So, we made a hard cider last fall.  You can read more about the making of the hard cider if you are keeping score at home.

We used my grandfather’s old press.  When I say old, it’s older than your age plus my age.  It’s oooooooooold.

Although I cleaned it as best I could, the old press left its taste in the cider…but I am getting ahead of myself.

It poured clear and sparkling into the glass.    In the photo, there is some condensation on the glass but looking at the bottom of the glass it looks crystal clear.

In the aroma, you could detect apple tartness and a bit of the sweetness of apple blossoms.

As for the taste, the champagne yeast dried the cider out.  It starts out clean with the CO2 bubbles all around.  Then there is a sharp tartness.  All the sweetness of the apples is long gone.  Then it ends with slightly moldy wood taste. 

Yeah.  That old press left it’s mark. 

What have we learned?

• Sweetened with a simple syrup, this cider is 10x better.   It’s a cheat but it makes it much more drinkable.
• Without the syrup, it’s not undrinkable…but it is nothing to write home about either.
• I am probably going to buy a book on cider making to learn more for the next attempt.
• Champagne yeast leaves cider dry. :)  Not that I didn’t know that from the start, but the end result really helped me understand.
• The old press might be good from a historical perspective but if it can’t make great cider anymore, then we may need to retire the whole thing.

I am going to hide a bottle or two to see if more aging will mellow it out further. 

Ever onward and Brew On. 

‘Tis the season to buy hop rhizomes or at least that is what I have read.  Usually around this time of year, I will get inundated with emails from home brewing stores making sure I know it’s time to order rhizomes.  Usually they are only available in February and March, right in time for the growing season.

I think I need to revisit this post about growing hops.

My plan is to buy from Northern Brewer and get a couple of rhizomes.  I want to get a bittering variety and an aroma variety so my plan is to grow Magnum and Mt. Hood.    I think those two will make for some good American style ale brewing in the Fall.

My brother has a pretty good set up for his garden and he is on board for some hop growing this summer.  I have been jealous of other homebrewing blogger around harvest time.  Here’s to a favorable growing season and a good yield to show off on our blog.

Reader update: Mike has added another little brew dude to his family. His wife gave birth to a baby boy last Friday night. Everyone is doing well and they should be coming home soon.

I thought I would update everybody just to let you know that he’s been brewing up more than just Oatmeal Stouts lately.

CHEERS!

Ok.  I was reading How To Brew last night just to recheck how long I should lager the Maibock and I came across the passage about suggested lagering times.

In the book, it states that the time depends on temperature:

• 3 to 4 weeks at 45°F
• 5 to 6 weeks at 40°F
• 7 or 8 weeks at 35°F

After this passage, a question is posed. 

If the beer will condition faster at higher temperatures, why would anyone lager at the low temperature?

The first answer that is provided has something to do with icehouses and tradition…I guess icehouse got the beer’s temp to 35 degrees.

The second answer states that colder lagering temperatures work better in getting proteins and tannins to drop out of the beer.

My question is, why does lager-style conditioning work “faster” at warmer temperatures?

I think the bad tagline for this hop would incorporate something about them being “out of this world.” See, I told you it was bad. 

Anyway, Galaxy hops were bred in 1994 by Hop Products Australia.  This company owns a hop garden called Rostrevor in North Eastern Victoria where they were grown for the first time.  It’s now grown in both Victoria and Tasmania.

It is a cross between an Australian female and a male Perle hop. Here are the stats for Galaxy hops:

Origin: Australia

Aroma/Flavor: Pleasant, Citrus, Passionfruit

Alpha Acid: 13.0 - 14.8%

Typical Usage: Mostly bittering, although noted as a dual purpose.  Could be used as flavoring hop as well.

Beer Styles: I didn’t see any clear indications in my research about beer styles. My opinion is that they would do well in American Pales and IPAs.

I think the key to lagering is to buy a fridge.  My wife bought me a refrigerator for my birthday last month and it has come in handy for the lagering of the Maibock.

Right now, I have the cider that we made last October conditioning in there and some maple porters from two years ago.

I’ll get a thermostat for it eventually.  This set up will eliminate the fusel alcohol issue I had last summer when my basement was in the high 70s in the month of August.

If you can get your hands on a used fridge, I think it is a good investment.

Just a quick update:  I racked the Maibock to a secondary vessel, a glass carboy.  It is now in the beer fridge chilling out at about 37°F. 

It’s been in there for a day and a half and it is not as clear as I thought it would be at this stage.  I guess we shall see as time goes on.