Applejack

Cold temperatures allowed us to move the left-over apple cider outside to make applejack. We concentrated 8 litres down to about 2 litres. If the apple cider was 8 or 9% to begin with (a guess based on how it affected me), this will be in the 32-36% range.

It tastes fairly good--clearly apple-based and with a bit of a kick. An interesting sipping experience. I'm not sure what to do with 2 litres. I wonder if there are cocktail recipes? The apple cider vinegar continues to ferment. It certainly smells vinegary but I'm not getting much acidity in the taste and very little mother of vinegar has formed on the top. Maybe a shot of cider vinegar might kick things along?

Wrapping up cidering

With an extra day this weekend, I decided we'd wrap up the cidering in the basement by transferring the carboy I was bulk aging into bottles. This was also motivated by my wife's query as to what all of these empty bottle were for. 

Jess helped, providing the sharp eyes necessary to fill the bottles without over-filling. We also put 8 litres in pails to make applejack with (the weather "co-operating"--i.e., being -17C). These should freeze up over the next few days and concentrate the booze.

In the meantime, we have apple cider fermenting in the cupboard. While I think I will hold off on another round of wine making (although there all these empty bottle...), I may put some of the spring's pinot noir out to vinegar.