Python, hitchhikers and Dr Who refernces. Great episode . Im new to brewing and struggle hard with ciders. I love this channel for how honest you are about the good and the bad .
I just wanted to let you know what my experience has been with a mini keg. Mine has been awesome ! When my fermentation is done and after racking a couple of times, I use Potassium Metabisulfite and Sodium Sorbate to inoculate the yeast to prohibit more fermentation. I back sweeten with more juice ( or sugar or sweetener ) and then it goes into the mini keg. I charge the keg to about 25 to 30 psi, and in 2 to 3 day I have a nicely carbonated cider. I believe my keg is about 164 oz and cost about 75 bucks. CO2 cartridges are about 16 bucks for 10. Hope this helps. -- den
I do what’s called “cold crashing” which stops the fermentation. Placed poney kegs it in a refrigerator connected to a co2 tank, or in my case a kegerator I built. About $200 picking up parts on marketplace. The co2 tank was the most expensive part. Cranked the psi and every day went in and shook the keg around. 3-4 days and had perfect carbonation then backed the PSI off to serving levels. Never added any extra ingredients.
I had been meaning to bring it up on a previous video, but using a stronger drinking alcohol in the airlock has been fantastic in keeping every batch I've made safe. My sister left a mango vodka here, and I had not used it as I'm not a fan really, but its been great to use there. Plus it smells WAY better than it tastes, so if somehow gets into the brews, it will just add a stronger fruity smell.
Hello! This is the first video of yours I’ve watched and I’m already a fan, immaculate vibes and informative. Don’t have the ingredients or equipment to make this for myself but I’ll enjoy it second-hand by watching, thank you for the video!
Rather than using a camden tablet I usually just simmer my final must for a little while at at least 180 degrees on the stove, Metabisulfide gives some people headaches I have heard and I give most of my ciders and wines away to friends. Edit: The off smell is probably from the apples, in my experience if you don't put something in there for the yeast, I usually use dead yeast, something in the apple stresses the yeast and you get some off smells.
I’m catching NEW content! This is exciting! Love your stuff! Working my way through the older stuff, I’m trying to follow in a mostly chronological order and the start and finishing. The time it takes to scroll that combined with the speed of my net lately hasn’t made it a quick process. Loving you guys!
I once put together a mix of raspberry, blueberry and white grape to make a Red, white & blue wine for my son and his airmen buddies who had just returned from a deployment to Quatar and it was the footiest thing I had ever smelled. Rotten egg smell and I just could not get it to go away so I ended up making something else. I still have 1 of the gallons sitting and it has been a year. (I theoretically distilled the other 2 gallons) The one gallon at last smell and taste were not bad. No more bad smell and a very unique taste. But I say all that to say this. I contributed it to being all juice and 0 water caused it to be too high in acid creating a lot of stress on the yeast. Also I know you don't need my help but my wife likes sweet wine and cider. Her idea of sweet is usually right around 1.02 so I know what the gravity of sugar is and how much liquid I have and add enough to get me to about 1.015 as a starting point in one shot. (math) Then only one or two more adjustments to finalize the sweetness to taste. Time and wine saver. 🙂 I just used a 1 gallon mini keg to force carbonate my first wine and it worked great. I put 25 to 30 lbs of pressure on it with a 16g cartridge and left it for like 3 days and it really carbonated it good. I served it from the mini which fit into and stayed in our fridge we use just for drinks. While storing it I kept it on the higher 25ish lbs of pressure but when serving I released excess pressure and served it at like 5lbs pressure. Worked great and now I am looking at the simplest/cheapest way to bottle from keg.
I have been interested about brewing for a long time. Your channel has been a huge inspiration showing various of recipes and techniques to create awesome brews at home. Today I just put my very first cider to fermenter and I am really excited to see the end result!
I love that you both primarily focus on keeping things simple and show viewers how accessible brewing can be. That said, I personally wouldn’t mind seeing an occasional video that kicked things up a notch. It doesn’t need to be a every time kind of thing, but maybe 1 in 15 videos (just picking an arbitrary number). Maybe an advanced brewing series 🤔. Would love to see videos on kegging or barrel aging a brew or running a mead through a wine filter. You guys are great! Keep doing what you are doing 🍻
OK, thank you for the kind words, but.... Kegging. We are considering doing a one gallon keg video. Barrel aging? Well, unless you're doing 50+ gallons, there's no advantage to a barrel over just staves or chips! Wine filter. Nah, I don't think they are any better than just giving it time. So, while we have experimented with some more commercial types of brewing, we believe sticking to what made our channel work is what will keep us in business long term!
Thank you for your lovely video! I think the smell you've got because blueberries are among the richest fruits in ascorbic acid, so no surprise in that.
I really like your episodes. You are more technical than most others and this process is more like a fun adult science, and you aren't pandering too hard. This is a great and easy way to getting into this as a hobby. Also, providing the things you use, is just asking anyone watching to give it a good ol' try. Could you in a future episode (if you haven't already) provide a more in-depth episode in regard to the chemical process behind the fermenting process. I know there are other resources out there, but I enjoy your takes on this topic.
To add on to my initial comment, as I am watching the end, you added sweetener. Now, when you add to the mix, could this take away from those notes of blueberry? Or does it enhance the overall products notes?
Another addon to my comment, you mention a sour, is there a possibility that the fruit was not washed beforehand? That could contribute because of the funk it might provide? Also, the thought of that might being a funk brings to mind a trick I found to preserving your fruit. If you do two parts water and one part vinegar, you remove the funk and it keeps the fruit fresh an extra four or five days.
