Feb 18

Pasteurizing bottles of hard cider (Or: How to avoid bottle bombs)

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Brew

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Recently, I decided to bottle my hard cider. Like most hard ciders, when it finishes fermenting, you’re left with a Final Gravity (FG) of 1.000 and it tastes very dry. To make it taste more like cider, we back-sweeten.

In my case, I had brewed 3 gallons of hard cider and then added 3/4 of a gallon of sweet cider which gave me a new Specific Gravity reading of 1.015 (or thereabouts.) The perfect balance of sweet and dry!  (IMHO)

At this point, I bottled the hard cider.

But now there was a danger lurking. 😮

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Sep 09

Results from the hard cider yeast experiment

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Brew

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lalvin-d47-vs-danstar-nottiIn the last post, it was written that a hard cider yeast experiment had been devised. Primarily, the concern was that of which yeast to use. For the experiment, a standard sweet cider was used and an amount of brown sugar was added to raise the starting gravity to 1.067. After this, two different yeasts were pitched. One wine yeast and one ale yeast. The following are the results of the experiment.

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Aug 25

A hard cider yeast experiment

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Brew

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lalvin-d47-vs-danstar-nottiIt’s still summer-time, yet I was getting a hankering for some hard cider. I don’t know why. It seems incredibly popular these days, but I’ve been brewing it for 7 years now, so I don’t see what the big deal is. That said, a curiosity struck me recently regarding cider. Traditionally, I’ve always aimed for a low-alcohol, semi-dry / semi-sweet hard cider. Something that won’t offend and play to many palettes. This means using cider with an original gravity of 1.050 and then stopping it early at around 1.010 or 1.012 — the perfect semi-dry/semi-sweet spot.

The curiosity these days for me is about a few things.

  1. A tasty, yet dry cider. (FG of 1.000 and 1.005)
  2. A high-alcohol cider. (6% ABV or higher)
  3. What yeast to get there?

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Aug 17

Saco River Float 2014

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Journey, Photo, Video

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The Saco River Float of 2014 was a grand success. Thirty or so friends and acquaintances from the Portland and Boston (and NY) area came to float down a 2-mile stretch of the Saco River. A huge thanks to TJ and Deanna for hosting all of us! Here are the resulting photos and video from the trip. Enjoy!

1-Saco River Float 2014-001

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Jul 27

FIGMENT Boston 2014 Timelapse on the Greenway

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Art, Video

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Timelapse video of Figment Boston (2014) — Featured artwork from Autosub, Happily Fortunes, Video Bleep, Sonic Beating, and others…

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Jul 19

Harbor Islands Chillout v6.0

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Journey, Photo

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View of Boston Harbor from Grape IslandWhat a chill weekend on Grape Island! This was the 6th iteration of Rob’s famous Harbor Island Chillout. Pizza oven was in effect and the pipeline was full of pizza thanks for the efforts of Kirin and Rachel.

The weather was nice, too. Right around 80F with a cool breeze. Water was cold. Perfect for taking a quick dip to cool off. All in all, a good time.

Photos from the Harbor Island Chillout v6.0 here.

If you want to contact me, click the “About” link at the top. Cheers! 🙂

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