So my partner and I bought a house! Having been subject to the rental market during and since Uni, we’re suuuper stoked to be in our own digs. Of course, my first thought was more room = more gear = time to move to all-grain brewing.

In the picture below you’ll see a mash liquor tun that I recently built using a 47L chilly bin, kettle valve, and bazooka screen off AliExpress. All-in-all, the setup cost < $150 – a very simple way to step up to all-grain.

As you can see, while figuring out my all-grain setup, I’ve tried my hand at ciders for a bit. These were a couple of Mangrove Jack’s kits. The apple cider is currently drinking very well, with a nice off-dry sweetness and a tangy apple flavour*. I fermented this first batch at 23 degrees celsius, which in hindsight was likely a bit warm. I had hoped that a higher fermentation temp would lend some fruity esters to the brew – rather, it added sulphur and lots of it! I opted against recommendations of using a length of copper pipe to clear the flavour from the brew, and gave it three weeks in the primary instead. Lo and behold, once kegged this has only the faintest hint of sulphur, which I actually quite enjoy (very reminiscent of Swiss ciders).
The perry (pear cider) is just about at terminal gravity, so I’ll keep you posted on the tasting notes. Briefly though, I fermented this at 19 degrees celsius, and there is faaaaaaar less sulphur than the apple version. My hopes are high – it will do very nicely for our upcoming housewarming.
*Kiwis, yes I am referring to the infamous lolly