Guys I went away for awhile for different reasons but I missed you so much I just live your videos and comment’s especially your levity and comments when you talk, it’s real life and I love it
Great video. I'm a beer brewer, have not done much cider. But if you can control the fermentation temperature, and keep it on the cool side of the yeasts range, you can really keep the "funk" to a minimum. Anyway, just another variable to tinker with. Enjoy!
I just tried this recipe. This turned out to be THE best cider I ever made. It was great even after two weeks. Which is a first for me. Thank you so. much
My dad used to make blackberry and dewberry wine. He left it under the kitchen sink to ferment. I found it. LOL I love that stuff to this day, 60 years later.
I enjoyed this video yall, with my cider I back sweeten with apple juice concentrate slightly sweeter than I like then bottle condition. Once it carbs enough for my taste I sous vide my bottles at 140 for 10 minutes to pasteurize.
Absolutely no idea why the algorithm recommended your channel but, l'm glad it did. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Just the right amount of useful information mixed with lighthearted banter from a couple who obviously respect and enjoy each other's company. I find myself skipping through a lot of (supposed) tutorials because the 10 minutes of "me, me, me" at the beginning does my head in so, thanks for not doing that. I also liked that even though the finished cider was not as good as you'd hoped, you still posted the video. I don't drink much alcohol as it interferes with other meds l have to take but, l have been thinking of trying to make some lacto-fermented sodas. I'd love to know if you've ever considered making anything like those.
@@CitySteadingBrews l'd love to see you make a video of you making them. You demystified so much of the processes in this video, l'm sure you could make that look less daunting too. 🙂
When I made my mead I opened the frozen blueberries put some pectin enzymes and a camdin tab let them sit in the fridge for 3 days then racked my mead onto them
I loved the color of the unpasteurized blueberries. Too bad about the odor. I'm step feeding my own blueberry apple wine right now. I hope it turns out right. Also, I just thought I'd remind everyone that it's lemonade season at Aldi! At $3 each, you can't go wrong.
First things first.... ~~~ 10k views but only 568 thumbs up?!?!?! Come on CSB Army!!!!! ~~~ Second point. I have also encountered this "weird" nose when using apple cider, and could not place the cause. I enjoyed the taste, but the nose was off-putting. Thanks for the heads up on what could have happened. Thirdly, My wife says thank you for introducing the Aldi lemonade lol. She enjoys the lemonade and I enjoy the reusable pop-tops! I am currently in primary on a blueberry muffin mead, where I will be adding the blueberry in secondary. I was on the fence for fresh/frozen/juice, and which would give the best blueberry flavors... so thank you for using fresh and showing us the difference. AND LASTLY!!! Thank you both for bringing knowledge and laughs to mead making. Ive been watching you for 3 years and truly appreciate the info and side quirks. Much love, and happy brewing. ~Jon in Texas
@@kjdevault This recipe is from the Brewing book by Amber Shehan (with an addition by myself) 1 gal batch: 3lbs honey 2 lbs frozen/thawed blueberries nutrients and such per usual secondary: 1 vanilla bean (split) 1 cinnamon stick 1/4 tsp nutmeg (my own addition) Side note ~ I am trying this for the first time, so I'm not sure how it will come out. I'm sure someone has done something similar and may be able to give feedback.
I would be interested in seeing you guys test making a cider with a few different yeasts and then comparing. Ale yeast vs. wine yeast. Specifically when making a cider.
You guys are super sweet and funny. Thank you for this entertaining and educational content. I moved to the keg carbonating method as soon as I could. I hate bottling, because I'm lazy, it takes too long and it is a chance to infect your product. I looked around for restaurants that were going out of business, and bought two soda canisters for cash, real cheap. They hold 5 gallons, which was the size of my carboy. You still have to buy the regulator and connectors, but it's not that expensive. Cut a hole in an old fridge and you now have cold beer/cider on tap the next day.
Very instructive. I don't believe you have talked too much about infections and contagions, and it would be helpful if you offered a short video on that subject. I had to look up a Brett contagion, as I've never encountered it, so expanding on that would be very helpful.
Hi again Brian or Dearica :D I would love to see you guys make a mead-cider where you press the apples! I'm going to do it this summer and it would be so fun to watch someone make a "real" cyster. CHEERS!! PS. when adding Kmeta, one tablet is for the entire jar so you guys basically use 5 times the amount :D
Back in the day when I was making cider and fruit beers, I would use the fruit juice as my bottling sugar. This will add tons of flavor. You can freeze the juice at the start, then add it to your batch at the end. As all juices vary in sugar content, use the rule of thumb of about 4 gravity points to get a good fizz. I also didn't use bags to ferment. Bags are a hassle to clean, they can float and mold, and you lose product to the bag. I wanted those skins and bits floating free, gave up more flavor that way. It all settles eventually and gets left behind after racking.
Before the chemistry set. We would sanitize our "gooed-berries" by putting them in boiling water for a few minutes (3). boil 2 parts water to 1 part "gooed-berries". Once water begins to boil add the "gooed-berries" stir for approx 3 minutes. The boiling water will kill all bacteria as well as begin to breakdown the berry husks. Avoid over boiling as it will also caramelize the sugars.
