Last night I got home from work and fully intended on laying on the couch for the rest of the evening.  My cold has finally taken over and I've been dragging a bit the past couple days.  But I had delusions of grandeur that I would make some bread to go with some soup for dinner, so I quickly whipped up the dough and set it in the living room to rise (its much warmer in the living room compared to our poorly-insulated kitchen).  As I was finishing up I noticed Kyle moving the brew pail that has been hanging on to almost six gallons of cider into the kitchen.

We'd been concerned about our first attempt at brewing hard cider.  There was spotty action in the airlock, where with beer we're used to a decent amount of bubbling, we saw hardly any with the cider since we started it back in the beginning of December.  Apparently Kyle was sick of waiting so we pulled out the hydrometer and set it in the cider.  When we measured it at the start we had a potential alcohol content of 13%, by the time the hydrometer sinks all the way to 0-1 the cider is done converting the sugars into alcohol.  Last night we watched as it bobbed a few times before settling in, and sure enough it was telling us that it was done.  I couldn't believe it.

We syphoned off the cider into a glass carboy, where it will continue to clear and become (hopefully) even more delicious.  We did take a quick taste of what we had so far and it wouldn't win any awards but it wasn't vinegar so I was pretty happy.  The stuff we let ferment in a wine bottle (letting it do its thing with its own, wild yeast) was actually even tastier I thought, a little less dry, but it might not be finished converting the sugars yet- we couldn't put the hydrometer in the wine bottle for fear of never getting it back out.

After a thorough cleaning we moved the next batch into the 'ale pail' to get it going.  Kyle is thinking of adding some sugar to this batch, so we'll see what we'll end up with after that.

I didn't manage to make any bread, instead I just let it rise before sticking the dough in the fridge for later.  I did, however, manage to make a soup for dinner while Kyle was dealing with our brewing projects.  Pork meatballs with onions, potatos, celery, and carrots in some rich, chicken stock.  I thought it sounded like good 'feel better' soup.  I guess thats what we super-homesteader-women do, right?  We just keep plugging along even when we'd rather be curled up in bed with a cup of tea, a box of tissues, and a bag of herbal throat lozenges.

On another note: its snowing again.  I guess we're not out of the woods yet.

So Kyle was thrilled with his brewing kit that his lovely wife (yours truly) gave to him for his birthday a couple days ago.  Unfortunately we couldn't get started right away because all of that great cider that we made was all hibernating in the freezer.  So, first thing Wednesday morning, after Kyle opened his presents, we took out six gallons of frozen cider to start thawing in the sink.

I filled the sink a couple inches up the sides of the jars with cool water and we decided to go out to breakfast.  While I was getting ready, little did I know, someone got a little impatient and decided to put some HOT water into the sink as well- to help speed things along.  Upon our return from Jeffersonville we walked into the kitchen to see something rather distressing; one of the jars was cracked and leaking precious cider into the sink!  Crap- so we removed it from the sink and put it into a bowl so it could leak cider into something where we could save it.  We looked again- another was broken!  So we moved that one to a bowl as well.  Then we saw another!  Oh shoot, this is so not-good!

Word to the wise: jars act just like pipes, if they freeze do not try to thaw them too quickly or they can and will burst.  In Kyle's defense, he hadn't had any coffee yet that morning so I'm not sure the cobwebs had really been cleared out yet.

All in all I think four or five of the twelve jars broke- along with one of the two gallon jars that is still in the freezer (we're not entirely sure what happened with this one- it might have cracked during the freezing stage as it looks like it might have been a little overfilled- oops!).  But we moved all the cider into the sterilized fermenting bucket to finish thawing.  Yesterday afternoon, Kyle added some stuff that will kill off the wild yeast that could be lurking in the cider.  While we could try to use this to make our hard cider we just don't know if it will turn out delicious or completely unpalatable- its kind of a crap-shoot and I am not a gambler.  So we decided not to risk it for six gallons of cider.

