New to this site and the hobby

[brendan1952]

Hi All,

New to this site, and distilling in general. I brew cider & mead and now that I am 'semi-retired' I am keen to try my hand at turning some of my mead into 'Gwires' (Cornish for Alcoholic Spirit :D )

Still reading up on what I will need but fairly sure my first build will be a 'pot still' of some sort.

Regards

Brendan

[Kimbo]

Gday Brendan,
good to have ya here mate, love to hear about your mead and cider recipes :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[brendan1952]

Hi Kimbo,

My cider recipes are pretty standard, when using fresh juice I use about 22lt in a 23lt pale, I add 500gms of malted dextrose and use either a cider or champagne yeast depending on the time of year. With concentrates I usually make them up to about 18lt rather than the suggested 22 or 23lt - I find I get a better colour and taste.

Bottle after about a week or when the hydrometer reads about 1.01 and fermentation has slowed down. I bottle into 790ml bottles - old champagne disgorgement bottles - very thick walls, you could pick them up very easily about 15 years ago but like rocking horse manure now. Also do some of the brew into 500ml cider bottles, I drink those as QC as they mature a bit faster. Also take those to parties etc so my good 790ml bottles don't get nicked :smile:

Most of the meads I do are small 5lt batches, whatever honey is available in either 1.5kg, 2kg or 2.5kg for a dry, medium or sweet finish. Rack after a month, repeat racking until it is clear and bottle for a minimum of 6 months - it gets better with age but most of mine gets drunk long before it peaks. As soon as the clover honey is available from my local supplier this year I am going to do a batch of Cyser - 2-4kg honey and 23lt fresh apple juice; ferment, rack and bottle as above. I tried some at a Medieval festival recently and it was very very nice.

Regards

Brendan

[Kimbo]

thanks brendan :handgestures-thumbupleft: