Home Brewed (Hard) Cider
 

I will start this thread by explaining that I am currently teetotal.
But it was too much of a temptation not to try brewing my own alcoholic cider.
Everything I have read suggests that it is hit and miss anyway, so there is a good chance I will end up with two bottles of nasty, which I will have to tip away. At best I will have < 2 litres of something drinkable at 5% - not all that damning, given that I could go to the shop and buy 3 litres of 7.5% for £3.19.

Anyway, this is my experiment.

I bought 4 litres of Tesco Value Apple Juice. I figured I'd try twice, one batch = 2 litres. I decanted each tetrapack into a separate plastic bottle, previously sterilised with a weak solution of bleach.

I added approx 2 teaspoons of brewers' yeast - approx because the dried yeast went everywhere when I tried to transfer it from the spoon to the bottle (I have no funnel).

Shook it up. Let it settle. Undid the cap slightly.
The two bottles (2 litre capacity, holding 1 litre apple juice and yeast) are in the dark, in the bottom of my wardrobe. If everything is right they should start fizzing, with the released gas coming out through the top.

It smells lovely of yeast.

I will keep you up to date.

Sundae...not to be a killjoy but are you sure this is a hobby you want to engage with?

Honestly Dani, it's better for me than going to the shop for Turbo Cider.
There is every chance that this, the bell-end of home brewing, will be a completely undrinkable failure.

Had I gone out and bought a home brewing kit I would agree with you. But I bought the ingredients before I gave up drinking, and I have a lot of time on my hands now.

I'm also making Delia's Pineapple Cider. This is completely non-alcoholic, just steeping pineapple peel until it fizzes, but a fun, clean tasting brew apparently.

I understand your question. But my intention is not to get drunk.
I will not buy any more apple juice for this purpose.
This lot, then the next, as above.
Then that's it.

C'mon. Don't tell me you're not intersted in the outcome ;)

Why tempt fate?

Will this work with pasteurized juice?

The alternative is to chuck the lot down the sink.
Which I may end up doing anyway.
This is an experiment.
It's like planting coconuts in Animal Crossing, except that this time the results are real life.

Honestly - I could get alcohol cheaper, and more reliably any day of the week.

I just thought documenting the process might be interesting.
I'll stop if it isn't acceptable.

Apparently it will.
I've yet to see.

What is this Animal Crossing about? I'll have to check it out, getting a burned out on Toontown.

'Tis a game on the Nintendo DS.
You can get it on Wii, but that's far beyond my means.

Also, if you invite other peoplr into your town you get all sorts of extra benefits - bah. I have no-one else to play with, so just get by with what I have...

Sundae---whence did thouest proceed to ride the Water Wagon?

My congratulations, at any rate--good work! To total tea is my intent as well. Demon Rum only creates extra work for the local constabulary and emergency personnel in my area.

I agree with Dana, perhaps your mum & dad or someone else can let you know how good/bad it is. I'll shut up now.

Oh, I see. I love games, but have no game system, just my comp.

Very interesting. I know nothing about brewing so I can't comment on the soundness of the experiment, but it's neat anyway.

When I was a kid, the local orchard sold fresh apple cider that was delicious. After a week or so, it would go hard, and I hated it after that. It was always disappointing for me then to pour a tall glass of cider only to have it be hard. I wonder what the alcohol content (if any) was. When does it turn to vinegar?

Just a little update.
The hard cider is not looking tempting at all!

The brown scummed froth has receded. And it seems to be lighter in colour, so I assume things are underway. I brought it out for its photo opportunity, is usually lives in my wardrobe. Just realised it's only been 3 days :)
I'm not a very patient person.

A More Acceptable Experiment, Perhaps?
 

I am also making Pineapple Cooler, with a recipe from Delia.
It's not alcoholic, and after all, if the recipe comes from Delia it's not really an experiment either.

Still, it's made the house smell pineapply (or maybe just my fingers) and gives me a box full of fresh pineapple to eat, which can only be a good thing.

Any Brits interested - pineapples are 69p at the moment from Aldi.

