I just started making applejack. Rate my recipe, let me know if I did anything wrong.
2 gallons apple cider, 4 twelve oz cans of 100% apple juice concentrate, 6 pounds of sugar, and Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast. I only used a half packet of yeast, I'll add the other half once fermentation slows down and I taste test.
The cans of concentrate take 3 cans each to reconstitute, so it's 192 oz total of 100% apple juice, or 1.5 gallons.
Did I fuck up?
Shameless bump from OP.
I used a balloon with a few holes poked in it with a needle as an airlock and its already starting to inflate :)
I wanted to use Pasteur Blanc yeast instead of Cote des Blancs because it can ferment to dryness much faster, and withstand higher alcohol content... but my grandma had to tell the dude behind the counter I was making cider so he gave me the recommended cider yeast :/
>>959940
You got proper yeast at a brewing supplier but couldn't spend a dollar or two on a real airlock to protect the time and money invested already?
That isn't applejack. You are making hard cider. At least learn the difference before you force your friends to try it.
>>959962
I've made hard cider several times and just used a foil lid becuz that's what the guy on youtube said would work. Guess what, it works, mainly because there's constant positive pressure inside the container.
>>959967
Not OP, but you do realize that making hard cider is the first step in making applejack? OP didn't say he's done. Think that one through before you switch into condescending dick mode.
>>959853
I've never tried that yeast. If you wind up wanting to try another try Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast, I tried a couple and that's the one I stick with now, I like mine a little on the harder side though.
That image "distilled applejack"...someone should tell Cornelius that's not what applejack means
>>960100
True, maybe he made shit low strength applejack
then distilled so he could get it at a high enough proof?
>>959962
I'm pretty fucking poor :( I'll have to wait until I can afford a proper airlock.
>>959967
You're right, I'm making hard cider. Then I'm gonna rack it, clarify it, and freeze concentrate it :D
Update, it's bubbling away quite happily.
>>959967
One more thing....
>implying I have friends
Booze is my only friend.
Just my two cents OP, but why only use half a packet of yeast? The goal is to get fermentation going as quickly as possible, as this is the one biggest thing you can do to prevent bacterial infection and off flavors. By 'get it going as quickly as possible' I mean within a couple of hours, not the 10's of hours. By the time 1 day has passed, you should have a bubbling swirling mess. If you never get a swirling active fermentation, even though it will ferment, you either didn't use enough yeast or you didn't have enough oxygen mixed in.
Next time, I would recommend using all the yeast up front. Then, if you feel like you need additional yeast at the end (which you probably won't) you can just harvest it from the bottom of the fermentation bucket.
>>959940
Be careful that none of the dust inside the balloon gets into your beverage, or it'll taste like rubber with an aftertaste of suicidal thoughts.
>>960168
Bubbling it may be, but if it's really fermenting like it should, it should be swirling inside the carboy enough to blow that baloon right off the top. There should be a significant amount of foam on the top which is new yeast forming, and in many cases there should be enough foam that you have to take off the water check and replace it with a solid piece of tubing that runs in to a container of water (a blow off tube).
It sounds like you're going to succeed, but if you want to improve your process in the future, add all of the yeast, then harvest yeast from the bottom of the carboy after primary fermentation to use for secondary fermentation.
>>960203
And really, the best yeast to harvest is from the foam that forms during primary fermentation. That is the freshest, youngest, least mutated yeast, and will yield better results than yeast from the bottom or yeast from a package.
>>960098
>>implying condescending dick mode isn't pretty much the first response on all of 4chan
>>959853
My main critique is your yeast choice. Either go with something like 1118 which will burn through your sugar, and try to make %15-18 or so to start, or choose something that will add flavor and crap out a little sooner, such at Notty or S-04. Cote des Blancs doesn't add much and doesn't get you a high ABV to start freeze distilling with.
>>960203
Hey, at least yeast is the dominant microorganism in my jug of hooch :)
It's going to make a more sterile applejack than anything that was made a hundred years ago, so I'm fine with it.
I poked more than one hole in the balloon too, you know. It's inflated enough to stand rigid all the time, which means there's positive pressure.
>>960214
Like I said, I didn't want Cotes des Blancs, I wanted Pasteur Blanc Champaign yeast but the dude behind the counter gave my grandma the wrong kind.
>>960215
That's true. It will be fine. I don't mean to nitpick, and it will be much less contaminated than 100 years ago. I'm just sayin, enough co2 to make the baloon stand up is ok, but you've nailed it when you have one of the orange rubber caps with a water check on it, and in the middle of the night you hear what sounds like a literal shotgun go off in the kitchen, only to realize that the cap got clogged, blew off the carboy, and you now have beer dripping from the ceiling.
>>960216
Even then, I'd go with Premier Cuvee as it has a higher attenuation IIRC (I could totally be getting that backwards).
I started getting my wine yeast on Amazon, I picked up 10 packs for $7 or so via Prime. Beer yeast is still retarded expensive though.
>>960217
Also, getting a vigorous fermentation going helps you to actually achieve the attenuation that the yeast is capable of. A slow fermentation tends to come out sweeter than you were expecting.
>>960217
I don't think I could handle that much CO2 production. The first time I made apple wine I used bakers yeast which is selected for the amount of CO2 it makes, and my whole home smelled like rotten apples :c
>>960218
I did some research awhile back and short of those expensive "turbo yeasts" which I suspect are mostly hype, Red Stars Champaign yeast was the one I found that could withstand the highest alcohol content.
>>960236
>Red Stars Champaign yeast was the one I found that could withstand the highest alcohol content.
I did Red Star side by side with EC 1118 once. I can't test for alcohol content but the 1118 had a noticeably fresher, fruitier taste.
>>960236
Another benefit of using a water check is that it filters the smell somewhat.
>>959853
Why is this drink called Applejack anyway?
>>960297
Taken directly from Wikipedia-
"The term "applejack" derives from "jacking", a term for freeze distillation."
>>960101
Get the airlock asap. Also be sure to sanitize. Nothing is worse than having a whole batch come out tasting like bandaids because you were mouth breathing over it. Star San is your friend. Dont fear the bubbles
>>960323
I'm pretty used to drinking shit booze, I'll be fine.
HEY GUYS how can I get auto-brewery syndrome??
http://grist.org/article/go-extra-hyper-local-with-your-home-brew-by-making-beer-inside-your-belly/
This is like an alcoholics dream come true!!
OP here, I can smell the alcohol coming off it and it's only been one day :D
Any idea what alcohol percentage it's at after just one day?
>>960323
>tasting like bandaids
Never done brewing, but that sounds like something from a brewer's horror story.
Uh oh I think my room is starting to smell like rotten apples again....
Fuck.
>>960101
Airlocks are pretty simple to diy. One time in college I made one out of a pen casing melted with a butane lighter to fit into a hole in a cap and bent to rest in the bottom of a handheld pencil sharpener reservoir filled with water. Worked pretty good with some superglue covering the leaks. Or you could fold a glass tube over on a blowtorch and glue it through a hole in a cap. Of course nobody will be able to tell the difference but you.
>>960443
Oh yea, I'll go buy a blowtorch, glass tubes, and glue.
It'll totally be cheaper than buying an airlock, right?
:P
Not really applejack, but this is a nice cider recipe/guide I found that I saved..
OP let us know how it turns out, I just finished making some beer and want to do cider next.
Applejack sounds cool but honestly it tastes like shit
>>960101
Freeze concentrate? B-but what about the methanol? :(
>>961353
Yeah that was my first thought too. OP will enjoy his rotgut
