Posted on 10/13/2012 4:04:06 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good afternoon/evening FReepers. Yep, it is Beer Thirty Time Once Again!
Happiness is a bubbling airlock! And a Cold Brew
BEER
Good evening/afternoon brewers and winemakers. I missed posting the thread yesterday at Beer Thirty. Things just happen. So while we are watching some good College Football lets talk Beer and Wine making. I started my third gallon of of hard Apple cider today. I used some amber Agave Nectar as an added sugar to bump the O.G. This stuff seems to be much sweeter than honey and very tasty! So I thought about posting a link to a Web Page that discusses the use of different sugars used in brewing and priming. Some good info here.
You don’t sound like a “newbie” to this real newbie! :-)
They just did GOOD!
YES! The DAWGS!
We plan on bottling our GewÜrztraminer from 2011. (We call it Kraut Wine and have a picture of Colonel Klink on the label.)
Our Cabernet and Chianti for 2012 are fermenting!
That headspace isn’t a real big deal. As soon as it starts fermenting, the Co2 will form a layer right on top of the cider since it is heavier than air and a high Co2 environment is extremely toxic to nearly everything.
As for the bubblers, I have not used them in at least 10 years. Although it is very satisfying to see and hear the bubbling, it just isn’t needed. I put a piece of aluminum foil on top and call it good. The foil is sanitary, keeps bugs and nasties out. If you cold crash prior to racking as I do, the bubblers are a PITA anyway since they suck whatever liquid you have in them into the carboy as the temps go down.
Happy brewing,
knewshound
Good game!
The raisins are very good for the cider. They provide the nutrients that the yeast needs to stay healthy during the fermentation process. I usually add a commercial natural yeast nutrient to everything I brew. Add the raisins when you pitch the yeast in the primary fermentation.
The Cider I started yesterday is really bubbling away this morning. Very active bubbles rising rapidly up through the cider. The yeasties are very happy! Not violent but very, very pleasing to see. The airlock is bubbling 37 times per min. or about every 1.6 seconds. Nice action!
We’ve discovered a good bargain in Burgundies: Savigny-les-Beaune Vieilles Vignes, “Maison Roche De Bellene”. Got it for $16.99/bottle from Wines til Sold Out. Malolactic fermentation, very tasty.
You can use a balloon with a pin hole for your airlock/stopper. They work quite well and would be better than your loose tops. I would be more worried about that air space in a secondary. In the primary, if your fermentation is going well, that space will be filled with CO2. Your foam islands are probably just yeasties gathering for a final confab. If they start looking hairy you may have an infection - mold.
A little more info would be nice. Why do you say you faild?
You just got to love those bubbles!
By the way those bubbles in the second picture are rising rapidly! Faster than the bubbles in a just opened bottle of champagne!
Wow! I am watching my gallon of cider closely and ferment away. I may have to put a blow off tube on it shortly! Matter of fact I just add the tube to be safe. Those yeasties are really working hard!
| Hard Apple Cider One Gallon | 10/13/2012 | |||
| 1 Gallon Mussleman's Cider | ||||
| 1/3 cup Brown Sugar | ||||
| 2/3 cup Sugar boiled in a little water with about a tea spoon of lime juice (Inverted sugar) | ||||
| 1/4 cup Agave Nectar | ||||
| O.G. | 1.07 | |||
| 1/2 Tea spoon yeast neturent | ||||
| 1.5 grams of Safale 05 yeast in a starter | ||||
| Aerated the apple cider for about 20 min. | ||||
| 10/13/2012 | ||||
| Added yeast starter at 12 noon | ||||
| Airlock started bubbling slowly at 6pm = 6hr. | ||||
| Early morning Airlock bubbling steady every 1.6 seconds. 20 hours after yeast starter added. | ||||
| 10/14/2012 | Bubbling very hard and steady had to put on a blow off tube around 1pm. | |||
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