You want to make your apple juice cider taste way better? When racking to secondary cut up two granny smith apples (for a 1 gallon batch) and rack on top of those apples. Leave the apple in secondary for 4 to 7 days. Push them around/ flip them every day. Then remove the apples and let the cider sit a few days to clear a bit, rack to bottling vessel, add priming sugar and a small bit more yeast and then bottle it. You really need to be smelling it when you move around the apple each day to let you know when to scoop them out.
I carbonate my cider by forcecarbonation and I love it. Together with a spundingvalve it is the safest way. And I tried to do it without spending a fortune: I use a Kegland Tee with carbonation caps (and a piece of hose course 😉) with a PET Soda bottle and a sodastream CO2 bottle. Works great 👍 To get the cider out I use a „picknick tap“ - also a solid working but money saving option 😉
Used your video as a guide for what equipment to buy to get started. The Mrs and I are picking our apples tomorrow and are going to make our own cider 😊
With the keg carbonation you can add it to the list of videos that you made a specialized operations and just point to the opposite corresponding video of the method you are doing for that brew
Frozen blueberries are one of my favorite snacks. And frozen bananas. And Dark cherries. Something in the freezing makes them all so much sweeter and almost caramelized!
I’m glad you guy made this video. I have to say that whenever I make cider or sparkling wine I just let it go for about 6 months because it just taste and smells awful because of the apple. Maybe the wood may have made it bitter as an aroma? I would definitely love to see the side by side!
Question on freezing fruit - I agree, SO much more juice when fruit is frozen first, and I’ve found that the longer it’s in the freezer, the more juice I seem to get. My question is, if your fruit is in the freezer for weeks, no campden tablets would be needed? I think you’re answering this question as I’m typing it… yes?
Great video guys!! I just recently did some spicy V8, and man it got white and pink after the fermentation. I then racked to a new vessel and now it is going back to red. Amazing stuff.
I need to see when the next local blueberry festival is. I would absolutely make blurberry cider or wine with the blueberries I buy from it. Though I might have to wait until next year
I was making a kit wine this morning and realized that I have been thwacking packets before opening for years to move the contents to the bottom. Sugar at restaurants, salt from fast food, and my yeast packets. Regarding the Campden tablet, I typically also add my water at that time, I feel it allows a more evenly distribution of the Campden tablet.
It`s quite easy, but you will need some equipment. The process itself is just putting the final brew into a clean and mostly Oxygen free Keg, then you close it up add the Carbondioxyde until you have like 2-2,5bar pressure in the Keg, shake it up good, cool it down and let it sit for like a day.
in terms of equipment, you`ll need a way to clean and sanitize your Kegs, a bottle of pressurized CO2, the necessary adapters, a pressure regulator and a pressure gauge, some tubing and a fridge.
LOL...I made blueberry muffins last week with fresh berries, and tonight, I made Fresh Blueberry shortcake...with a homemade from scratch white cake and real whipped cream...I saw your headline and HAD to stop and watch...I love blueberries, I love cider, so why wouldn't I watch...
I have a 1 gallon u-Keg that works pretty well for force carbing brews below 8ish percent ABV. It does take about a week and takes up as much space as a gallon of milk. It does work though, provided you keep everything cold before adding CO2 and maintain the temperature until the brew is gone.
@@CitySteadingBrews gave yourself a range of 5 for IG reading, FG reading was within 4, it was only "off" because you tightened the acceptable window for your estimation.
So, yeah. Just came across you guys, and that was a very enjoyable video. It's giving me a few ideas of a couple things I want to try now, in the same vein but with local wild berries.
My dad always used to brew his beer in 5 gallon water containers with a tap at the bottom. The yeast always flocculated to the bottom and sat underneath the level of the tap so he could just rack it off easily into a fresh container for the second half then did the same into post mix soda kegs. He’d then refrigerate it to close to freezing, attach a CO2 tank to it then gas it up by rolling it on the floor for a few minutes then when it was done he’d put it in a fridge with food grade tubing running to beer taps connected to the door. You could just open the freezer, get out a frosty mug then pour off an amber ale or Pilsner from the tap with no fuss. God I miss it. I’ve been meaning to get into it myself.
First off, I'm new to home brewing and really love your stuff. I always learn something new here I have kind of a similar story to that strange smell. I'm currently doing massive amounts of tepache (wild fermeted pineapple) and I test new ideas, like adding limes or lemons. I did one batch with mango and ended up with a strange and kind of horrifying smell. It did taste perfectly fine. Just like I expected the sweet and sour flavors were there with like a bit more complexity and funk from the mango. But it smelled like almost burned rubber and I could not bring myself to drink it, so I dumped it.
Love your channel and content! I just started a 3 gallon batch of blueberry cider but I used the left over blueberries from my blueberry wine and they were frozen. 🤞
Hello guys love your channel newly subbed and I made blueberry cider still in first ferment I also have some mead from last year it’s fantastic hibiscus and honey love it
We don’t use the charts tbh. We found an amount of priming sugar that works for 99.9% of our needs and ran with it. It just happens to be in the middle of said charts!
When making strawberry and apple cider I use a big ol' bag in a pot, frozen fruit in bag and then fill with apple juice. Boil for half hour and mash the fruit. Squeeze bag and add liquid to fermenter, then you avoid tablets and pasteurise your must/wort/whatever
Hello Brian Derika. So happy to see the new video! I would definitely be interested in a side-by-side comparison, and also would be interested in seeing the forced carbonation process. I was wondering though, could you soak your fruit in sanitizing solution? And would that be enough to kill off everything?
