Kabooby's Sour Cider

[kabooby]

I have an apple tree in the backyard that provided me with a heap of granny smith apples this year. I picked all of the apples and spent three nights juicing, what a drag Before I got a chance to put a camden tablet in I already had some fermentation activity so I decided to let it go for a while. On day five I pitched some yeast to help it along. After 3 more days the gravity was 1.000 and it was tasting pretty good and already was a bit sour. Put it into the fridge to clear for a week and bottled today. Even without carbonation it is very refreshing with just the perfect amount of sourness.

I look forward to drinking this over the next few months and seeing how it turns out. I just wish that I had juiced the other 10kg of apples that I had

Kabooby

 

[Franko]

Great to hear you had a good result must have been that yeast I gave you :lol:

cant wait to give it a try one day mate

Franko

 

[kabooby]

I'll make sure you get to have some. Personally I like it being a bit sour.

Kabooby

 

[MarkEinOz]

I'll make sure you get to have some. Personally I like it being a bit sour.

Kabooby

So what you have there Kabooby, is Kentish Style Cider. Traditionally they used very little if any cider apples as they preferred the clean crisp (and eye fluttering) taste from "eaters and cookers" without the rich nuttiness of West Country cider. It is in fact what Aussies are used to - our tradition if you will. You can reduce the acidity if needed, by introducing a MLF fermentation. Wyeast have a MLF pack I believe. If cellared for 12 months or more, will probably happen in the bottle naturally, but as you have used no sulphites try to guzle it down before 12 months as it might get a bit of acetalaldehyde (vinegar) funk. But the acidity should protect it pretty well. If you used a crap apple like red delicious and no sulphite, it would be infected in about 3 months - urrgh.

I'm a cider nut but I am afraid, and have started planting out our cider orchard up in the Victorian Wimmera district. Should have a cider business running up there with 5 years (cross fingers)

 

[kabooby]

Cheers for the info Mark. I'll se how it goes but I don't think it will last 12 months. It's really just an experiment as I wouldn't have eaten that many apples anyway. If I like it it will give me something to do with next years crop. May have to get a better juicer though.

Kabooby

 

[MarkEinOz]

Cheers for the info Mark. I'll se how it goes but I don't think it will last 12 months. It's really just an experiment as I wouldn't have eaten that many apples anyway. If I like it it will give me something to do with next years crop. May have to get a better juicer though.

Kabooby

No worries!

BTW I don't use a juicer, I use a "scratter" (old term for machine to pound hell out of the apples and turn them to mush), and mine is a garden shredder to turn it all into porridge looking pulp.

Then I use a basket press (lined with shade cloth) that I made by hand similar to what winemakers use. The ye olde way and still a ripper is to use a rack and cloth press. (Similar to a shop press), where you build up a stack of "cheeses" by layering the pulp in a cloth or mesh layer and fold over and then more until you have about 4 or 5 layers and then press the lot. Hell of a lot of work and damn good fun.

If you have a interest in cider I recommend subscribing to [email protected] - this group has the ultimate in cider reality and is very technical, particularly through the talent of Andrea Lea (food biochemist and cider specialist). His personal website is the ultimate cider guide (without all the BS folklore) and he even has published a book recently based on his website and research.

http://www.cider.org.uk

 

[kabooby]

Thanks mate, If I enjoy this cider I will go down the road of making a press. In the long run it must be easier than using the juicer.

Thanks for the info

Kabooby