by gregtpayne | Apr 8, 2017 | Uncategorized
We’ve moved operations to Capitola, California for some coastal flavor. The family traveled well and now have a new home on a shelf in our new kitchen. We are continuing to refine our methods. This time there was no measuring of water for the steep. We just used a pitcher full. We did the usual 20 minute steep with a quick stir after 5. The usual double strain and we have a happy family in its new home. I’ll probably make the first Capitola bach Grape Ape since our new next door neighbor likes it.
by gregtpayne | Mar 19, 2017 | Uncategorized
Batch B we left plain and flavored with 1/2 tbsp of sugar. We pulled it after 4 days but probably should have gone 3. It’s looking like we need 1-2 days for fruit and 2-3 days for plain, at least during the winter. Both our first and second fermentations are taking less time. We suspect this is due to hotter inside temps during the winter. Our current brewing method is to bring 8 cups of water to a boil, cover and remove from heat, allow to cool slowly to 195 degrees so that the bottom of the pan is not hotter than the water. We have started using only 14 grams of tea which is less Oolong than we’ve ever used. We steep the tea for 20 minutes, stirring once after 5.
by gregtpayne | Mar 19, 2017 | Uncategorized
This was batch A and tasted great after a one week first fermentation although one more day might have been too much. We flavored it with a little over 1/4 cup of WF concord grape juice and 1/2 tbsp of sugar.
We pulled this after 2 days in second fermentation and it turned out great.
by gregtpayne | Mar 1, 2017 | Uncategorized
We’re slowly moving back to our old brewing method after a few lessons learned experimenting. We’re giving up on multiple steeps and going back to one 20 minute steep, stirring after the first five minutes. We’re now steeping in 8 cups of water and adding cold water to the fill line. We’re currently using 21 grams of Tie Kwan Yin Oolong but we may reduce this amount if the tea is too strong after moving to 8 cups from 6.
Not sure when we pulled this and we haven’t tried it yet.
by gregtpayne | Mar 1, 2017 | Uncategorized
We’re slowly moving back to our old brewing method after a few lessons learned experimenting. We’re giving up on multiple steeps and going back to one 20 minute steep, stirring after the first five minutes. We’re now steeping in 8 cups of water and adding cold water to the fill line. We’re currently using 21 grams of Tie Kwan Yin Oolong but we may reduce this amount if the tea is too strong after moving to 8 cups from 6.
Ooops, we’ve been slipping the past few weeks do to our expansion. We let this batch go too long in 2nd fermentation as a blueberry cinnamon and thus had to throw it out. Sad but it did not meet our quality standards.
by gregtpayne | Feb 9, 2017 | Uncategorized
We’re reverting back to an older method of a single 20 minute steep of 21 grams of tea, stirring after 5 minutes and adding cold water. For batch A we used 6 cups of water for steeping and for batch B we used 8 cups. Batch B was significantly stronger so it will be interesting to compare the two brews. We’ll go with brewing 8 cups from now on and play with steep time and temperature.
We harvested this on 2/28 after 8 days of fermentation. It tasted fairly strong and not very sweet. We flavored batch A with 1/2 tbsp of sugar and will check it in 5 days. We flavored batch B with 1/3 cup of apple juice, cinnamon and sugar mixture at a ration of 6:1 (2 cups apple juice, 3 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tbsp cinnamon for 5 bottles). We’ll check it in 2 days.
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