Rainy Day: Perfect for Bottling Cider

We welcomed rain today: the first real rain we've received all summer. Today is the first day in the four months I've been logging rainfall that the gage recorded more than an inch! When that happens, the central tube fills to the top and lets the overflow bleed into the surrounding volume. Tomorrow morning I'll have to add this extra rain to 1.00 inches to obtain the total. 

Siphoning Dark Hoppy Cider Into a Bucket So Maple Syrup Can be Added Without Disturbing the Layer of Yeast on the Bottom of the Carboy

Decanting Clear Apple Cider That Has Fermented 10 Months

When it's pouring is a perfect time to bottle cider. I chose to siphon both a carboy of hard hoppy apple cider, that also had some brown sugar added to make it around 9% alcohol, and one of pure apple juice, now 6% still cider. I added 11 ounces of maple syrup to each four gallon batch to carbonate these drinks in their bottles. It will take a month or so for the yeast to convert the sugar in the syrup into the carbon dioxide that makes the bubbles.

Illustrating the Color of the Pure Apple Cider 

Basement Shelf Holds 35 Bottles of the Hoppy Cider (Left) and 37 Bottles of Plain Cider