Noob Question/clarification.

[birusuki]

First I`d like to say thanks to those who replied to my last 2 post,
my first brew after many years is now bottled. (waiting game now. how long can I actually wait)

First question,

1) sterilizer/ sanitizer. What actually is the difference. I`d have thought if you sterilized
something it would be sanitized? no need to do anything else. NO?

2) alcohol reading.
My hydrometre came with a chart (rough guide maybe) it said with an O.G of 1042
I could expect an alcohol level of 5.1% there abouts.
But on this site somewhere someone wrote o.g minus f.g x .14 to get the alcohol level
in my case o.g 1042 - 1012 x .14 = 4.2%

What do you think?

3) Next I want to brew a cider, here in japan I can get black rock cider.
I have no way of buy large amounts of fresh juice but will buy about
5 ltr of apple juice 100% to put in it. do I need to boil this?

I found this recipe elsewhere any thoughts.

" ...I put in 1kg of light dry malt, 250gm of lactose, a stocking with 4 apples and 1 pear peeled and halved and 2lt of pear and apple juice. Made up to 21lt. Slow to carbonate in the bottle...after 3 mths the flavour (slighty sweet) and carbonation was perfect. Highly recommended. "

I can get light dry malt, but already have 1kg of MDM. I cant get cider yeast though so will just use the yeast with the kit.
Or should I try wine or champ. yeast. I`ve read arguments for and against, but I still couldn`t decide.
I have us-05 ale yeast people seem to think this is the answer to many a problem, would it be better than
the kit yeast?

Thanks in advance for your help and info.
cheers

 

[Lodan]

Hi Monchan,

Sterilisation removes or kills all life. Sanitisation is similar, but less effective than sterilisation. Sanitisation will remove/kill some microbiological life or attempt to reduce it below levels where it can affect human health. For the most part, homebrewers sanitise rather than sterilise.

Alcohol content is even more complex than that. The final alcohol level is dependent upon the fermentability of your ingredients. Some ingredients like maltodextrin will give you a high og for example, but will not result in the same FG as an equivalent amount of dextrose. Ian's spreadsheet is a fantastic tool for understnading how ingredients impact contribute to alcohol content.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=644029

Hope this helps :icon_cheers:

Lodan

 

[Shed101]

I have us-05 ale yeast people seem to think this is the answer to many a problem, would it be better than
the kit yeast?

Most probably.