with a "W"  :-[

Hehe, I didn't even spot that! :)