Wedding Cider for my Son

It was tricky but I timed the cider and aging right, so today I've just barely had time to complete the bottling before heading off to his wedding. This is pure cider, crafted with love and care, and aged perfectly in the now perfectly seasoned Oak Barrell he got me for Christmas a couple years ago.



Great way to celebrate a great day.

Ginger Cider

Today I bottled a new batch and new flavor. As I brew less because I’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, and am down to drinking one bottle a week, this recipe is for 3 gallons not the standard 5.

I used to love ginger beer (not ale) but it is almost impossible to buy anymore. So as with the cider I looked for recipe’s to make home made ginger beer. There are a bunch and all are similar to traditional cider making, so. . . . .



Instead of plain Cider to a basic recipe I added a good sized chunk of ginger root (1/2 the root as sold at the grocery store). It was prepared by pealing and slicing it as thin as I could, boiling in about 2 cups of water for 5 min and letting sit to room temp. It was added to my 3 gallon carboy, with all the ginger pieces, and then the cider was made as normal.

The Cider came out delightfully spicy but it needed a bit more punch, next time I’ll use the entire root. It’s sweet and about 14% alcohol.
Recipe:

1 ginger root (whole thing)

1 oz Green Apple Extract

2 lbs sugar

2.5 gallons Winn Dixie Apple Juice

1 pkg Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast

Moose Mead

Finally made it!!

Drunken Moose Mead



Smooth Sweet and Strong

This is in honor of the moose (elk) in sweeden who got drunk drinking fermented apples and stuck in a tree. See my blog entry below.

48oz Honey
2 lbs Sugar
Dilute to 3 gallons with Apple Juice
1 oz Green apple extract
1 Package Champaigne yeast

Results were a 22% Alocohol, strongly carbonated, cyser that is awsome.