Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Lee -- 10 gallons (5-Liberty, 5-Ozark Gold)
Big T – 5 gallons (Jonathon, Ozark Gold, Gold delicious)
Tom - 10 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)
Steven P - 7 gallons (Jonathan, Jona-Mac, Jona-free, Yellow Delicious blend)
Tim - 5 gallons (Jonathon, Ozark Gold, Gold delicious)

I left a small cooler there last night. It has my gallon jug of cider in it. Hopefully the ice will keep it chilled. Any chance I can stop over this evening and grab it?

Lee -- 10 gallons (5-Liberty, 5-Ozark Gold)
Big T – 5 gallons (scrap misc)
Tom - 10 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)
Steven P - 7 gallons (Jonathan, Jona-Mac, Jona-free, Yellow Delicious blend)
Randy - 5.5 gallons (Ozark, Jonathan, Yellow D, Jona-Mac)

Yes, I did leave two buckets there. Also, the spigot fell out of one so there should be parts with it, but there was a lot going on so who knows if they stayed with the bucket...

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

Thanks again Lee!
This was without a doubt the biggest attendance we've ever had for a tech meeting. I think we all learned a lot and had a ton of fun too. Thanks to everyone who helped out making cider for the crew. Hopefully we can make this an annual occurrence if our gracious host is willing.

Special thanks to Rick also for the chopper (he's getting SERIOUS about making cider), expertise, and for sharing yeast and SO2 solution.


On Tuesday 27 September 2011 11:28:35 pm you wrote:

Thanks to everyone that came out to the Tech meeting tonight. I'm amazed
that we pressed around 20 gallons/hour and managed about 4 gallons/bushel
of apples. You guys worked pretty hard and I'm looking forward to tasting
the dividends in this coming year. Thanks especially to Rick for letting
us use his King Kong "vegetable chopper" for apples.

I had a few leftovers, including 1 cooler (Tim?) with ice and mustard
inside and several 5 gallon buckets (several said RC - Randy?). Please
let me know if you think you left something behind.

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

Lee -- 10 gallons (5-Liberty, 5-Ozark Gold)
Big T – 5 gallons (Jonathon, Ozark Gold, Gold delicious)
Tom - 10 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)
Steven P - 7 gallons (Jonathan, Jona-Mac, Jona-free, Yellow Delicious blend)
Tim - 5 gallons (Jonathon, Ozark Gold, Gold delicious)
Randy - 5.5 gallons (Ozark, Jonathan, Yellow D, Jona-Mac)
Derek - 6.5 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)

Hell, it would have been worth showing up just to see the Apple Masher work, and feel the spray of juice as the last of a bucket was pulverized.

brownbeard wrote:I left a small cooler there last night. It has my gallon jug of cider in it. Hopefully the ice will keep it chilled. Any chance I can stop over this evening and grab it?

I put your jug of cider in a fridge, so it will be fine. You can feel free to swing by tonight and pick it up. Anytime after 5:30 should work. If possible, please bring a gallon jug for the cider, so we don't have to meet up again later.

I saw some folks taking pictures last night. I didn't get a chance as I was too busy socializing. Anyone care to post pics?

Lee -- 10 gallons (5-Liberty, 5-Ozark Gold)
Big T – 5 gallons (Jonathon, Ozark Gold, Gold delicious)
Tom - 10 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)
Steven P - 7 gallons (Jonathan, Jona-Mac, Jona-free, Yellow Delicious blend)
Tim - 5 gallons (Jonathon, Ozark Gold, Gold delicious)
Randy - 5.5 gallons (Ozark, Jonathan, Yellow D, Jona-Mac)
Derek - 6.5 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)
David - 6 gallons (Jonathan, Jona-mac, Yellow Delicious blend)

Indeed, that was a lot of fun last night! Seemed like every time I heard the chopper fire up I was over there, then got home and had to comb dried chunks of apple out of my hair!

I think the Beer Nuts will be seeing me again. And with Rick next door in Mt. Vernon I hope to become very good friends with him (and his cider cellar). I certainly appreciate all the info you were willing to share! Yet another facet of zymurgy to add to my arsenal.

Lee -- 10 gallons (5-Liberty, 5-Ozark Gold)
Big T – 5 gallons (scrap misc)
Tom - 10 gallons (Liberty, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonafree blend)
Steven P - 7 gallons (Jonathan, Jona-Mac, Jona-free, Yellow Delicious blend)
Tony B - 4 gallons (Blend of Liberty, Ozark, Jonathan, Yellow Delicious and Gala)

Another "Hats Off" to Rick for all his expertise and killer crusher and to Lee for the apples and his family's hospitality!!

If you factor in the cider Rick & Clint took home, as well as the 7 gallons of soft cider put in those antifreeze jugs, I think we pressed upwards of 75 gallons of cider last night. I never would have guessed that was possible.

Since we were averaging about 4 gallons of cider per bushel, we must have used around 20 bushels. That means we pressed about 800 pounds of apples!

Has anyone checked the OG of their cider? My Liberty bucket came in at 1.049, while the Ozark Gold bucket was 1.040. I was surprised to see that much difference between varieties.

At around 9PM last night which was approximately 24 hours after pressing and adding the sulfite I poured mine into a fermenter and checked the gravity which was 1.048. Rehydrated a satchet (5 grams) of Lalvin 71B-1122 which is my favorite yeast for mead due to the fact it leaves some residual sweetness. Specs here:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/winemakin ... -1122.html

The airlock was just starting to raise this AM.

OG on mine was 1.050, probably due to the yellow delicious and careful selection. Cider reading I have done said to try and get to about 1.055 before pitching, so I added a pound of honey which brought my 6 gallons to 1.054.

Pitched with the cote des blancs and no airlock activity yet today. I have a sachet of Lalvin 1122 held in reserve just in case.

Last night, I pitched 10 gm of rehydrated Lalvin 71B-1122 into each 5 gallon fermenter. Both airlocks showed good activity this morning. I rehydrated the yeast at 108F for 15 minutes with tap water, then added cold water every 5 minutes to decrease the slurry by 10 degrees per step. Once I hit 80F, I pitched into the 68F fermenters.

I've never used a dry wine yeast before, but was amazed to see the quality of the yeast cream that formed during rehydration. US-05 and S-04 rarely produce that same creamy, foamy slurry for me. Maybe the fact that I'm now using chlorine-free well water makes a difference?

I had an OG of 1.045 on my blend. I pitched 7gm of the yeast that Rick had at the pressing last night. I re-hydrated in 105 degree tap water for 15 minutes. I never cooled it before pitching. This morning I did not have "activity" but there is certainly outbound pressure in the airlock. I expect it will be rolling along by lunch time.

I pitched the Cotes des Blancs yeast at around 6pm last night. I rehydrated with RO water at 105F then let cool a little before pitching. I put the fermenters (2 3 gallon BB) right on the basement floor. Air temp in that room is currently at 69F, which is a bit warmer than I'd like. I have a RIS finishing in the fermentation cabinet so I don't have room. I have a krausen forming and airlock activity this morning. I forgot to take an OG reading.

On Thursday 29 September 2011 8:56:22 am you wrote:

Last night, I pitched 10 gm of rehydrated Lalvin 71B-1122 into each 5
gallon fermenter. Both airlocks showed good activity this morning. I
rehydrated the yeast at 108F for 15 minutes with tap water, then added
cold water every 5 minutes to decrease the slurry by 10 degrees per step.
Once I hit 80F, I pitched into the 68F fermenters.

I've never used a dry wine yeast before, but was amazed to see the quality
of the yeast cream that formed during rehydration. US-05 and S-04 rarely
produce that same creamy, foamy slurry for me. Maybe the fact that I'm
now using chlorine-free well water makes a difference?

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

My blend came in at 1.044. I pitched a vial of WLP775 English Cider tonight. I'll check on activity tomorrow. I'm going to try and split the rest and do a couple different yeasts, or 1 yeast and a couple different sugar additions.

We had some applesauce with dinner tonight. A straight apple blend with cinnamon. Awesome.