I've brewed a couple of kit ales and want to give TC a go. Since it's going to be a first experiment I thought I'd do 5 L TC and 5 L ginger beer at the same time, each in a 5 L water bottle. I have a couple of airlocks so I'm good to go. I'm after a bit of advice. First, my intended recipes, or thereabouts:
Cider (based on one by a dreadskin in another place)
5 L apple juice
340g (or near enough) honey
1.5 to 2 bramley apples, skinned,blended
1/2 cup strong tea from 1 bag
Method:
Use some juice to melt the honey, add tea, bung the apples in, stick in FV in 4 L total juice. Add yeast. When apples fall out, rack to 2nd vessel and top up to 5 L with juice. Bottle with up to 0.5 tsp sugar/bottle (I may batch prime with 5 tsp sugar in solution).
Ginger beer (based on on rickthebrew's from here)
250g grated ginger
1 lemon
1.2 kg sugar
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient
Method:
boil ginger, lemon for 30min in up to 2 L water. Dissolve sugar, top up with cold water to 4 L in FV. Add yeast. Top up to 5 L when fermentation settles down. Bottle with up to 0.5 tsp sugar/bottle (I may batch prime with 5 tsp sugar in solution).
Notes/questions:
-yeast: I'll split a sachet of cider yeast 50:50 between brews
-for both brews, what about aeration? Both my ale brews have stuck a bit and I suspect lack of aeration at the start as the problem. Should giving the bottle FVs a decent shake before pitching do the trick?
- will 4 L in a 5 L bottle result in yeast all over the place, or is it likely to stay contained? How about when topping up to 5 L? Would I be better sticking to a 4 L maximum?
- I'll ferment for 2 weeks as that'll keep things simple. I don't want to keep taking hydrometer readings as I don't want to lose brew or risk contamination/oxidation. I'd take a reading just before 2 weeks to see if it's got down to a reasonable lowness. Might use at least one PET bottle so I can check how carbonation is progressing.
-sweetening: I'd prefer them not to be ridiculously dry, probably sweeten at drinking time with either juice or Splenda equivalent and consider adding sweetener at bottling time the next time I brew
-have seen mention of malic acid addition for the cider to add a bit of tartness but for the 1st batch I'll see how it goes
-for the ginger beer I've seen cream of tartar added - is it a problem to leave it out?
Must dash, maybe a couple of other questions later.....
Cider (based on one by a dreadskin in another place)
5 L apple juice
340g (or near enough) honey
1.5 to 2 bramley apples, skinned,blended
1/2 cup strong tea from 1 bag
Method:
Use some juice to melt the honey, add tea, bung the apples in, stick in FV in 4 L total juice. Add yeast. When apples fall out, rack to 2nd vessel and top up to 5 L with juice. Bottle with up to 0.5 tsp sugar/bottle (I may batch prime with 5 tsp sugar in solution).
Ginger beer (based on on rickthebrew's from here)
250g grated ginger
1 lemon
1.2 kg sugar
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient
Method:
boil ginger, lemon for 30min in up to 2 L water. Dissolve sugar, top up with cold water to 4 L in FV. Add yeast. Top up to 5 L when fermentation settles down. Bottle with up to 0.5 tsp sugar/bottle (I may batch prime with 5 tsp sugar in solution).
Notes/questions:
-yeast: I'll split a sachet of cider yeast 50:50 between brews
-for both brews, what about aeration? Both my ale brews have stuck a bit and I suspect lack of aeration at the start as the problem. Should giving the bottle FVs a decent shake before pitching do the trick?
- will 4 L in a 5 L bottle result in yeast all over the place, or is it likely to stay contained? How about when topping up to 5 L? Would I be better sticking to a 4 L maximum?
- I'll ferment for 2 weeks as that'll keep things simple. I don't want to keep taking hydrometer readings as I don't want to lose brew or risk contamination/oxidation. I'd take a reading just before 2 weeks to see if it's got down to a reasonable lowness. Might use at least one PET bottle so I can check how carbonation is progressing.
-sweetening: I'd prefer them not to be ridiculously dry, probably sweeten at drinking time with either juice or Splenda equivalent and consider adding sweetener at bottling time the next time I brew
-have seen mention of malic acid addition for the cider to add a bit of tartness but for the 1st batch I'll see how it goes
-for the ginger beer I've seen cream of tartar added - is it a problem to leave it out?
Must dash, maybe a couple of other questions later.....
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