Gift from Germany!

2007-10-27T15:39:00.000-04:00

My generous friend Anne sent me a gift from Germany!

Now, as soon as I figure out what it is, I will definately use it for wine-making!
It looks old-fashioned... cool!

Cider 1 - Starting to Bubble

2007-10-18T22:15:00.001-04:00

Music: Band of Horses
Drink: Zodiac Wines Vieux Chateau du Roi

After 12 hours the cider started fermenting. The airlock is bubbly and happy, with a bubble poppin every second. The temp in my condo is about 67 degrees during the day. Here's a picture of the frothy pre-cider fabulousness!

Hard Cider 1

2007-10-14T14:56:00.000-04:00

Music: Neko Case
Drink: Spaten Oktoberfestbier

Hard Cider 1

I decided to try making a batch of hard cider. Apparently, it's "easy", so what the hell - if I can decipher nebulous wine kit instructions, I can do "easy", instruction-less cider!

After talking to my home brewer friends, posting a couple questions to the online forum, and waiting for the Oct 13th pay day, I decided to start up a batch.

I bought 5 gallons of pasteurized, no-preservatives cider sold at Bob's Fruit Stand on the Berlin Turnpike (Rt 5/15 South). It's Rose's cider, and made locally. I was going to go to an orchard, but this place was closer.

I had the 6 gal carboy for the primary fermentation, but needed a funnel to avoid spilling cider all over. The one I got has a filter as well, which came in handy..

Basic Recipe:

5 gallons cider
1 lb honey
10 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup whole cloves
Yeast (champagne yeast)

Step 1: Sanitize
Sanitize everything.

Step 2: Add flavor and other good shtuff to 1 gallon
a. Heat 1 gallon of cider on the stove to 170 degrees F. I put the gas burner on high, and took it to a pre-boil, checking the temp every few minutes.

b. Add the honey, cinnamon sticks, and cloves

c. Cover and keep at 170 for about 15 minutes

d. Take off heat, and let it come to room temperature
* I cheated and put mine in the fridge to speed up the cooling process
Make sure to keep it covered, because it can condense on the shelf above it and stuff can drip back into it that may be mildewy fridge-yuckiness. Not that I did this, of course. :p

Step 3: Filter and fill up the Carboy

Filter the 5 gallons of cider through the funnel and into the carboy. Give it a little stir.

* You don't really need to filter the cider, but the filter helps for pouring the 1 gallon with the cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. Word.

Step 4: Pitch Yeast
Pitch the yeast. Sprinkle it in the carboy, it will spread out evenly in it's own.

Step 5: Seal it up
Attach an airlock and bung. Fill the airlock with water or vodka to the line indicated on the airlock (about halfway). I use Sky Vodka. Oh yeah...it's top-shelf airlocking!

After about 2 days, I should see the airlock bubbling as the yeast starts chomping on the cider sugars!!

.....to be continued!

Welcome to the Blog for ZODIAC WINES!

2007-06-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Blog for ZODIAC WINES!

This blog site chronicles the wine production for Zodiac wines.