Hello! From Texas! :D I started making my own mead and your videos have been super helpful, Mead related and not. You two really help break down the process and as a noob, I appreciate it so much! This Blueberry Cider might be on my 'to be made' list. :D Also: 42!? He he
Even though it might affect the flavour a bit, I think that pasteurizing the blended blueberries with 1/4th of the total amount of apple juice, would have been my way to go about this. That way you should be safe from random infections via the berries and you`d still have a lot of juice to cool it down so you can get the yeast in there way sooner. Also great video (as always) and I wish you all the best from Germany!
I would love to see you do something with keg carbonation! I'm waffling on investing in a 1 or 2 gallon keg for my beer and cider batches. It would let me rack and condition beer/cider longer to smooth out the taste without worrying about the yeast dying off and preventing bottle carbonation.
I am all about seeing you do more with keg carbonation. I have a 1 gallon keg and done 3 batches in it. It has worked out great so far. I would love to go larger just don’t have the space to cool a larger keg. Thanks for all the videos!!
I would like to see your take on keg carbonating. I’ve done it for about the last year and a half with good results for beer cider and mead. I use 5 gallon kegs and a converted chest freezer. There are a couple of good channels that I follow that I looked at for basics, but I won’t share them in your comments so that I don’t look like I’m spamming your comment section for other channels.
I'd be interested to see the keg carbonation, because even if I never invest in the equipment or never have the desire to try it, it's nice to know how it works.
I've gotten that odor befor do to the wood i reused had a bacteria in it that i didnt detect (only way I found it was because i had another peace of wood in with the one i used and after soaking that left over wood i then could smell it) too bad it dint turn out well for you though.
Very interested in the "keg carbonation". I was advised that CO2 would give "off flavors" in wines, but not in beers and ciders. Curious for your input/perspective.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you! I had planned to use nitrogen for the wife's wine creations, and CO2 for my beers and ciders; probably two different units (kegerator vs. keezer)
The allulose trick is very interesting. Looking forward to trying it.YES TO THE KEG CARBONATION, please. I'm very interested and not finding all the practical info i'd like.
Making "plastic bottle ginger beer" I've done a few things that worked. First, when I fill the bottle, I compress it slightly before sealing it. This means it will be notably soft. Squeezable and indent-able. Second, I let it work for at least a day (ginger beer is a fast ferment) and it gets HARD. Like, rock. Then I get it cold to stop the ferment. It has to be very carefully de-pressurized.
This is interesting because I actually love funky brews. Spontaneous fermentation, mixed fermentation, etc. Love it. I seek it out and pretty much only buy that style. I'm wondering how to brew a cider that has a sort of a wild, funky, lambic-like quality (like something from 3 Fonteinen).
The infection may have been introduced by the wood. Yeast can imbed themselves deep in wood and even with a long soak in boiling water it may have not been killed off.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
We have a NEW Version of Blueberry Cider! This is our BEST Blueberry Cider Recipe yet! ruclips.net/video/-pgpSKT9sjc/видео.html
I have experienced that footy smells usually go away if you mature the wine for 8-10 months or more.
@PankajDoharey yup
Just a heads up! We have a NEW IMPROVED version of BLUEBERRY CIDER coming out on SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2023!
Python, hitchhikers and Dr Who refernces. Great episode . Im new to brewing and struggle hard with ciders. I love this channel for how honest you are about the good and the bad .
I'd like to see the keg be done. Even if I don't buy it or it's a little cost prohibitive, I still like learning new techniques from you guys!
I just wanted to let you know what my experience has been with a mini keg. Mine has been awesome ! When my fermentation is done and after racking a couple of times, I use Potassium Metabisulfite and Sodium Sorbate to inoculate the yeast to prohibit more fermentation. I back sweeten with more juice ( or sugar or sweetener ) and then it goes into the mini keg. I charge the keg to about 25 to 30 psi, and in 2 to 3 day I have a nicely carbonated cider. I believe my keg is about 164 oz and cost about 75 bucks. CO2 cartridges are about 16 bucks for 10. Hope this helps. -- den
I do what’s called “cold crashing” which stops the fermentation. Placed poney kegs it in a refrigerator connected to a co2 tank, or in my case a kegerator I built. About $200 picking up parts on marketplace. The co2 tank was the most expensive part.
Cranked the psi and every day went in and shook the keg around. 3-4 days and had perfect carbonation then backed the PSI off to serving levels. Never added any extra ingredients.
@abolton2718 cold crashing does not stop fermentation. This is dangerous advice.
I had been meaning to bring it up on a previous video, but using a stronger drinking alcohol in the airlock has been fantastic in keeping every batch I've made safe. My sister left a mango vodka here, and I had not used it as I'm not a fan really, but its been great to use there. Plus it smells WAY better than it tastes, so if somehow gets into the brews, it will just add a stronger fruity smell.
Hello! This is the first video of yours I’ve watched and I’m already a fan, immaculate vibes and informative. Don’t have the ingredients or equipment to make this for myself but I’ll enjoy it second-hand by watching, thank you for the video!
Very welcome!
Rather than using a camden tablet I usually just simmer my final must for a little while at at least 180 degrees on the stove, Metabisulfide gives some people headaches I have heard and I give most of my ciders and wines away to friends.
Edit: The off smell is probably from the apples, in my experience if you don't put something in there for the yeast, I usually use dead yeast, something in the apple stresses the yeast and you get some off smells.
