It's Apple Season

[Greg.L]

Today my cider was down to 1 baume (about 1.008 sg) so I racked into the fermenter bag and pitched the MLF culture. The cider smelled and tasted good, no H2S or vinegar, very fruity with a bit of the bubblegum/pear drops flavour but I know that will go with age. The Bags are 250L metallised bags, a big advantage is no air in them before they are filled, very good seal and I can fill them a bit at a time. I will eventually get the whole 250L filled as other trees ripen.

 

[punkin]

5 days, fast ferment alright. I left mine last year from mid march till the end of may for the primary and then half went into another fermenter until july.

Can you tell me more about the bags? Can't quite get my head around the handling of them..
Some pics would help.

 

[Greg.L]

A photo here

I got the cardboard barrels from multipac.

 

[O'Henry]

Last year my mate and I traded a case of beer for 150kg of apples from a grower. We couldn't even juice them all. I agree that talking to a farmer is a good idea.

 

[Greg.L]

Today I pressed 100L of juice. 60L of "cornish gilliflower" with an sg of 1.063 and pH of 3.4, very pleased with that, 20L of crabs with sg of 1.065 and pH of 3.5, some "twenty ounce" with sg of 1.047.

 

[sim]

Wow, nice cellar Greg!

 

[Airgead]

Today I pressed 100L of juice. 60L of "cornish gilliflower" with an sg of 1.063 and pH of 3.4, very pleased with that, 20L of crabs with sg of 1.065 and pH of 3.5, some "twenty ounce" with sg of 1.047.

Nice. Love to hear how that comes out.

 

[punkin]

Went apple picking today. Got two and a half garbage bins off one big tree. I already have a bin full at home, so i figure around 100kg of apples.

The bin full at home was from two boxes someone picked me from their cider apple tree.


There is a stack of quinces growing wild too, does anyone know if they are any good for blending with cider?



I'll start juicing later this week or next week, there's some other trees i know about too that i'd like to have a look at.

 

[vic45]

Started picking Sunday. Filled the box with roughly even amounts of 3 different varieties.
Should have picked more but had to get home to brew. Try to get back next weekend.
We will juice tomorrow night. Never done cider before, really interested to see how this goes.

Just after we took the photo the whole bloody lot fell over backwards, kids thought it was hilarious.

 

[punkin]

Well did some apples through the Breville after work today. Started off with a real disapointment in that the first bin full (that i'd been given) was so full of moth grubs that it wasn't worth going through them. <_<

Never mind, they'll give a nice taste to the pigs we're killing this w'end. :icon_cheers:

Started on the ones we picked last w'end and they went fantastic. Got through a bin and a half (have one more to go tommorow) and weighed as i went 55kgs.

Did an efficiency check with exactly 10 kilos of apples gave us exactly 7 litres of juice.

Really happy at 70% efficiency. As good as i could expect for a scratter and press and a fuckin lot easier to store. :beerbang:

Two hours spot on from setup to shower with the missus halving apples and flicking the biggest grubs out and myself on the juicer.
Have pitched yeast and 2ml of pectinase. i'll do a hydrometer reading tommorow on the new juice for og. Still waiting on my Lactic acid blend to clear customs so i'll have to adjust Ph during the ferment.

 

[punkin]

Ended up doing 80 kg's of apples. Should have over 50l of juice. I'm a complete dickhead and forgot the sg reading until i chucked the last drop intot the fermenter that's been going since yesterday
Still and all i got 1051, so should get me 6.6% if it gets down to 0 and another % if it gets down to .990.

 

[Muscovy_333]

Hi Y'all,
Just stripped a huge apple tree and scored some sour little beauties.
Q: Has anyone tried chopping and coring apples instead of juicing to use in cider. I was looking up some old school recipes a couple of months back and they were using quartered apples, not juiced.
Nedless to say, if i can avoid the juicing step, i'd be happy.
Last time juicing took fOREVER!

 

[sponge]

A photo here

I got the cardboard barrels from multipac.

I have a fair case of brewer-envy right about now.

That 'cellar' is glorious.



Sponge

 

[manticle]

Hi Y'all,
Just stripped a huge apple tree and scored some sour little beauties.
Q: Has anyone tried chopping and coring apples instead of juicing to use in cider. I was looking up some old school recipes a couple of months back and they were using quartered apples, not juiced.
Nedless to say, if i can avoid the juicing step, i'd be happy.
Last time juicing took fOREVER!

hard cider is made from the juice (soft cider). You could add apples to water and get a bit of apple flavour but it would be a waste in my mind -like soaking grapes in water to make wine.

 

[Muscovy_333]

hard cider is made from the juice (soft cider). You could add apples to water and get a bit of apple flavour but it would be a waste in my mind -like soaking grapes in water to make wine.

Thankya very much.
Perhaps i will peel of my socks, grab my wetsuit tub and do some apple stomping instead.

Tinea Cider, got a nice ring to it.

Job for long weekend: Rig up some rudimentary levered device to crush apples using brute force!

 

[Tim F]

I'm keen to make some cider this year and looking in to getting some seconds. I have a grape crusher/destemmer and a basket press - anyone reckon this might be enough to smoosh then press the apples for juice?

 

[Greg.L]

I'm keen to make some cider this year and looking in to getting some seconds. I have a grape crusher/destemmer and a basket press - anyone reckon this might be enough to smoosh then press the apples for juice?

I don't think a grape crusher will work with apples. You have to crush them somehow, some people use an axe handle to pound them in a bucket. A basket press will workbut you need plenty of apples.

I got back from a trip today to check out the flood damage. The place looks a bit battered, I'm pleased I have a bit of fruit left but not as much as I thought. The pump and bridge were a bit damaged but nothing major.

 

[punkin]

This is how one of our members from another forum handled 800kg of apples this season in NZ.

edit; forgot the link


http://medicinalpurposes.wordpress.com/201...-a-cider-press/


First he pulped them with a sharpened motar mixer (threw in some pectinase too), then froze the pulp while he built the press. It's the same principle as a wine press, so should work the same.



To those afraid of juicing, i did 80 kg's in three hours flat with the missus halving and trimming and me juicing.

 

[Malted]

This is how one of our members from another forum handled 800kg of apples this season in NZ.

Terrific press. How nice are the tools in the workshop he had access to!

 

[manticle]

I don't think a grape crusher will work with apples. You have to crush them somehow, some people use an axe handle to pound them in a bucket. A basket press will workbut you need plenty of apples.

Grape crusher works OK but you may have to cut them in 1/4s first.