Well, I've got 4 kegs full, and brewed a cream ale this weekend. I strongly suspect I'm going to need more than one keg's worth of beverage if I'm going to keep my pipeline up with consumption, so I'm going to go for a twist on my Stupid Easy Cider.
I plan to ferment 4 gallons of whatever apple juice is cheapest at the store, using the same yeast I used for my last two batches (pretty sure it was actually a red wine yeast!), adding a lb or two of table sugar during fermentation.
At kegging, I will backsweeten it with blueberry or cherry juice or whatever interesting 100% juice is at Kroger and relatively inexpensive.
I will probably chill the apple juice before pitching, but it's going to ferment at ambient--maybe in a water bath if I get motivated...but likely not. However, this yeast has produced great cider at the 75-77* temps we keep the apartment at in summer.
Looking forward to a little bit of a different cider!
Picked up 4 gallons of apple juice at Kroger yesterday--sadly, it wasn't on sale, so it cost me $16. I got a mix of store brand "natural apple juice" (still from concentrate) which doesn't have any vitamin C added, so is darker due to oxidation (but that will clear up during fermentation) and the normal stuff--I would've tried all natural, but they didn't have a ton in stock.
It's currently chilling in the kegerator--I'll probably toss it in a bucket with some yeast (and maybe some yeast nutrient) later tonight/tomorrow once it's had time to cool down (I only put it in the kegerator this afternoon--it was sitting in the trunk of the car until then because 4 gallons of apple juice is a pain to carry in with the rest of the groceries).
As it ferments, I'll add some sugar (and maybe some molasses for extra nutrition), but I'll let it ferment in ambient temps of the apartment. I'm currently drinking a glass of cider from my last batch that fermented and ambient, and it's pretty dang tasty, so I figure it's not a bad temp for this yeast!
2.5 gallons Kroger Natural Apple Juice (AJ from concentrate, no added ingredient)
1.5 gallons Kroger Apple Juice (Apple Juice from concentrate + vitamin C)
1.5 quart actively fermenting apple juice yeast starter.
I decided to go with a semi-open fermentation, and am fermenting it in a 6 gallon stainless steel pot with a lid just resting on top of it...I sanitized by boiling some water in it, then sprayed it down with star-san.
I aerated by shaking the crap out of the AJ before pouring it into the pot. It was at about 50* when I added the yeast, and I'll let it free rise in about 77* ambient temps.
In a couple-three weeks I'll keg it up and backsweeten it with 1 gallon~ish of blueberry juice.
While this was fermenting, I added ~1.5 lbs white sugar.
On Sunday, I kegged it up with 1 gallon of blueberry juice and put it on gas. It's been sitting at 30 PSI in the kegerator up until today, when I turned the pressure down.
It is very faintly tart and slightly sweet--and still slightly rough from being young (and strong).
I think it is going to be AMAZING once it gets some age on it.
I've got another batch of cider going--apple juice was on sale (10 for $10!), so I HAD to buy 5 gallons.
This one won't be backsweetened with blueberry juice--it raises the cost of the batch from ~$14 (if I'm not using harvested yeast) to like $35 (which is still a bargain for how it turns out, really).
But, just 4 gallons of AJ, fermented, plus 1 gallon of non-fermented AJ at kegging makes for an AMAZING cider, so I'm looking forward to it.
I started the yeast packet in a half gallon minus one glass of AJ, gave it about a day (no stir plate, just occasional intermittent swirling), then added that to 7 1/2 gallon containers of fridged AJ. It was at about 50* to start, and is fermenting in 77-78* ambient (I have a batch of beer going in the wine fridge), but I've used the same yeast, method and temps to make some great cider in the past, so I'm not worried.
I'll probably add some sugar, though I bought some new fermenting buckets and unlike the ones I've been using, the lids make a GREAT friggin' seal. So I'll either add the sugar through a funnel into the airlock gasket, or I'll suck it up and struggle to take the lid off during fermentation. I really prefer adding the sugar over the course of a few days to a week, though, so we'll see what I end up doing.
If it's easy to add via the airlock hole, I'll probably add it over several days. If that doesn't work out, I'll probably add it all at once and let it ride.