I’m catching NEW content! This is exciting! Love your stuff! Working my way through the older stuff, I’m trying to follow in a mostly chronological order and the start and finishing. The time it takes to scroll that combined with the speed of my net lately hasn’t made it a quick process. Loving you guys!
Awesome!
I once put together a mix of raspberry, blueberry and white grape to make a Red, white & blue wine for my son and his airmen buddies who had just returned from a deployment to Quatar and it was the footiest thing I had ever smelled. Rotten egg smell and I just could not get it to go away so I ended up making something else. I still have 1 of the gallons sitting and it has been a year. (I theoretically distilled the other 2 gallons) The one gallon at last smell and taste were not bad. No more bad smell and a very unique taste. But I say all that to say this. I contributed it to being all juice and 0 water caused it to be too high in acid creating a lot of stress on the yeast. Also I know you don't need my help but my wife likes sweet wine and cider. Her idea of sweet is usually right around 1.02 so I know what the gravity of sugar is and how much liquid I have and add enough to get me to about 1.015 as a starting point in one shot. (math) Then only one or two more adjustments to finalize the sweetness to taste. Time and wine saver. 🙂 I just used a 1 gallon mini keg to force carbonate my first wine and it worked great. I put 25 to 30 lbs of pressure on it with a 16g cartridge and left it for like 3 days and it really carbonated it good. I served it from the mini which fit into and stayed in our fridge we use just for drinks. While storing it I kept it on the higher 25ish lbs of pressure but when serving I released excess pressure and served it at like 5lbs pressure. Worked great and now I am looking at the simplest/cheapest way to bottle from keg.
Yes, i would like to see the side by side comparison video please. Thank y'all for your great content, the good and not so good 😂
I have been interested about brewing for a long time. Your channel has been a huge inspiration showing various of recipes and techniques to create awesome brews at home. Today I just put my very first cider to fermenter and I am really excited to see the end result!
I love that you both primarily focus on keeping things simple and show viewers how accessible brewing can be. That said, I personally wouldn’t mind seeing an occasional video that kicked things up a notch. It doesn’t need to be a every time kind of thing, but maybe 1 in 15 videos (just picking an arbitrary number). Maybe an advanced brewing series 🤔. Would love to see videos on kegging or barrel aging a brew or running a mead through a wine filter.
You guys are great! Keep doing what you are doing 🍻
OK, thank you for the kind words, but....
Kegging. We are considering doing a one gallon keg video.
Barrel aging? Well, unless you're doing 50+ gallons, there's no advantage to a barrel over just staves or chips!
Wine filter. Nah, I don't think they are any better than just giving it time.
So, while we have experimented with some more commercial types of brewing, we believe sticking to what made our channel work is what will keep us in business long term!
Thank you for your lovely video! I think the smell you've got because blueberries are among the richest fruits in ascorbic acid, so no surprise in that.
I really like your episodes. You are more technical than most others and this process is more like a fun adult science, and you aren't pandering too hard. This is a great and easy way to getting into this as a hobby. Also, providing the things you use, is just asking anyone watching to give it a good ol' try. Could you in a future episode (if you haven't already) provide a more in-depth episode in regard to the chemical process behind the fermenting process. I know there are other resources out there, but I enjoy your takes on this topic.
Thanks but we aren't scientists so the more technical aspects of fermentation that you're asking for just aren't within the scope of channel.
To add on to my initial comment, as I am watching the end, you added sweetener. Now, when you add to the mix, could this take away from those notes of blueberry? Or does it enhance the overall products notes?
Another addon to my comment, you mention a sour, is there a possibility that the fruit was not washed beforehand? That could contribute because of the funk it might provide? Also, the thought of that might being a funk brings to mind a trick I found to preserving your fruit. If you do two parts water and one part vinegar, you remove the funk and it keeps the fruit fresh an extra four or five days.
Guys I went away for awhile for different reasons but I missed you so much I just live your videos and comment’s especially your levity and comments when you talk, it’s real life and I love it
Thanks and welcome back!
Great video. I'm a beer brewer, have not done much cider. But if you can control the fermentation temperature, and keep it on the cool side of the yeasts range, you can really keep the "funk" to a minimum. Anyway, just another variable to tinker with. Enjoy!
Started my 1st mess today and interested in Ciders! Thanks for this channel!
This is the single greatest idea in the history of cider! Thank you!
I just tried this recipe. This turned out to be THE best cider I ever made. It was great even after two weeks. Which is a first for me. Thank you so. much
You are welcome! Happy to help.
Building my Amazon list because of yall, can't wait to try this
Great wholesome video. I haven't have a YT recommendation for you guys for many months. I'm totally going to make this.
My dad used to make blackberry and dewberry wine. He left it under the kitchen sink to ferment. I found it. LOL I love that stuff to this day, 60 years later.
I enjoyed this video yall, with my cider I back sweeten with apple juice concentrate slightly sweeter than I like then bottle condition. Once it carbs enough for my taste I sous vide my bottles at 140 for 10 minutes to pasteurize.
Really need 22 minutes to pasteurize so be careful 👍
Absolutely no idea why the algorithm recommended your channel but, l'm glad it did. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Just the right amount of useful information mixed with lighthearted banter from a couple who obviously respect and enjoy each other's company. I find myself skipping through a lot of (supposed) tutorials because the 10 minutes of "me, me, me" at the beginning does my head in so, thanks for not doing that. I also liked that even though the finished cider was not as good as you'd hoped, you still posted the video. I don't drink much alcohol as it interferes with other meds l have to take but, l have been thinking of trying to make some lacto-fermented sodas. I'd love to know if you've ever considered making anything like those.
