Yeah, so....for anyone who actually reads my blog, I apologize for the gap in time between posts. I think I just lost interest or got busy with work, or something like that. But, here I am!
So, since my last post, I've brewed a few more batches, all pretty good! My favorite so far has been the 9 Grams of Zest beer I made with Colleen, Mary, and Jake for the Island Pond Road Rally this year. This was a recipe combining the typical ingredients of a wheat beer and a kolsch, and we added the zest of an orange and a lemon. I just had my last bottle the other day, and man is it good! I've never actually brewed the same batch twice after brewing around 50 batches, but I know I'll want to make that one again.
My beverage-making endeavors have recently expanded, so I thought I'd share. I attempted to make hard cider a few years ago, but it was a massive failure. It was overly tart and eventually turned into vinegar. No good at all! But, I figured I would try again and really do it right. So, I bought 4 gallons of fresh apple cider from Carlson Orchards, combined it with 4 pounds of brown sugar, and prepared it for fermentation. I split this up into 5 one-gallon batches and used a few different yeast strains. I used an American Ale yeast, a British Ale yeast, and a wine yeast. My plan is to compare these ciders side by side, the only difference being the yeast. Should be interesting. I'm sure this will be a fun experiment to try on my friends and family, particularly if it comes out well. I need to be patient, though, as cider takes several months to ferment and age properly. Below is a picture of the ciders fermenting.
Now for an experiment I have never tried before: infused liquors! I learned about this process several years ago, but never thought about trying it. I've been interested in making Limoncello, which I still may do at some point, but for now, this is a pretty fun adventure. I started with the basics of taking vodka and adding one ingredient to infuse that flavor. I split a bottle of vodka into three portions and infused them with vanilla, orange, and coffee. Maybe eventually once I get the hang of it I'll get creative and make things like chocolate raspberry vodka, or jalapeno vodka, or chai vodka. So many possibilities! And these could be fun gifts for the holidays! Below is a picture of my first experiment with making infusions.
From left to right: Coffee Vodka, infused with a few ounces of freshly home-roasted coffee beans; Orange Vodka, infused with the zest of two oranges and one slice of orange; Vanilla Vodka, infused with one fresh vanilla bean from Harvest Co-op. This is early in the process. The ingredients will probably sit in the vodka for a few weeks before straining out and achieving the final product. I'll try to update on how they turned out.