So tonight we'll get started- thank goodness.  We'll check the potential alcohol content with the hydrometer and decide if we want to add sugar to up that reading.  Then we'll add some yeast and close the fermenter back up and away we go!  We've got yeast to make an apple wine so we can use up those wine bottles we've been saving all summer and fall- we'll need about 30 bottles to take care of the six gallons of cider.  It is going to take a while before we are ready to move it into the carboy for finishing...probably a really long time because our thermostat is almost always set for 50-55 degrees, unless we're having a chilly night and then we'll up it to 65 until we go to bed.  And when it comes to fermenting, heat is a good thing.

So thats the plan!  On another note: we collected a dozen eggs from the girls yesterday!  That makes 42 eggs currently in our fridge.  I think I'll make a couple quiche's tomorrow- one for lunch, and another to freeze for later.

I'm so excited!  We got our first measurable snowfall at our house a couple days ago.  Just a few inches, but its great!  The goats don't seem to care about it either way, although I did find Chutney curled up on a bunch of straw in the barn when I got home from work yesterday.  The chickens had obviously ventured out as I could see plenty of little chicken tracks scattered around the barn.  I wonder how they'll like it when we get a few feet instead of just a few inches.  We'll be snowblowing around the doors to the barn so they can come and go without having to swim through the snow, so it shouldn't be too bad for them.

Kyle's away at his class tonight so that means I get to keep myself busy with house stuff.  His 'away' nights have become my official 'clean the house' night.  Laundry, dusting, sweeping- you name it!- anything that has been building up during the week that I just can't stand to look at anymore.  There's nothing I like less than spending ANY of my weekend cleaning the house- ugh.

For once we didn't have a mountain of laundry to do so I found myself with a little spare time.  I'm making a double-batch of vegetable stock in preparation of all the soups I'm going to be making over the next week or two.  I don't know why I got into the habit of buying pre-made vegetable stock but I decided to finally snap out of it, especially when all it takes is a few onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns, bay leaves, and garlic (well, in our case alot of garlic).  I'm sure that not only will it be cheaper and healthier, but tastier as well.  It just makes me look forward to growing simple things like carrots, celery, and onions in our garden next year.  Look at me, winter has only just begun and I'm looking forward to spring already!  Maybe I'll start some herbs up in the windows...

Here is the recipe for the stock:
2 large yellow onions, peeled and quartered
2 stalks celery, trimmed and quartered
2 carrots, trimmed and quartered
1 cup mushrooms, including stems (I prefer baby portabella mushrooms)
6 parsley sprigs
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
at least 2 cloves garlic, peeled (I add a whole bulb when I double this recipe)
3 quarts water
(Note: I didn't have any mushrooms or parsley, but it came out tasty regardless.  Potato water in place of water from the tap is a great addition if you've got it, also if you've got any tomatos or turnips those are great additions as well- stock is my excuse to clean out the fridge when we've got some stuff a little past their prime.)

Combine all ingredients in a stock pot and bring to a boil.  Once it starts boiling reduce the heat to low/medium-low and let it simmer, covered, for two hours.  Strain all the solids out and let cool in jars or your preferred storage container.  I usually freeze ours, just for added peace of mind, but since I'll be using these soon I'm just keeping it in our refridgerator.

If you saute the vegetables a bit before putting in the water it really helps sweeten the stock- I like doing it this way most of the time- but if I'm in a rush I just throw it all in the pot and let it do its thing.

On another note, Kyle's birthday is tomorrow.  I'm so excited to give him his present, I tried to give it to him early this past weekend!  Hah!  But he resisted...amazingly.  I can't wait; I bought him a complete brewing kit so we can start making our own beer, wine, and best of all: HARD CIDER!!  We'll be able to start converting most of that great, home-made, frozen apple cider into some awesome, bottled, hard cider- I can almost taste it now.  I mentioned to Kyle as he was heading out the door that maybe we should just stay up until midnight tonight so I can give him his present as soon as his birthday begins!  I guess we'll see.  Regardless I should take out five gallons of cider to let it thaw out so we can get started right away.  Oh, and I supposed I'd better do some wrapping...hopefully I can find the tape.