Rumpy Pumpy...

... don't you wish?
Anyroadup...

So, the next customer... 3 out of 6 (must have miscounted last year) - not bad - could get a good sackful out of the 2nd tree, but 1 and 3 are young, though may yield a carrier bag full - scoff ye not...
Down the road 'Spinkhill Special' (POW) has a fair looking crop - and another I'd forgotten about nearby has apples but will be lost to the undergrowth...
next up - customer up 'road has 1 front lawn tree (Cox like) - counted 8 tiny fruits... crab on roadside verge opposite: nil. Neighbour Sheila has 3 trees, 1 has apples (sharp as I remember...), then next door again - (it's raining now and I'm getting pretty wet esp. in the long grass) - picking my way to the former railside crab only to find well, nothing at all... back at car, well and truly wet, I set off for the caravan shop to look at replacement submersible pumps...
So with newly-purchased Whale pump - not as good as the old one - (why is that..? what with progress and all..) batch 8 is now racked and I've just sampled some 'Beauty of Bolsover*' - 275ml - no condition as yet and consequently a tad sweet - though rather nice:



cheers!

ps. 'Spinkhill Special' and 'Beauty of Bolsover' only exist as varieties in my head of course, one day maybe though...

Afterthoughts: on discussing the 'nose' on B of B which is reminiscent of a West Country cider house - I thought Parsons Choice - she thought Ben Crossman's - er, she's usually right...

Hi Ho...

1st customer this morning has 3 trees (all sweet) - I might get a carrier bag full from one tree - couldn't see anything on t'other 2.
Next customer (delayed here in trying to sort pump... should have been quick coffee and 5 min job...) has 5 trees and it'll be interesting to see what's what there.

Pump Failure

Not surprising really. The submersible caravan pump came with the van and that's over 20 yrs old now... so-
bearing in mind:
a) they are not designed for other than water
b) and I've been transferring chlorine-based VWP (and sterilising pump and feed pipe) which is a practice I've not done before this season

-forgetting to rinse through afterwards with clean water after use is the probable cause of it's demise.

Conclusion is that the VWP has expanded the internal seal/s allowing ingress of solution as it worked fine on last use Sunday.
Need to keep a spare as they are still only a tenner... and rinse afterwards...

...and to say:

This year is looking like a bad year for apples.
My own GD and John Downie have about 2 fruits between them... and on my travels it seems the same.
Best chance looks to be with the early fruiters - ie. those that blossomed before the weather turned. One of 'my' wildling crabs is looking pretty good (this blossomed in March - best month so far!) - I'll be checking out more on progress of my regular supply over the next few weeks.
Must get thinking cap on for earlies that I haven't used for a few years.
At least I've a good stash of the finished article to see me through if 'push comes to shove'...

Onwards...

All batch 6 now bottled - labelled and ready for storage (good day yesterday - and time for a 12m run!). All I have to do now is find somewhere to put it... and batch 5... Very short on space, but where there's a will... does need somewhere relatively cool for bottle conditioned though (repeat after me...)
- just to add 30 litres makes around 8*6 pint bottles boxed (this is where 6* ex-wine boxes come in - The Australian wine boxes from Aldi are a favourite!)
as pic shows 12*pint boxes are handy too (better than the original contents - the box that is... bit like the nutritional value of corn flakes - more in the box..?)
Any boxes salvageable from last year's handy too - here the Magners, Strongbow and Stella boxes)

Current state of the kitchen:


...that Austin's box holds 12 of the 1st proper use of the Grolsch bottles - these are planned to be aimed at a sweeter style of cider (though these only have 4 grams of a sugar prime - 12 grams will be maximium -aimed at just one apple provider - either to be 'time limited' for consumption or to be pasteurised...)

13: Urinary Tracked!

New cider-taster Alexis has given approval...
and there's me, thinking up names - 'Derbyshire Cat Piss' and the like.
The acolyte sniffed the sample... took a tentative sip... and then necked the remainder: 'All right that', says he.
Hmm, 'twas only a small glass though...

Talking cider...

Never ceases to amaze...
...were it not for a bit of effort all this cider simply would not be - the apples would rot under the trees - neglected. To think how many thousands of tons of apples just go to waste...
It's the cider talking... batch 5 2011 (2010's all gone) orig gravity(20/9/11): 1.060 - now 1.001
must be around 7.5% abv... talking cider

Bottling time again...

All 2010 remaining casked now into bottle - batch 16 comes across as much improved and batch 9 still a little woody (plywoody rather than oakey... oaky?). Plenty of 2010 in bottle left - maybe around half - could do with a stock check...
2011 ciders progressing - most of batch 1 consumed from cask - rest bottled... likewise the John Downie 2&3 and the stack of boxes grows in the kitchen - supermarkets are plundered for 6x wine boxes (and so are the dividers!), which are then shortened to accomodate 1 pint or 500ml bottles.
Glue gun for a tenner helps save on parcel tape, but glue sticks might work out more expensive...
Just a matter of finding where to store the boxes then - cat pen lets weather in and garage roof leaks...
Batch 13 has turned out a bit yukky... bloomin' strong though... not sure why. It may be due to one type of crab apple added to mix or just bad management. 40 litres of it and I could do with the 2 casks...
otherwise all's well...