Sunday, August 31, 2014

A New Home -- Garden Relocation

Cucumber harvest
The first cucumber!
It's been a long 3 years at my old apartment, and a good 2 having the garden there. But with my lease expiring and old roommates also moving out, it was time for me to leave. I couldn't afford to bring my whole entire garden with me to the new place, but I was able to bring a few of the bigger/more important plants with me.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Bottling Day: World Cup Victory Cider

It's cider bottling day. After 3 weeks of fermenting/aging, World Cup Victory Cider was ready to bottle. It finished with a final gravity of 1.000, resulting in an ABV of 9.30%. I chose to bottle the cider up mostly in 22 oz bottles, along some larger bottles and a few 12 oz.
Bottling Bucket
Ready to fill!
One cider was bottled in a sparkling wine bottle. Due to the way sparkling wine is made, the lips of the bottles are designed to take beer caps. That being said, they must use different cap sizes in some wineries since I was only able to cap 1 of my 4 bottles. Regardless, that one will only be saved for a special occasion, as it is a lot of cider to drink at once.