...onwards an' up an' all that

This is the first year ever that I've been able to enjoy a glass of the previous year's cider while pressing the current year's juice!
The 'Jackie' press is holding despite hearing another loud crack (presumably from the top beams..? er, 'tis only softwood...) on the first pressing of batch 4...
the first two 30 litres are now indeed cider with a gravity of 1002-3 and quite different. Batch 1 one is a 33% mix (ie a third each of sweets, sharps and bitters) and showing promise, whereas batch 2 is a trial with 50/35/15%'s (sweet, sharps and bitters) as I'm trying to reproduce last yr's later batches when the crab apples were becoming depleted! As all was well with these later batches it seemed a sensible move as the crab apple supply has been reduced this year.
Hopefully tomorrow will see another 90lbs of apples prepared for the creation of Batch 5! I have the apples but limited time this year, Scratter and pulper setup working well this year...

Pressing Matter...

Well I've made a bigger press for this year's cider. Customer Jackie's had the builders in and they'd left some hefty bits of wood... and guess who's scrounged them (in return for a bottle or two... fair do's)
I did the first press on Sunday, and as there were a few creaks and cracks, I investigated to find the ex-fence post for the uprights had a large knot running through it on one side! Luckily it held together and allowed me to get my 1st 3 gallons of juice (and potential cider!)
So, I now have my 1st 30 litres of juice sitting in the kitchen. Hopefully fermentation will start within the next couple of days.
I'm hoping to post up more pics this year as time permits - though the bigger challenge will be to get all the apples I've gathered in so far pressed before they go rotten!

Whey Hey!

Managed to find time to transfer batch 8 into barrel this weekend! Has a kind of `rocket fuel` edge to the flavour... and I was surprised to find how lively it was - as it refused to pump. So, I had to syphon it into poly-barrel, but didn't put my back out as feared lifting it up onto worktop...
Yes this is more of a `Derbyshire Single Shudder` and just maybe I'll get some of it into all those bottles... some of which still accompany me daily in the back of the Panda... oh dear... those 'speed bumps'. Wish I had more space... so I've got about 200 litres left now... If I hadn't had a pint of the stuff I could work that out in gallons... it's well... no end of gallons yet. Need to start thinking about welding up a bigger press for this year as it's definitely worth it. He he...

Rack On...

Did the final racking of batches 12 and 13 this weekend - so only the dodgy no.14 to rack now (expected to be dodgy as I had trouble pressing the juice from the sweets for this batch...)
No 13 was a using-up batch and tasted (not surprisingly) quite different to earlier batches - not unpleasant though and quite heady (OG 1060 now SG 1004)
No.6 is now on tap also... knock it back and think of England... well, Albion... Avalon*
marvelous stuff...
I suppose if you drank paint stripper for long enough...
(* Ayup, Blake-ion slip there? Avalon methinks more 'proper')

Exhausted...continued

Well - took another 2 litres down to A. Smith's in Creswell today. Turns out that Tony never got any of the last 2 litres - Charlie supped it all! - half one day and half the next... a litre a day... a better man than me. A pint's enough for me! ...mind you I've usually had 1/2 a bottle of wine beforehand... crank it up... front box is on it's way out now - so looks like I'll have to be going back soooon...
Tip for the day: the more you drink the better it tastes!
(Tesco no longer taking cheques from Monday btw...)

Batch 11: Not Good!

This weekend gave me chance to rack batches 10 and 11.
Yesterday morning I was banished from the kitchen... doh...
...which made the job a tad more tedious and slow as I opted to siphon the cider rather than pump... but No. 10 (OG 1.060)was quite dry (now 1.004) but okay.
Today I tackled no. 11. (OG 1.060 - now 1.003) This is the batch I discovered had somehow lost the top of it's airlock. I noticed this sometime over the Christmas period - no idea how long it had been off! I blame Billy - he's the overweight British Shorthair... a bit clumsy is Billy... but then again it could've been me when I removed the last of the lettuce trays that had held apples up to the end of December. Shame I've got no other place to keep it than the cat pen!
I've cellotaped all the airlock tops on now!
Anyway, being open to the air could be the reason it has a slight vinegary taste and not nearly as good as the other batches to date. It'll go down okay though - think I'll call it Derbyshire Double Shudder - free cat hair in every bottle! Certainly not one for the ladies... ye gods, no.



Does Billy look bovvered...?

Local Cider Tasted Today!