We have not made lacto fermented soda. Pickes, sauerkraut, but not soda.
@@CitySteadingBrews l'd love to see you make a video of you making them. You demystified so much of the processes in this video, l'm sure you could make that look less daunting too. 🙂
I see this channel as a learn-along. Bring the on the keg! Viewers my spend the money if they see your success.
When I made my mead I opened the frozen blueberries put some pectin enzymes and a camdin tab let them sit in the fridge for 3 days then racked my mead onto them
It’s u pick blueberry season here in the Tallahassee area so I’ll be freezing my fruit and they if this one in a month for sure ❤❤
The answer to life the universe and everything! Great episode guys!
I loved the color of the unpasteurized blueberries. Too bad about the odor.
I'm step feeding my own blueberry apple wine right now.
I hope it turns out right.
Also, I just thought I'd remind everyone that it's lemonade season at Aldi! At $3 each, you can't go wrong.
First things first.... ~~~ 10k views but only 568 thumbs up?!?!?! Come on CSB Army!!!!! ~~~
Second point. I have also encountered this "weird" nose when using apple cider, and could not place the cause. I enjoyed the taste, but the nose was off-putting. Thanks for the heads up on what could have happened.
Thirdly, My wife says thank you for introducing the Aldi lemonade lol. She enjoys the lemonade and I enjoy the reusable pop-tops!
I am currently in primary on a blueberry muffin mead, where I will be adding the blueberry in secondary. I was on the fence for fresh/frozen/juice, and which would give the best blueberry flavors... so thank you for using fresh and showing us the difference.
AND LASTLY!!! Thank you both for bringing knowledge and laughs to mead making. Ive been watching you for 3 years and truly appreciate the info and side quirks. Much love, and happy brewing.
~Jon in Texas
Thank YOU for watching and for the awesome comments!
Care to share your blueberry muffin mead recipe? Sounds awesome!!
@@kjdevault
This recipe is from the Brewing book by Amber Shehan (with an addition by myself)
1 gal batch:
3lbs honey
2 lbs frozen/thawed blueberries
nutrients and such per usual
secondary:
1 vanilla bean (split)
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp nutmeg (my own addition)
Side note ~ I am trying this for the first time, so I'm not sure how it will come out. I'm sure someone has done something similar and may be able to give feedback.
@@loki86golf thanks!!
I would be interested in seeing you guys test making a cider with a few different yeasts and then comparing. Ale yeast vs. wine yeast. Specifically when making a cider.
You guys are super sweet and funny. Thank you for this entertaining and educational content.
I moved to the keg carbonating method as soon as I could. I hate bottling, because I'm lazy, it takes too long and it is a chance to infect your product. I looked around for restaurants that were going out of business, and bought two soda canisters for cash, real cheap. They hold 5 gallons, which was the size of my carboy. You still have to buy the regulator and connectors, but it's not that expensive. Cut a hole in an old fridge and you now have cold beer/cider on tap the next day.
Very instructive. I don't believe you have talked too much about infections and contagions, and it would be helpful if you offered a short video on that subject. I had to look up a Brett contagion, as I've never encountered it, so expanding on that would be very helpful.
Yes. A side by side comparison please and thank you.
I love the way that you are so totally prepared 😉
This video was the straw that is inspiring me to go out and get a starting kit to brew my own cider
Awesome!
Hi again Brian or Dearica :D I would love to see you guys make a mead-cider where you press the apples! I'm going to do it this summer and it would be so fun to watch someone make a "real" cyster. CHEERS!!
PS. when adding Kmeta, one tablet is for the entire jar so you guys basically use 5 times the amount :D
The instructions said one tab for a gallon. So, we used a little less than double...
My wife wants us to do this too... (Pressing apples) Me? Sounds like more work. And dealing with cider, can someone give me the definition of skrumpy?
Back in the day when I was making cider and fruit beers, I would use the fruit juice as my bottling sugar. This will add tons of flavor. You can freeze the juice at the start, then add it to your batch at the end. As all juices vary in sugar content, use the rule of thumb of about 4 gravity points to get a good fizz.
I also didn't use bags to ferment. Bags are a hassle to clean, they can float and mold, and you lose product to the bag. I wanted those skins and bits floating free, gave up more flavor that way. It all settles eventually and gets left behind after racking.
I don't know if I'll ever do it, but I'd be interested in watching keg videos.
And yes, I'd like to see a side by side test. Another thing to test is boiling the blueberries.
Before the chemistry set. We would sanitize our "gooed-berries" by putting them in boiling water for a few minutes (3). boil 2 parts water to 1 part "gooed-berries". Once water begins to boil add the "gooed-berries" stir for approx 3 minutes. The boiling water will kill all bacteria as well as begin to breakdown the berry husks. Avoid over boiling as it will also caramelize the sugars.
I was wondering why not just do that.
You want to make your apple juice cider taste way better? When racking to secondary cut up two granny smith apples (for a 1 gallon batch) and rack on top of those apples. Leave the apple in secondary for 4 to 7 days. Push them around/ flip them every day. Then remove the apples and let the cider sit a few days to clear a bit, rack to bottling vessel, add priming sugar and a small bit more yeast and then bottle it. You really need to be smelling it when you move around the apple each day to let you know when to scoop them out.
