Fall 2006 Batch #1, Pine Hill Orchard 50/50 blend, D47 yeast

 

Blend Notes

Purchased on 11/04/2006 during Ciderday 2006 in Franklin County at Pine Hill Orchards.
Their "Zero Blend" was:

We brought our 5-gal carboys and paid for 4 gallons ($3/gal) though we probably got a bit more than that. We'll top off with juice from Phil's if need be.

Amount: 5 gallons
Specific Gravity (original): 1.045
% Sugar (original): ?
Potential Alcohol (original): 5.6%
PH: unknown
Potential Alcohol (after sugar): ~9%

Additives

11/6/06:
60ppm SO2 (10 Campden tablets, based on 30ppm/gal/tab noted on the bottle)
11/8/06:
2 packs of D47 prepared as written on the back of the package (2 oz warm water, let sit for 15 minutes, dump into juice)
1 lb. 12 & 1/4 oz cane sugar
1 lb. 11oz Honey from The Shelburne Honey Company
Scant teaspoon of tannin powder

Notes

This year... More SO2 (though still in the low-range). Rack sometime in early spring. Bottle earlier. Add honey in addition to cane sugar. Don't forget to monitor your water locks. Same yeast pitching as last year (as indicated on back of package) rather than the yeast pitching techniques written by Paul and Ben Watson.

11/3/06: Cleaned three carboys with warm water and 1/4 cup bleach for an hour, rinsed with warm water. Cleaned rubber stoppers and cleaning brush in sink with bleach solution. Let carboys drain. Put in stoppers and covered with pastic wrap and rubber bands.
11/4/06: Purchased at Pine Hill Orchard around 10am. More blended (complex?) 350gal tank of cider was 1/2 empty, since doors were opened at 8am. Make sure you don't arrive late. 5-gal carboys carried in milk crates.
11/6/06: Bought four packs of D47 wine yeast from Modern Brewer in Cambridge, $1 each. Crushed 10 (ten) 30ppm campden tabs and dumped into carboy.
11/8/06: Added sugars, yeast, and tannin.
Towels wrapped around necks and plastic wrap loosely on top.
11/9/06-11/12/06: suds snake workin'.
11/14/06: Primary suds snake done. Slapped on a water lock filled with vodka.
3/11/07: Racked into clean carboy. Clearing pretty well. Smelled good.
9/2/07: Bottled with the help of Tom and Julie. Much easier with help. Previous to the bottling I went to the West Boylston home brew shop and bought 24 22oz bottles for about a buck/bottle and Iodine sanitizer which was used in lieu of bleach for the equipment and all the new 22oz bottles. The 750ml bottles, a few 22oz, and all the 12oz were done in the dishwasher on the anti-bacterial setting with extra heat.
Half the batch was still, the other half primed for sparkling. Marked in green.

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