Pressing australian apples for cider-what is a good mix?

[pickatooth]

hello cider drinkers. I have decided that pressing is the way to go, but have read only English published books that refer to english apple species...can anyone suggest a good mix of available home grown apples here in Aus ....? Was thinking granny smith for acid, pinl lady for sugars, and some crab apple for tannin.....I have a 35 cm diam press, and want to make about 25 litres at a time, so what amount of whole apple in kgs will i need? Cheers....pickatooth

 

[gap]

What are you going to use to pulp/shred the apples before you press them??
Do you have any means of measuring acidity etc?
Some crab apples will help with that mix but the best apples are proper cider apples.

 

[Airgead]

My usual mix is around 20-50% granny smith with the remainder whatever is cheap and available when the grannies are ripe. Usually pink lady. Plus I throw in a few kilos of crab apples.

So pretty much what you said.

Cheers

Dave

 

[pickatooth]

Shredding/pulping...I am looking at the idea of using a garden electric mulcher...Bunnings perhaps, for around $150 ...to do the pre pressing preparation....does this actually work?
To accurately measure acidity, is there a cheap instrument for this? I believe that litmus paper and garden soil pH meters are not too good.
So, what actually constitutes a "cider" apple...as opposed to a "cider mix" of several types of dinner, cooking and crab apple?

Cheers...Pat

 

[Airgead]

The only way to do a real acid measurement is to measure titratable acidity. You can buy titration kits at brew shops. They are aimes at winemakers. I don't bother.

A cider apple is neither an eater, cooker or crab. Its an apple that has the right balance of sugar, tannin and acid to make a good cider. You almost always use a blend of cider apple types as well. They divider cider apples into sharps (high in acid), bitters (high in tannin) and sweets (high ion sugar), with most apples having two of those properties (bittersweet, bittersharp, sweetsharp...).

Cheers
Dave

 

[pickatooth]

Thanks Dave....do you mean that a so called "cider apple" is called just that? Do any of these types have other names as well? How do you know what to source and where to source them? Cheers, Pat.

 

[pickatooth]

PS...I have a new cider press and am about to plant out a new patch of apple trees in my new "orchard"....am I in danger of being "hooked"...becoming a home brew cider junkie? Cheers, Pat

 

[manticle]

Get in touch with some of the cideries like henry of harcourt, kellybrook and coldstream. Pretty sure h of h have an orchard and you can arrange to buy juice - possibly apples too (and yes they grow traditional cider apples). Kellybrook certainly sell juice at the annual cider festival.
Start your enquiries there.

 

[manticle]

http://www.henrycider.com/

 

[Yob]

Sorry for the OT

manticle, you still got that press or did you get rid of it? Got a mate entering the game and something niggled at my memory about you possibly parting with it? might be off track..

 

[Airgead]

Thanks Dave....do you mean that a so called "cider apple" is called just that? Do any of these types have other names as well? How do you know what to source and where to source them? Cheers, Pat.

Many of the traditional cider varieties do have names - yarlington mill, foxwhelp, kingston black.... Many others don't though. They are just random apples that grew from seed that happen to be good for cider.

 

[pickatooth]

Thanks for all the info on what is a cider apple...and where to go for supplies. Just a final question, again....how many kilos of apples are needed to get juice 30 litres?...Or is that like asking how long is a piece of string? Cheers, Pat

 

[manticle]

Well different varieties and different crops will provide different amounts of juice so yes - a bit at least. Then your scratting and pressing will have a big influence.
I'm far from the most experienced cider maker but when I've used whole apples, scratted and juiced (not pressed) I've got about 1/3 juice yield by litre per kg apples.

 

[manticle]

Sorry for the OT
manticle, you still got that press or did you get rid of it? Got a mate entering the game and something niggled at my memory about you possibly parting with it? might be off track..

Last press I had (pretty small) I sold last move to cm2. I recommend something bigger if you want more than a few litres. Was reasonable toy press.

 

[Airgead]

I press with a (very good) domestic juicer after scratting with a metal paint stirrer attached to a drill. I get quite a high yield. Around 40l of juice from 60-70kg of fruit depending on the season.

 

[dug]

the bridgetown cidery in WA uses exclusively pink lady apples and they do a some very nice brews. Personally I don't go heavy on granny smiths if I use them at all. If its a good eating apple with some bite, (some acidity), then it should make good cider.

 

[pickatooth]

Thanks for the advice...just picked up an electricgrape/fruit mulcher from ebay seller...looks fine to go. Have also gone to local wholesale nursey to buy 20 new apple trees for my "instant" apple orchard...got a selection of Grand Duke (cider apple) cox's orange pippin(pollenator),granny smiths, jonathons, red delicious, pink lady, sundowners, and have crab apples already close by. All cheap at present...$5 to 10 each tree.
May be too many species....more is less?
Will get onto Harcourt apple people for supplies to juice in the meantime.....any suggestion for a good yeast? Am using white wine yeast at present...Cheers

 

[Airgead]

I have settled on 71B (white wine strain) as my go to for ciders. Does a great job.

 

[Yeastfridge]

This is a great site if you fancy a bit of reading -www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm

 

[Yeastfridge]

Also, I've got 5x20L about halfway fermented, each fermenter with a different yeasts. I used roadside apples (about 20 trees, non-varietal) and it was pretty high acid juice. Happy to keep you posted re:favourite yeast