Jim's Beer Kit

hello drsmurto how are you doing today !! my daughter is gone to sydney 3 month ago !!!! hope you had a great time in brittany !! Rennes is 2 hrs drive from where i live ! we're now making the cider, i'll start in a week ! my varieties are different , as there're so many local one. i'll post some pi...

yes the SG is a bit low but with good apples it could work very well :D the problem to me is to know the kind of apples you've to mix it. if you don't know the variety you can eat it and and know if thre're sweet or bitter sweet or sharp or acid .... often sharp and bitter apples give more sugar ( h...

with 180 kg of apples i can make 108 Liters of juice , with a good crush and a good cider press, which is 60 %
don't be hurry to press, i ferment for 3-4 month
actually i still collecting apples, i will start to press at the end of the month with lower T°.

the best T° of fermentation for a real cider is 8- 12° after pressing the apples, i add pectolictic enzime and i leave it in a open vessel ( you can leave a blanket on it if you wish )in a cool place at a low T° (about 10° ) without adding any yeast ! about 5-8 days you'll see a crust at the sur...

the best is to make a tasty cider rather than a strong cider. so for me : NEVER ADD ANY SUGAR [-X all the sugar you need is already in the apples, if you have the good one of course !!!! because i think your SG too low i'm always between 1058 and 1065. this is easy to do with good apples. 8) i don't...

how do you know that the apples are ready to be crushed :?: the best way is to do the starch test. when apples are fallen (say about 50% of the apples), depending of the varieties, only 50 to 75 % of the starch is convert to soluble sugar. so we often have to wait 2-3 weeks before crushing . the bes...

you've no problem to store them for 2 weeks, even if there's some one bruised 8) it doesn't matter if you've some bruised apples, but not rotten !! :( some varieties store better than other, if there're too brown you're loosing juice !! store them in a cool place out side or in a aerated place, if t...

what a fantastic weekend we'd in Newton Abbot, visiting the Tuckers maltings on the morning, beer fest on the afternoon and evening (about 140 real ale ) then we went to a pub 'Union Inn" for a few more pints, it was a rock concert ...

i 'm looking forward to go to the Abbfest beer and food festival at Newton Abbot next weekend:
http://www.abbfest.org/
i'm going with our Roscoff beer club "BOK" and a friend from plymouth, we'll be 28 peoples !!!
is someone planning to go ?

you can also boil the liquor the day before, leave it with the lid on, and on the morning the T° will still be at 75° (your kettle must be insulated ! )

there's a good one in plymouth :
http://www.hopshopuk.com

french homebrew shop :
http://www.bieremaison.com

http://www.bieredumonde.oxatis.com

yes andy i plan to come england next year 8) ( but don't know when yet ) perhaps we could organise a JHBF meeting at that time with a beer competition :lol: anyway, if i can i 'll let you know and it will be great to meet you again i've brew an oatmeal stout last month, (i'm looking forward to drink...

do you still use hogs back yeast andy

just finish to drink a Bitter and twisted yum....

yes i do.
alll the making cider here do it, also in normandy, it's a different way to do it .

on the first pic you can see the "chapeau brun" (and not a chocolat cake :lol: ) the white point on it is the CO2 which is trying to come through the C-brun and break it, that is the right time to transfert the wort before the fermentaion accelerate, destroy it , and loose the benefice of the clarif...