Wednesday 30 January 2008

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...

Monday 28 January 2008

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!

Sunday 27 January 2008

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

Sunday 20 January 2008

Old West Country Salutation:

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