Making Cider at Home

[zigs]

The secret is to only get the sugar to a very pale straw yellow before adding the bicarb

 

[Annetteb]

Hmm that is a very good tip. Thanks zigs you are the best.

 

[zigs]

Chocolate covered honeycomb is one of my absolute favourite things. I get cravings for Crunchies, they are DIVINE!

@zigs - I took a look at cider presses the other day - they are a lot more expensive than I thought! Sounds like a good investment though.

Went to the local brew shop today, the smaller press was £199 and the next one up was £248. Sounds a lot, especially as you need a slicer before you put the pulp in, but looking at the amount of apples I saw today, even after the machine had been round the orchards, there were loads left on the ground, really something i'm going to think about in the future.

 

[Becky]

Either that or make friends with someone who is good at wood work! That's good to know about all the available apples

We got a beer brewing kit in yesterday, Ian is going to have a go at making his own bitter. Should be interesting!!

 

[firelily99]

It a fascinating process but too much work for me. I love apple juice and cider but not enough to do something like that.

 

[zigs]

Either that or make friends with someone who is good at wood work! That's good to know about all the available apples

We got a beer brewing kit in yesterday, Ian is going to have a go at making his own bitter. Should be interesting!!

Nice one, I used to boil up a handfull of hops to give cheaper kits a better flavour, not too many mind, as they make you fall asleep before the alcohol kicks in

 

[headfullofbees]

Zigs, had a bit of an idea: plants love their CO2 and yeast, when fermenting, give off said CO2, so how about fermenting some wine/beer/cider IN THE GREENHOUSE?

 

[zigs]

Zigs, had a bit of an idea: plants love their CO2 and yeast, when fermenting, give off said CO2, so how about fermenting some wine/beer/cider IN THE GREENHOUSE?

I do in the summer, tomatoes love it.

Plants evolved while the CO2 was much higher in the atmosphere, they can still use much higher concentrations to put on more growth.

There are greenhouses that use the CO2 from Breweries to increase production. CO2 levels at the moment are the lowest they've been since the Carboniferous Period, so next time someone tries to tax you for carbon emissions ask them how they can justify it when in the past its been as high as 2,500 ppm and now its only 400ppm.

 

[Becky]

Sounds like a good reason to brew more beer

 

[headfullofbees]

Sounds like a good reason to brew more beer

You can never have too many tomatoes.

 

[zigs]