Inmate Brew tasting
So, the brew defrosted a lot quicker than it froze. Tonight is tasting night!
All in all ... I am a little ... underwhelmed ... The result is by no means unpleasant (which was always a possibility :) ) and definitely has alcohol in it - I'm guessing more than 10% but less than commercial wines at 12-13%, but it was rather ... thin seeming. I could still taste the apple and orange juice, but only just. I'm guessing that the yeast eating the sugars in the bottle didn't stop at the sugar I added and also ate up the fruit sugars, decreasing the taste.
I have seen a video on Youtube (by Craig again!) about adding back flavour after the event so I might give that a try and see how it turns out. Right now all we have in the house to try that with is Lemonade, so I gave that a go. Not exactly great but probably nicer than drinking it straight.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Brew 00404
Inmate Brew update
It took three days for this to freeze ... must admit I didn't expect that. Maybe it's the alcohol.
Anyway, it's done now, so I have taken it out of the freezer to thaw. Tasting tomorrow - I hope.
It took three days for this to freeze ... must admit I didn't expect that. Maybe it's the alcohol.
Anyway, it's done now, so I have taken it out of the freezer to thaw. Tasting tomorrow - I hope.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Brew 00403
The fizzing seems to have died down to almost nothing now. Given that it has now been three weeks at it I am going to assume that the ferment has done it's dash.
There is a LOT of sediment in the bottom of the bottle, so I decide to decant it to another bottle to get rid of that before freezing it for a few days to kill off any remaining yeast etc.
The decanting didn't actually go all that smoothly. I couldn't find the funnel and thought "I'll be ok just pouring it - the bottle has a wide mouth. Yeah, right. Glad I decided to do this in the sink as there was quite a bit of spillage.
Combining what I took out to make room for the sugar etc, with what I left behind, full of sediment, as well as what I spilled, I end up getting slightly under half a bottle of actual drink left. Still, 1.5L of 'wine' isn't bad for $5
Into the freezer.
There is a LOT of sediment in the bottom of the bottle, so I decide to decant it to another bottle to get rid of that before freezing it for a few days to kill off any remaining yeast etc.
The decanting didn't actually go all that smoothly. I couldn't find the funnel and thought "I'll be ok just pouring it - the bottle has a wide mouth. Yeah, right. Glad I decided to do this in the sink as there was quite a bit of spillage.
Combining what I took out to make room for the sugar etc, with what I left behind, full of sediment, as well as what I spilled, I end up getting slightly under half a bottle of actual drink left. Still, 1.5L of 'wine' isn't bad for $5
Into the freezer.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Brew 00501 - Cider
Black Rock Cider kit
Cider mix
1kg white sugar
23L Petone Aquifer water
Black Rock cider yeast
Starting Specific Gravity = 1030
I have always like the idea of making cider (and to a slightly lesser extent wine) almost as much as that of making beer. When I was homebrewing in the '90s though, I don't remember there being any cider kits about. And wine making seemed like a lot more work than beer, so I stuck to beer :)
I have tried my hand occasionally at making cider directly from apples (radical I know) but it never seemed to work out well. Either it turned out so energetic that opening a bottle was as likely to end up washing the ceiling as with cider in you glass, or on one nasty occasion turn out to be slightly poisonous.
Now however, there are some more choices available. Black Rock have a cider kit, and Lynne bought me one to try my hand at. Given that she doesn't even like cider, this was a Nice Thing for her to do. I am very lucky with my choice of wife :)
Cider mix
1kg white sugar
23L Petone Aquifer water
Black Rock cider yeast
Starting Specific Gravity = 1030
I have always like the idea of making cider (and to a slightly lesser extent wine) almost as much as that of making beer. When I was homebrewing in the '90s though, I don't remember there being any cider kits about. And wine making seemed like a lot more work than beer, so I stuck to beer :)
I have tried my hand occasionally at making cider directly from apples (radical I know) but it never seemed to work out well. Either it turned out so energetic that opening a bottle was as likely to end up washing the ceiling as with cider in you glass, or on one nasty occasion turn out to be slightly poisonous.
Now however, there are some more choices available. Black Rock have a cider kit, and Lynne bought me one to try my hand at. Given that she doesn't even like cider, this was a Nice Thing for her to do. I am very lucky with my choice of wife :)
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Brew 00402
No sign of fermentation starting up this morning,
Thinking that perhaps even in the laundry the temperature might have been a little low, I moved it down into my office and sat it next to the oil column heater for the day.
Sure enough, a few hours later - action! Not having a proper airlock of course, there is no bubbling as such, but I can smell the fruit juice now, all through my office, quite a pleasant, if rather sweet smell. Also, I can hear the fizzing that Craig (of CraigTube fame) said would be there.
Thinking that perhaps even in the laundry the temperature might have been a little low, I moved it down into my office and sat it next to the oil column heater for the day.
Sure enough, a few hours later - action! Not having a proper airlock of course, there is no bubbling as such, but I can smell the fruit juice now, all through my office, quite a pleasant, if rather sweet smell. Also, I can hear the fizzing that Craig (of CraigTube fame) said would be there.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Brew 00401 - Inmate Brew
Simple process following instructions from the CraigTube video
3L bottle of Mill Orchard Apple & Orange Juice
Sultana based yeast nutrient
2 cups of plain white sugar
1 sachet of ale yeast
The idea behind Inmate Brew is to make something that can loosely be described as wine for very little outlay. In this case about $5 for the bottle of Juice. Everything else was already in the pantry or fridge.
3L bottle of Mill Orchard Apple & Orange Juice
Sultana based yeast nutrient
2 cups of plain white sugar
1 sachet of ale yeast
The idea behind Inmate Brew is to make something that can loosely be described as wine for very little outlay. In this case about $5 for the bottle of Juice. Everything else was already in the pantry or fridge.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)