Wednesday, October 3, 2018
After work, I “brewed” the apple jack, loosely following the recipe I found on WikiHow.
I heated one gallon of apple juice up to 110° and then slowly stirred in five pounds of raw cane (“light brown”) sugar. I cooled it all down in the sink in an ice bath, then added that and four and a half gallons of apple juice to the fermenter for an even five gallons.
I pitched the S-04 yeast and took the whole thing down to the basement. The recipe says it will ferment for six to ten days, but mine was active for nearly a month. Multiple times a day, I was dropping frozen water bottles in the water filled tote to keep it cool.
Original Gravity: 1.084 (on the questionable hydrometer, this is in the “Table Wine” section)
The gas coming out of the insanely bubbling airlock smells delicious. Like sour apple candy.