I carbonate my cider by forcecarbonation and I love it. Together with a spundingvalve it is the safest way. And I tried to do it without spending a fortune: I use a Kegland Tee with carbonation caps (and a piece of hose course 😉) with a PET Soda bottle and a sodastream CO2 bottle. Works great 👍
To get the cider out I use a „picknick tap“ - also a solid working but money saving option 😉
Used your video as a guide for what equipment to buy to get started. The Mrs and I are picking our apples tomorrow and are going to make our own cider 😊
Woohoo!
Hi. First time watcher here. Love the Red Bucket Of Sanitization.
Welcome!
With the keg carbonation you can add it to the list of videos that you made a specialized operations and just point to the opposite corresponding video of the method you are doing for that brew
There's a blueberry cider from Humboldt Cider Co that's so good. It's a mix of apples and blueberries too.
Frozen blueberries are one of my favorite snacks. And frozen bananas. And Dark cherries. Something in the freezing makes them all so much sweeter and almost caramelized!
Concentrated sugars, it's similar to how ice wine is made and why it's so much sweeter.
A suggestion for you try a mortar and pestle. It’s easier to break up and smashed off and turn it into powder that way.
There is a micro brewery in Pa that makes a stout flavored with black current. That stuff is heavenly!
I’m glad you guy made this video. I have to say that whenever I make cider or sparkling wine I just let it go for about 6 months because it just taste and smells awful because of the apple. Maybe the wood may have made it bitter as an aroma? I would definitely love to see the side by side!
Yeah, the wood may have had something going
Question on freezing fruit - I agree, SO much more juice when fruit is frozen first, and I’ve found that the longer it’s in the freezer, the more juice I seem to get.
My question is, if your fruit is in the freezer for weeks, no campden tablets would be needed? I think you’re answering this question as I’m typing it… yes?
Technically you should still use camden tabs, but honestly we normally don't for frozen.
Great video guys!! I just recently did some spicy V8, and man it got white and pink after the fermentation. I then racked to a new vessel and now it is going back to red. Amazing stuff.
Novice here but when I bottle carbonated cider this fall I had 3 of 12 bottles explode in pasteurization. I’ll probably try this method next.
I used a potato masher for my blueberries and it turned out awesome with less lees.
If there was less lees, the yeast may mot have been able to get to all of it.
I need to see when the next local blueberry festival is. I would absolutely make blurberry cider or wine with the blueberries I buy from it. Though I might have to wait until next year
I was making a kit wine this morning and realized that I have been thwacking packets before opening for years to move the contents to the bottom. Sugar at restaurants, salt from fast food, and my yeast packets.
Regarding the Campden tablet, I typically also add my water at that time, I feel it allows a more evenly distribution of the Campden tablet.
Yup!
Packet thwackers unite!!!
I would definitely like to learn all I can. So keg carbonation would be a great addition
Keg carbonation would be a great thing to know how to do.
It`s quite easy, but you will need some equipment. The process itself is just putting the final brew into a clean and mostly Oxygen free Keg, then you close it up add the Carbondioxyde until you have like 2-2,5bar pressure in the Keg, shake it up good, cool it down and let it sit for like a day.
in terms of equipment, you`ll need a way to clean and sanitize your Kegs, a bottle of pressurized CO2, the necessary adapters, a pressure regulator and a pressure gauge, some tubing and a fridge.
LOL...I made blueberry muffins last week with fresh berries, and tonight, I made Fresh Blueberry shortcake...with a homemade from scratch white cake and real whipped cream...I saw your headline and HAD to stop and watch...I love blueberries, I love cider, so why wouldn't I watch...
I have a 1 gallon u-Keg that works pretty well for force carbing brews below 8ish percent ABV. It does take about a week and takes up as much space as a gallon of milk.
It does work though, provided you keep everything cold before adding CO2 and maintain the temperature until the brew is gone.
I love the honesty!
Thank you very much for letting me know I can use allulose to sweeten my wines, etc. I was wondering how to get around sugar.
Omg a ren and stimpy quote love it.
The final gravity guess was off by an amount within the range yo set for yourself for the initial reading, total success!
How was the reading off?
@@CitySteadingBrews gave yourself a range of 5 for IG reading, FG reading was within 4, it was only "off" because you tightened the acceptable window for your estimation.
Saw your Two Warriors Meadery shirt! I live not too far from there! Good stuff!
So, yeah. Just came across you guys, and that was a very enjoyable video. It's giving me a few ideas of a couple things I want to try now, in the same vein but with local wild berries.
My dad always used to brew his beer in 5 gallon water containers with a tap at the bottom. The yeast always flocculated to the bottom and sat underneath the level of the tap so he could just rack it off easily into a fresh container for the second half then did the same into post mix soda kegs. He’d then refrigerate it to close to freezing, attach a CO2 tank to it then gas it up by rolling it on the floor for a few minutes then when it was done he’d put it in a fridge with food grade tubing running to beer taps connected to the door. You could just open the freezer, get out a frosty mug then pour off an amber ale or Pilsner from the tap with no fuss. God I miss it. I’ve been meaning to get into it myself.
YES! I was just about to make this!
First off, I'm new to home brewing and really love your stuff. I always learn something new here
I have kind of a similar story to that strange smell.
I'm currently doing massive amounts of tepache (wild fermeted pineapple) and I test new ideas, like adding limes or lemons.
I did one batch with mango and ended up with a strange and kind of horrifying smell.
It did taste perfectly fine. Just like I expected the sweet and sour flavors were there with like a bit more complexity and funk from the mango.
But it smelled like almost burned rubber and I could not bring myself to drink it, so I dumped it.
