Opening a Winery

Well, a cidery, anyway. Well, I started one bottle. My Brewsy kit arrived today, so it’s time to make some cider, since we have apple juice in the house. (OK, I ordered it because I wanted to try cider.) Wine comes from grapes, cider comes from apples, hangovers come from either.

This is supposed to be a really simple process – you add a magic Brewsy packet and sugar to the base juice, ferment it for three days (or more) and then a couple of days in the refrigerator to kill off the yeast. This is not standard wine-making, rather,this is wine-making with Brewsy.

Now, if you read the online (very detailed) manual and follow the conversation on the private group on Facebook, it is a simple process with a couple of key steps involved. If you watch the random YouTube videos of people using the kit, none of them have read the manual or followed the conversation on Facebook.

So, I have some confidence I will be making different mistakes than the people on YouTube. However, being married to someone who actually cooks, we do have measuring cups, a digital scale and a funnel, and I actually know how to use them, unlike some of the YouTubers I saw.

My notes for YouTubers:

• Read the instructions, but not live on your video
• Measure, measure, measure
• Don’t split Brewsy packets
• Sugar amounts are important and based on the amount of sugar in your source juice
• Measure, measure, measure
• Rack the chilling wine (cider)
• If there are lumps in your wine, you didn’t rack it (don’t drink it)

I ordered a hydrometer so I can check specific gravity and actually calculate alcohol by volume (ABV), but it’s arriving tomorrow, so I think I will just make my first cider as the kit says, and see what happens. (Apparently, you need an initial specific gravity and a final specific gravity to calculate the ABV. I think you multiply ABV by two to get proof which is what we old folks care about.)

Here is what I like about Brewsy before I even get started – the support is amazing (others have mentioned this, as well.) I got a text when I ordered the kit and it said to save the number in case I had questions. They were serious. I texted this afternoon about trying to determine carbs, and got a response almost instantly. It was actually a conversation, and it wasn’t a chatbot because it was coherent.

So, updating this post as we progress. We should be fermenting through the weekend.

4 Feb 2021 9:45pm

Source Juice: 64 oz Kroger Apple Juice (100% juice) – well, I think they added Vitamin C. We will have cherry and cranberry juices arriving tomorrow, along with the hydrometer and extra bottles (for racking and making larger batches.)

I followed the Brewsy “semi-dry” recipe from the Sweetness Calculator.

• Removed 1 1/2 cups of juice from the bottle (it was tasty)
• Added 162 grams sugar (weight is probably more accurate than volume)
• Added one Brewsy packet

The cider-to-be is wrapped in a dish towel and resting in the bottom of the pantry. I’ll be checking for bubbles from the airlock.

Here’s the plan, according to Brewsy’s basic timeline:

Over the next few days, we will check for the rate of bubbles from the air lock. Hopefully, fermentation will be slowing down by Sunday or so – I’m a bit concerned about the temperature in the house, although my wife likes it about as warm as Brewsy fermentation requires. After that, it’s into the fridge for a couple of days to kill off the yeast. This will also be the time to rack the cider (siphon out the good stuff and get rid of the dead yeast – the tun) – a step many YouTubers have missed. I’m planning to rack the cider at least twice, so I don’t have to swirl it around to disperse the dead yeast before tasting.

Proposed Schedule (updated with actuals):

Date	Time	Step	Complete	Comments
Thu Feb 4	9:45pm	Fermentation Began	√	Here’s hoping for the best
Feb 4	11:30pm	Started my personal wine-making log	√	Should have done this sooner
Fri Feb 5	1:00am	Check for bubbles in the airlock	√	Thank you, insomnia
Feb 5	10:00am 10:40am	Check for bubbles – swirl the bottle	√	Bubbling
Feb 5	Afternoon 2:00pm	Check for bubbles – swirl the bottle	√	Bubbling
Feb 5	Evening 9:45pm	Check for bubbles – swirl the bottle	√	Bubbling
Sat Feb 6	Afternoon 11:50am	Check for bubbles – swirl the bottle	√	Bubbling
Feb 6	Evening 7:10pm	Check for bubbles – swirl the bottle	√	Bubbling
Sun Feb 7	Afternoon 4:10pm	Check for bubbles – swirl the bottle	√	Very slow bubbles and sludge on the bottom – may be getting close
Feb 7	4:45pm	Taste Test	√	We have firewater with an apple aftertaste. It’s not very sweet, and it is certainly not just apple juice any longer. I think I will cold crash it later tonight. I may have to figure out how to rack it first.
Feb 7	9:45pm	Earliest End for Fermentation	√	(Will probably need more time) Will cold crash, based on taste test.
Feb 7	10:40pm	Cold Crash	√	Decided to skip the racking before the cold crash. Will see how much sediment is produced in the fridge.
Mon Feb 8	Morning	Racking	Skipped	12 hours after cold crash
Feb 8	Evening	Racking	Skipped	12 hours after previous racking
Tue Feb 9	Evening 9:20pm	Racking	√	First racking – goodnight, sludge!
Feb 9	10:40pm	Earliest End for Cold Crash	Postponed	We have cider! (Hopefully) Will leave one more day after racking
Feb 9	10:10pm	Tasting	Postponed
Wed Feb 10	11:00am	Checking	√	Some sludge developing, will rack this evening
Feb 10	Evening	Racking	Skipped
Thu Feb 11	3:00pm	Racking	√	A lot less sludge than first time, but still some. Almost ready.