It's lovely and simple - cut off the top and bottom and discard. Then slice the rest of the skin off, and into small squares. Add 1.5 pints of water. Cover and leave for a couple of days. It's supposed to be fizzy, light and refreshing. My only worry is that it will get knocked over in the mean time, but I can't think of anywhere else to put it!

So it's the cut up skin that normally gets trashed... er, binned?

Oh yes, that's the joy of it - it's a method of using up all of a pineapple (save the top and bottom of course).

I got the idea because of the Aldi advert on TV. Mum and I can only eat a small amount of pineapple before it starts stinging the sides of our mouths. Grandad enjoys pineapple, but if you put too much of anything in front of him he turns against it. So I was online looking for low fat pineapple recipes. This doesn't help with eating the fruit (but between three of us I reckon we can manage) but it does make use of something I wouldn't normally use.

Tonight, Mum's making bubble and squeak from the leftover cabbage and potatoes that accompanied last night's chicken casserole.

Nom nom nom.

Ohhhh....bubble and squeak. I haven't had that in years. I loved bubble and squeak as a kid, me.

It's a slippery slope
Northern Lights
"Homebrew Fever"
album-Take You To The sky
Homebrew fever's got a hold on me
I'm shakin' so bad I can barely see
Homebrew fever leave me alone
Done took my wife, took my hoooome!
Well I wish I'd listened to my daddy
when he told me not to mess with Satan's brew
Two best of friends I ever had
if you don't keep fleeing it'll get you too
Well ever since I lit up my still
my hair has been getting worse every day
It seems I can never get my fill
but sure wish I could hear what those poor boys play
Homebrew fever's got a hold on me
I'm shakin' so bad I can barely see
Homebrew fever leave me alone
Done took my wife, took my hoooome!
Well times gettin' harder can't find no job
see the money just ain't comin' in
too tired to run too proud to beg
sure wish I could start all over again
Last week I got a visit from the government man
he was lookin' for my old still
well I filled him full of buckshot from my shotgun
all I gotta do now is grab a jug and run
Homebrew fever's got a hold on me
I'm shakin' so bad I can barely see
Homebrew fever leave me alone
Done took my wife, took my hoooome!

I'm sorry, but I'm a bit clueless. The Pineapple cooler -- is that a drink, a way to prepare pineapple, or both? And if you eat the fruit, do you eat the skin too???

I have a story about apple cider. I never knew it was alcoholic. Back in college years, I had this french tutor. One day I decided to make it a cultural event and eat some crepes. My french tutor (who's really French, btw) told me the drink that goes with crepe is apple cider. I told her I would get it, which upon she was happy to hear. I bought some apple cider and served her a glass. She gave me this expression and asked, "This is apple cider?" She told me apple cider in France is alcoholic. I was like, "Apple cider is alcoholic?!? I just bought this at the supermarket!" hahahahah.....seriously, I never knew apple cider could be alcoholic. :p And up til now, I thought only french apple ciders are alcoholic. :D

Hard (alcoholic) cider is pretty common in the rurul US. Andrew Jackson's inaugural wouldn't have been the same without it.

Cider is traditionally a fall undertaking. Once the cider is hard, it can be distilled to separate the alcohol from the water. But it was easier for our foremothers to leave the barrel in the barn or wood shed until it froze, and tap a hole into the unfrozen pocket of high alcohol content in the middle.

In "Botany Of Desire" Pollan points out that Johnny Appleseed wasn't planting apple trees for eating fruit since apples don't grow "true to seed" meaning if you plant a seed from a honey crisp, you won't get a honey crisp or even anything close. Eating apples are propagted by grafting. Apple trees planted by seed were for making hard cider.

Take a piece of paper. Twist it into a cone. Tear off the point of the cone. Throw away the tip. Use the remaining part as a funnel.

V, I did use your funnel idea - in fact with a little :blush: for not thinking of it for myself.

It didn't make much difference in the end though.
It was very yeasty and so unpalateable.

With a few basic brewing items I'm sure it could be better, but given my lack of funds and very good reasons for staying away from booze I probably won't be starting the experiment again.

For the interst and amusement it was well worth the cost however (about £1 in total). Really, I should buy something I can plant for a similar cost. Currently I take a lot of pleasure in watching things change and develop - and no, the parallel is not lost on me.