Love your channel and content! I just started a 3 gallon batch of blueberry cider but I used the left over blueberries from my blueberry wine and they were frozen. 🤞
Hello guys love your channel newly subbed and I made blueberry cider still in first ferment I also have some mead from last year it’s fantastic hibiscus and honey love it
A mead that I’ve had quite recently that I’d like to see your take on is a blackberry and hops. The one I had was a very low ABV and pretty sweet.
Thank You for introducing me to Allulose...
34:35 Can you maybe explain more on the charts or which chart you guys used for the primary sugar?
We don’t use the charts tbh. We found an amount of priming sugar that works for 99.9% of our needs and ran with it. It just happens to be in the middle of said charts!
When making strawberry and apple cider I use a big ol' bag in a pot, frozen fruit in bag and then fill with apple juice. Boil for half hour and mash the fruit. Squeeze bag and add liquid to fermenter, then you avoid tablets and pasteurise your must/wort/whatever
You should do a timelapse of the fermentation, that would be neat, especially with a particularly active yeast.
It wouldn't be really. Fermentation takes a long long time!
Hense the time-lapse video, where it is all sped up.
Hello Brian Derika. So happy to see the new video! I would definitely be interested in a side-by-side comparison, and also would be interested in seeing the forced carbonation process. I was wondering though, could you soak your fruit in sanitizing solution? And would that be enough to kill off everything?
It wouldn’t kill everything no. Doesn’t penetrate the fruit.
Hello! From Texas! :D
I started making my own mead and your videos have been super helpful, Mead related and not. You two really help break down the process and as a noob, I appreciate it so much!
This Blueberry Cider might be on my 'to be made' list. :D
Also: 42!? He he
Even though it might affect the flavour a bit, I think that pasteurizing the blended blueberries with 1/4th of the total amount of apple juice, would have been my way to go about this.
That way you should be safe from random infections via the berries and you`d still have a lot of juice to cool it down so you can get the yeast in there way sooner.
Also great video (as always) and I wish you all the best from Germany!
You could do that... but the blueberries will take on a cooked flavor.
@@CitySteadingBrews Is the cooked flavor a problem? I love me some blueberry pie.
Not a problem, just a difference :)
I would love to see you do something with keg carbonation! I'm waffling on investing in a 1 or 2 gallon keg for my beer and cider batches. It would let me rack and condition beer/cider longer to smooth out the taste without worrying about the yeast dying off and preventing bottle carbonation.
That contrast between aroma and taste is very interesting, like you I really wonder what that is about. Is it possible it is the oak?
Seems it might be.
I absolutely get the footy thing though. Specially with younger brews
Subd, I really like the two of you, very entertaining and interesting presentation. I'm definitely going to be trying some of these brews.
Thanks!
I am all about seeing you do more with keg carbonation. I have a 1 gallon keg and done 3 batches in it. It has worked out great so far. I would love to go larger just don’t have the space to cool a larger keg. Thanks for all the videos!!
I would like to see your take on keg carbonating. I’ve done it for about the last year and a half with good results for beer cider and mead. I use 5 gallon kegs and a converted chest freezer. There are a couple of good channels that I follow that I looked at for basics, but I won’t share them in your comments so that I don’t look like I’m spamming your comment section for other channels.
Off topic but I love your Flash shirt. Easily my favorite superhero
I'd be interested to see the keg carbonation, because even if I never invest in the equipment or never have the desire to try it, it's nice to know how it works.
The gurus are at it again ! NICE
I've gotten that odor befor do to the wood i reused had a bacteria in it that i didnt detect (only way I found it was because i had another peace of wood in with the one i used and after soaking that left over wood i then could smell it) too bad it dint turn out well for you though.
you can set keg carb via temp and pressure to a set volume or g/ml
The best you guys are amazing 😊
Very interested in the "keg carbonation". I was advised that CO2 would give "off flavors" in wines, but not in beers and ciders. Curious for your input/perspective.
If it gives an off flavor in one, it would in all of them. I do think it adds some small amount of flavor though.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you! I had planned to use nitrogen for the wife's wine creations, and CO2 for my beers and ciders; probably two different units (kegerator vs. keezer)
The allulose trick is very interesting. Looking forward to trying it.YES TO THE KEG CARBONATION, please. I'm very interested and not finding all the practical info i'd like.
Hope you enjoy it!
needed a min of 3lbs blueberries for the gravity..probably 4. love the channel
Hmm?
Making "plastic bottle ginger beer" I've done a few things that worked.
First, when I fill the bottle, I compress it slightly before sealing it. This means it will be notably soft. Squeezable and indent-able.
Second, I let it work for at least a day (ginger beer is a fast ferment) and it gets HARD. Like, rock.
Then I get it cold to stop the ferment. It has to be very carefully de-pressurized.
I’m going to try the blueberry with white grape juice
This is interesting because I actually love funky brews. Spontaneous fermentation, mixed fermentation, etc. Love it. I seek it out and pretty much only buy that style. I'm wondering how to brew a cider that has a sort of a wild, funky, lambic-like quality (like something from 3 Fonteinen).
Love your channel! Thank you! Can frozen blue berries be used for this recipe? Should the tablets be used?
Technically... you should still, but we honestly don't most times with frozen fruit.
The infection may have been introduced by the wood. Yeast can imbed themselves deep in wood and even with a long soak in boiling water it may have not been killed off.
That is certainly possible.
This was so good to see, thanks!