Cider 1: Bottled.

Bottled. Yeilded 11, 22oz, 10 16oz bottles.
Added 5Oz Priming Sugar with 8 Oz water.
Final Hydrometer Reading:1.0. ~9%ABV.

Flavor:
Dry & Tangy without being bitter.
Able to taste alcohol at finish.

I'm pretty happy with this first cider. I guess I'm happy with anything that doesn't taste like the 5 brand's I've had for the past 2.75 years. Depending on how GF Beer 2 Goes, I may add more apricot/fruit to the next one.

Not able to taste cinnamon that was added.


Side Note:
Tap water had strong Cholrine Smell. Definitely going to buy my own Water filter for brewing.

MUST: make device for cleaning/sanitizing bottles faster.

Cider/GF Beer 2

Cider 1
Cider fermentation is finally winding down. Nice amber color, cloudy though. Will bottle Friday/Saturday. Only took ~18 days for it to settle down. This should be pretty strong.

GF Beer 2
Violent fermentation for first 3 days. Smell in the closet where the fermenter's reside was funky... makes me wonder if this will be my first train wreck. Starting to settle down. This beer will definitely go into a secondary for atleast a week.

GF Beer 2

Started GF Beer #2. Started as a English Pale Ale, decided to add apricot...
Apricot-Oat-Sorghum
Bittering Hops: UK Challenger
Aroma Hops: Fuggles
Windsor Yeast
1Tsp Irish Moss
Apricot (1lb/gallon)
5 Cups Toasted Rolled Oats

• 2 Cups roasted in oven, 200F 10 Minutes, 300F 10 Minutes, 400 F 10 Minutes. Opened oven several times to mix. Resulted with Mixed golden/brown. Allowed to rest for 1 week in brown paper bag.
  
• 3 Cups Roasted in oven, 400F 15 Minutes. No mixing, yeilded dark brown oats.

5 Lbs Apricots (cheap kind from Trader Joes...) Chopped in food processor.

1. Put Grains / Apricot in Muslin Bags (should have bought the big ones). Added 2.5 Gallons tap water to pot.
   
2. Heated on 3 to 170 (about 1 hour.)
3. Let steep for 15 minutes.
4. Removed oats, left apricots.
5. Added Sorghum Syrup. Brought to boil.
6. Added Challenger, boiled for 60 Minutes.
7. Last 15 minutes, added fuggles in muslin bag, 1 Tsp Irish Moss.
8. Added contents of Ice Tray to kettle to cool down (perhaps this was a mistake).
9. Added contents to fermenter.
10. Went to Canadian Thanksgiving.
11. Pitched yeast 6 Hours later.

Unknowns: exactly how much started in fermenter (Weighed 55lbs including the carboy).
Hyrdometer Reading.

GF Brewing Update

Bottled GF Beer #1. It tasted ok, almost how I remember an IPA tasting, it's been almost 3 years, so I'm not exactly sure I remember what these beers tasted like. Didn't bother taking any Hydrometer readings since I didn't take any at the outset.

Unfortunately, I think this beer has been making me sick. I was suspicious of the Corn Flake that was provided with the kit. I should have trusted my instinct on that one, and thrown it out at the outset.

Makes me paranoid about having contaminated my gear...

Brewing

Transferred GF Beer 1 to a Secondary today, has a nice amber color. Tasted ok so far, will bottle in another week.

Cider 1:
4 Gallon Cider
Champagne Yeast (2 Packets started in a 8oz cider with 3 tablespoons of honey)
1 Cup dried cranberries
3/4 Cup dried cherries
1/4 Cup dried apricots
2 Cups Honey
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Tea Spoon Cinnamon

Started the yeast ~4 Hours before it was pitched - very active.
Mixed 1/2 Gallon Cider with the dried fruit, Honey, Sugar, and cinnamon. Brought to a boil, then pitched with the rest of the cider (straining fruit out.)

Pitched yeast when cider at 72F, SG:1.072.

GF Brewing, Attempt #1.

Gluten Free Beer Brewing. Remember, "Free of all natural allergens," means free of all natural flavor, the same motto extends to Gluten Free Beers.

Bought glass carboy, and GF Brewing kit today. Slight deviation, since original plan was to make cider as first home brewing attempt.

GF Brew kit consisted of:
Yeast, Sorghum Extract, Liberty Hops, Corn Flake, and Irish Moss.

I added two cups of GF Rolled Oats to the Corn Flake for mash... we will see what happens with this. I spilled about 1/2 cup of the Sorghum Syrup, so I added some honey (about 1/4 cup) in it's stead.

After the first fermentation, I'll buy a 5 gallon carboy for racking, and start brewing cider.


Probably going to construct a make shift cider press in the coming weeks; goal is to purchase as little as possible to get this rolling.

UPDATE:
Pitched yeast at around 86F @ Midnight. Yeast is active - vapor lock working!!

Summer Project > Fall Project

The project for this summer was gardening and canning/pickling.

• Pickled Green Beans per Gabe's grandmothers recipe. They came out real good, still very crisp.
• Pickled Cucumbers per USDA Home Pickling Quick Pickling Guide. Did not add anything to make the pickles firm (i.e. Alum) so they tasted fine but the texture = no good. Gonna try to stomach them anyway.
• Lot's of green tomatoes in the garden, and we are rolling into October, so it may be time to make Picklelilly relish.

With regard to the garden. We got a good number of vegetables, but our methods/timing needed improvement. Except the peppers, everything almost got killed at one point or another, or was not given enough room to grow.

For next Year:

• Pay attention to when to start seeds.
• Start fewer seeds.
• Don't put plant's out too soon.
• Do something different with the lettuce.
• Fewer tomato plants/more space to grow/plant.
• Strings for tomato plants to grow up.