One of my customer's lads has made cider for the 1st time. He attended a one day cider making course at Rufford last yr. His Mum just happened to have one handy in the fridge and would I like to try some? ...does a car need oil? I only tried a mouthful as I still had work to do. But what a sip! Bottle fermented, very crisp, fresh and dry... very very nice. Heady stuff too! Like champagne only better! Reminded me of Burrow Hill's Bottle Fermented Sparkling Dry though not as bone dry as theirs. He's bought the spring-steel closure type of bottles (like Grolsch lager bottles?) - this year though he's only made 8 galls. He's recently moved to Shirebrook - I'll try and track him down as where he's moved to has an orchard...

Avatar Explained:

Thanks to Rich's Farmhouse Cider, Somerset

Y'u Buy One...

I put a 30L pressure barrel on mi'Chrimbo list...
Lo and behold... thing is, Santa only saw fit to send me a 25L one. 'They haven't got any 30L ones left - she says you can take it back if it's not right...'
Well the 30L cask is just right for the final rack from a 30L fermenter... so I tooks it back.
"Leave it with us," says the kind lady. "I'll see what I can do."
Picked a new 30L Cask up today - turned out somebody had returned a wobbly one and did I want it? (does the Pope pray?) Apparently it's no good to them as it's been used...
Thanks HB!

Exhausted...

The exhaust went on mi' little Panda last week...
A. Smith's in Creswell had one in stock, which they swiftly fitted.
I was that chuffed I took 'em 2 litres of cider... they said they'd try it later...
Tony was that chuffed, he gave me 2 empty 2 litre jars - one Westons and one from Cornwall.
I haven't been back yet mind...

New Crab Apple Tree Discovered!

Yesterday in yet another attempt to reduce cider-created fatty tissue in favour of muscle I covered a 7 mile route that I must have covered many times before. Maybe it was such a slow pace that I had more chance to be observant.. ha ha! Anyway there it was beside the path: an unmistakable carpet of remarkably well preserved tiny apples... especially as it's nearly February! Maybe a testament to the lack of frost this year...

Tempting to go back and see if I could muster up a gallon's worth...

1st rack Complete & Batch 5 On Tap!

This past weekend I was able to complete the 1st racking of the cider. This being of batch 13. I've prepared 14 batches in all of 30 litre Youngs plastic fermenter containers with 4 inch caps, this being the most I've ever made. The gravity of no. 13 was 1.010, which was higher than expected. It tasted yeasty, quite sweet but promising...

You may wonder why 13 is the last to be racked and not 14..? Well batch 14 was fermented in demijohns as I didn't have a spare container available, and, as I couldn't be arsed to buy another I bunged the juice into 5 x 1 gall containers and stuck 'em up on the kitchen cupboards... and of course these fermented out rapidly, especially as I'd sulphited the juice (don't usually) and added wine yeast. Over the Chrimbo period it was like Quatermass up there, frothing away (I've never got yeast on the ceiling before...) - hence that being racked before 13 which had been relegated to the cooler motor caravan... all's well that ends...

I've also managed to get batch 5 into the poly pin that previously held no.3... Yes, I know it's complicated... it's the sterilising that takes the time! It's quite sweet now and rather pleasant as I primed the cask with 20 odd teaspoons of sugar. This will help 2 and 3 along as that's now as dry as toast...
piss easy,

bottoms up!

Sheila's Comes Good!

Sheila is an kind lady with a few apple trees. She lives next door to a customer of mine and has a sharp (cookers) tree and a sweet (eaters) tree. When asked if I could use some of her apples for my cider she took me to the bottom of her garden and pointed out where I would find a crab apple...
Sheila lives next to a filled-in railway cutting (the former LD&ECR) and sure enough, spared by the infill (only just), was a small bush/tree bearing the smallest greenest bitterest apples you could imagine. Hmm, I thought, could be interesting to make a 'Pomme Sheila's' using the 3 unknown varieties.

I took some apples with me and later bit into a portion of each to combine the flavours. Hmm... definitely could work...

Well as it turned out (collecting apples from here there and everywhere takes up a lot of time!) for one reason or another I only got enough juice from Sheila's to fill 2 demijohns. I think the birds must have got to most of 'em before me!

As I'm tight on space here, the cat pen is used as an apple store from September onwards, and, as I was getting together some of the remaining fruit (which by now is very soft or rotting - I had a lot of surplus sweet this year), I noticed that the top of the air lock from one of 10a and 10b (Sheila's) was missing. Argh! Horror! Had I knocked it off when moving trays? Had it been off for weeks? Only one thing for it...
In the kitchen I carefully prised out the rubber bung holding the airlock and with a sterilised turkey baster sucked up a sample to deposit in a small wine glass.

Beautifully clear... nice golden colour; quite dark... smells okay... then I put it to my lips... WOW!! It tasted wonderfully smooth... much better than expected too.
So now I'm looking forward to bottling this 2 gallons. I'll make a Special Label too.

cheers all

Old West Country Salutation:

O'im got cider, you'm got cider, we'em got cider!