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First steps 2013

Rosebuds

2013/11/27 I shook the frozen rosehips to try to shake off the dirt, this was somewhat successful. Then I rinsed them with the showerhead. Then I cooked them at low temp for about an hour. 
They went quite soft. I reused the water 3litres twice, then added 2kg of sugar and put it back in the vat. I also took about 200ml and added 5ml of the yeast for a starter. 
2013/11/28 I added 1L of water and 1kg of sugar, so 4litres and 3kg in total. I also moved to a 30L vat, the 15L vat seemed to have too little room on the top. Total weight = 9.8+4+3 = 17kg.
2013/11/29 Have added in the starter, put on the airlock and moved the vat into the boiler-room. This is going to be interesting. 16:50 Saw a bubble from the hips.
2013/12/1 there is pressure in the rosehips, but no sustained bubbling.
2013/12/2 the rosehips have started to bubble slowly. 
2013/12/8 rosehips are bubbling steadily, three times faster than pearjuice and -mash.
2013/12/16 rosehips are bubbling steadily.

Birnebrand 2014

Vat V

No. 5 is a 30L vat. It's got the remnants of

15kg fresh+squeezed pears, also pureed in Nadine's Champion juicer, 
15kg fresh+squeezed pears 
2 x 15kg of frozen+squeezed

approx 30kg mash in total, it's pretty much full. 

2014/09/06 10:00 Have added 10ml pektinase diluted in 100ml water to the trester. The first part had already started fermenting, and smelled like acetone.
2014/09/07 22:00 Added yeast from a starter made with 2ml from the bottle.
2014/09/10 16:00 Added 2L water and 2kg of sugar. 
2014/09/10 22:00 Bubbling violently, almost overflowing.
2014/09/11 08:00 Still bubbling a lot, did not overflow sofar.
2014/09/12 09:00 The overflow risk is due to air (CO2) from below pushing up the mash.

Vat VI

No. 6 is a 30L VAT. I've kept the squeezed pears in this, only from frozen batches. I am debating whether or not to add pektinase before starting to ferment it.

2014/09/12 It has started to produce the acetone-like smell, nothing has been added sofar.

Vat VII

No. 7 is the 100L VAT I got at the Landi moving sale last year in Egg.

I'm filling it up slowly with pear juice and sugar. It started fermenting by itself fairly quickly; next time I'll add my Brennmaischhefe right away. I've worked out that to make 95L @ 20% alcohol, I need 80L of juice plus 27kg sugar. I'm guessing that I should be subtracting the sugar content of the juice, but I don't have a oechsle meter.

2014/09/12 Status: 67L of juice, 23kg sugar mixed in. Have another 15kg of pear defrosting, should be ready for Sunday.