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what it's worth here's some details of the cider
I and some friends made last November. We bought
3.5 cwt of Cider Apples; I think they were called
something like "Debunettes"? [Dabinettes, ed.]
from Jim Franklin, of Franklin's Cider & Perry
Fame, Little Hereford (01584 810488). Jim couldn't
have been more helpful - he was happy to sell us
the apples and gave us a lot of advice on how to
go about making cider.
I
had constructed what can only be described as a
big food processor to pulverise the apples. It was
basically a blade mounted on a spindle driven by
a domestic electric drill. The apples were placed
in a plastic bucket and pulverised using this device
- it works very well, but is rather dangerous and
needs a lot of care! All the apples were pulverised
on the same day and allowed to stand (in a large
Stainless Steel container) for a day or so until
they started fermenting of their own accord. We
also sprinkled Ascorbic acid on top to reduce browning.
The
pulp was then placed in hessian cheeses and pressed
in a home made press. This was least successful
part of the process - the press was not strong enough
to extract all the juices from the pulp. The whole
thing would start to bend long before all the juices
had run out. Next time we intend to build a stronger
press and take much longer to do the pressing (e.g.
overnight) to extract the maximum juice. Jim reckoned
that we should get at least 30 gallons from 3.5
cwt of apples - in the event we only got 20 gallons
at 1055. There again, Jim's press clocks in at 2000
LB's per square inch!!!!
The
juice was collected in a 30 gallon plastic bin that
was once used to carry Strawberries around. We added
5 LB's of Raisons and let it ferment outside for
3 months. After 3 months we racked it off into 5
gallon barrels and started drinking it a few months
later. Next time I'll wash the hessian more thoroughly
since the cider had a distinct hessianny taste!
- this lead to some wag christening it as "Sacks'N'Socks
Cider" (Anglo pun intended!). The cider also matures
much better in the barrels than it did in bottles
- it keeps so well it doesn't seem worth the effort
to bottle.
So
all in all very successful - and sooooo easy compared
with beermaking!
Ifor
Williams: Ifor_Williams@euro1.ccmail.compuserve.com
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