Northern Germany Refuge – Farcyde's Stuff

Cider Making, the Second Stage

(This is part III of the cider making series. Read part I and part II here.)

It seems the primary fermentation has come to a halt do far, so it’s time to transfer everything into another vessel and let the secondary fermentation take it’s course. The correct english term for this seems to be “racking the cider off it’s lees”.

While the primary fermentation is about yeast cells converting sugar into alcohol and CO², the second fermentation is lactic acid bacteria converting malic acid into lactic acid and CO² and give the brew a smoother, less sour taste. It occurs naturally and spontaneously when the liquid is transferred to a storage container and the yeast is no longer the dominant microbiological species in the soon-to-be cider.

Cider Making, the Preliminaries

April 5, 2021 farcyde

(This is part II of the cider making series. Read part I and part III here.)

Yeah! Some cidermaking progress! I got some apples from a local shop (a little less than 10 kg) and de-juiced them using my apple press. I’m not going to write a book on cider making here (in fact, I just can’t due to lack of experience…) but I want to give an outline:

At the beginning there’s always sanitizing the equipment. Just like with brewing beer (which I did often in the past), clean and sanitized tools and containers are crucial for a good outcome. A good way to to deep clean things is laundry bleach. Follow the instructions on the bottle and make sure to rinse everything most thoroughly with water after treating.

Vegetable Gardening Project

April 3, 2021 farcyde

It’s April now and although the weather is still the usual changeful and somewhat cold, it seems to be time to move the indoor-grown seedlings to the outside to their final home for the year.

April 2, 2021 farcyde

I officially declare the mushroom season open! And to honor this appropriately, I’ve started new king oyster mushroom cultures that I hope will thrive and grow. This time, I used store-bought grain spawn (this shop is cool, give these guys a try!) – the last propagating attempt with the used up mycelium didn’t work out sooo well.

The whole action doesn’t take much time and effort (and it’s perfectly doable, sitting, with a broken knee…). But it is absolutely vital that you work as cleanly as possible, so to give your spawn an edge over any possible competing contaminats. I’ve got two versions:

Apple Press DIY

April 1, 2021 farcyde

(This is part I of the cider making series. Read part II and part III here.)

I want to make my own apple cider! Years ago, I’ve been brewing beer which was fun, boozy and – well – messy. Now I want to try my luck with apple cider, which is a little easier to make regarding the effort, but nonetheless interesting and promising.

So, you need apple juice for brewing cider and in order not to use store-bought material I’ll need an apple press to make my own. Here it is:

November 13, 2020 farcyde

I met a “distant relative” today on the supermarket parking lot near the northern germany refuge 🙂 🙂 🙂 (The number plates indicate two absolutely opposite regions of germany). Of course, mine is the one with the cool sticker…

Street and Front Yard in the Northern Germany Refuge

September 9, 2020 farcyde

Just an evening dusk view of mine and my neighbours driveway with our two newly installed vis-a-vis pillar lights. I like the quiet and homely evening atmosphere.

Drying Sage

August 30, 2020 farcyde

We cut down about 1/3 of our sage bush in the northern germany garden because it was beginning to overgrow nearly everything else in the spot.

Instead of throwing it away, we decided to dry it for later and I was the lucky one that had to pluck the leaves off the stems. I felt like my grandma, sitting on her porch when I was a child, cleaning several kilos of green beans for canning 🙂 . Anyway, your fingers smell utterly divine after that job!

We then simply dried the leaves in the oven, laid out evenly on 3 trays: Hot air, at 50°C for about 6 hours. With a wooden spoon stuck in the oven door to keep a small slit open to let the air escape.

Fairy Tale Forest

August 25, 2020 farcyde

This was today’s view at about six o’clock in the morning in the northern germany refuge. The mist from the farm fields was slowly coming through between the oak trees behind the house and everything was absolutely quiet. Reminded me of a fairy tale or elven forest 🙂

One more Garden Table

August 12, 2020 farcyde

We’re expecting some visitors in the northern germany refuge these days so I finally got the new terrace table done. It’s easy to make one if you can get hands on a metal drum and some wood and it’s versatile and convenient when you have people over for a BBQ. See the building process of the first one if you like: Part I, part II, part III.

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Farcyde's Stuff

Tag: Northern Germany Refuge

Cider Making, the Second Stage

(This is part III of the cider making series. Read part I and part II here.)

Cider Making, the Preliminaries

(This is part II of the cider making series. Read part I and part III here.)

Vegetable Gardening Project

Mushroom Growing 2021

Apple Press DIY

(This is part I of the cider making series. Read part II and part III here.)

Distant Relative

Street and Front Yard in the Northern Germany Refuge

Drying Sage

Fairy Tale Forest

One more Garden Table

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Farcyde's Stuff

Tag: Northern Germany Refuge

(This is part III of the cider making series. Read part I and part II here.)

(This is part II of the cider making series. Read part I and part III here.)

(This is part I of the cider making series. Read part II and part III here.)

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30 Days Top 3:

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I’m (somewhat) social too!

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Notes on Advertising:

Disclaimer: