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Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 1417
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.46.245
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 01:11 pm: | 
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Yesterday was my club's yearly cider pressing event. There is an orchard near here with lots of heirloom cider apples and an owner who loves hard cider. We tell him how much we think we'll buy and he does a special pressing. This year's included Kingston Black, Brown Snout, and several varieties I'd never heard of, plus a little quince for acidity and sugar beet for color, unpasteurized. Tasted outrageously good going into the buckets.
Of course, we all had to bring some from past years to share with each other and with the mill owner while our buckets were being filled. All vastly different despite starting from the same base juice. Some used just the wild yeast on the apples, some used Wyeast, some both. Some added honey or raisins or spices or Brett.
Highest honors went to a cider from '05. Apricots were added to the secondary, then it was aged in an older oak barrel for a while, then racked onto some Lambic dregs, and finally bottled with lots of priming sugar. The balance was perfect: you could taste and smell the apples and apricots distinctly, with just a hint of oak and Brett and no sourness. Made us all weak at the knees. |
The Jolly Brewer
Senior Member
Username: Matfink
Post Number: 1867
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 213.83.78.243
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:00 pm: |
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Yummmmyyyyy
Quince sounds like a great idea. I've just made a load of Quince Jelly, I love the smell/taste of quince. |
Mike Mayer
Advanced Member
Username: Mmayer
Post Number: 783
Registered: 12-2002
Posted From: 68.76.117.40
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 04:17 pm: |
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I have a cider still in the fermentor. I added 4 lbs of dark brown suger, and 20 - 3" sticks of cinnamon in the secondary after 5 days in the primary. After 2 weeks in the secondary, it's still bubbling away (used WL English Cider Yeast). Seems like this thing will never settle down. I like the idea of some Oak flavoring. Maybe I'll throw in an ounce or so for a week or so....what do you think??? |
The Jolly Brewer
Senior Member
Username: Matfink
Post Number: 1868
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 213.83.78.243
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 04:45 pm: |
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Pretty much all traditional cider makers here in the West Country of England ferment their ciders in oak barrels or oak vats. |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 1419
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.46.245
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 07:04 pm: |
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I think cider can benefit from all kinds of different flavor additions -- oak, fruit, spice, wild yeast, etc. -- but that it is very easy to overdo it. The underlying apple flavor can be buried. If you add oak, taste often and be ready to rack off the oak again when you reach your target flavor. |
David Lewinnek
Intermediate Member
Username: Davelew
Post Number: 351
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 198.51.251.205
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 09:51 pm: |
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I'm about to pitch some WY 4766 Cider yeast into 5 gallons of cider. Anybody have an idea of what temperature this yeast likes? I was going to start it off at 70F, thinking that I want my cider to be fruity and estery. Wyeast lists the range as 60F to 75F. |
Belly Buster Bob
Senior Member
Username: Canman
Post Number: 2934
Registered: 02-2003
Posted From: 99.251.134.186
| | Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 10:18 pm: |
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just some added interest. I just tapped my cider made with just cider and champagne yeast.(OG 1.052...FG .009.
I put nothing else in at all, and it is absolutely ymmylicious. The apple flavour is there, even with the low FG.
Next batch I will try the apricots |
Denny Conn
Senior Member
Username: Denny
Post Number: 6531
Registered: 01-2001
Posted From: 74.92.175.78
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 06, 2007 - 08:39 pm: |
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David, I ferment that yeast in the mid 60s. |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 1420
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.46.245
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - 04:49 am: |
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I just took 4 gallons out of my stash and added 12lbs of honey, some yeast nutrient, and 2 pkgs Premier Cuvee dry yeast. Tastes amazing sweet. I can tell this is going to be one of those "5 gallon" batches that is only 3 gallons at bottling time due to all the "quality control samples" taken along the way. |
Paul Muth
Intermediate Member
Username: Pjmuth
Post Number: 325
Registered: 10-2002
Posted From: 66.20.190.121
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - 08:40 pm: |
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Dear all,
This thread brings back some great memories of my younger years. I was born in '39 (Yea - I'm a very 'ole fart). In the 1940's, I remember helping harvest apples from the trees on our farm and loading them into a farm trailer. We used to haul them to a local apples press and bring the 'juice' home. Mom and Dad would pour this 'stuff' into 55 gallon oak barrels that lived in the cold Keller. (Hey - I'm of German origin after all!) I remember that there were 5 barrels hidden away in the root cellar. (there were 4 for cider and one was a vinegar barrel) One of the barrels was dedicated to Moms' special treatment. She would add 'stuff to it to 'enhance' the flavor. Things like a 10 pound bag of sugar that she got on the black market (shudder), fruit that she got from the market that was on super sale 'cause it was rotting, fruit that was 'wild' picked from the farm, a little molasses that was extracted by a farmer down the road, plus all kinds of stuff that - for the life of me - I cannot remember..
Oh, Oh, another thing that I remember is the pressure cooker on the kitchen stove (wood burner) with a copper pipe going to the sink and over into a gallon jug.. HMmmmmm... I wonder what that was all about..???
Any Whoo, These are fond memories of things past and lost to today's generation. I just love my memories..!!
Sigh..... |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1146
Registered: 11-2002
Posted From: 65.4.199.212
| | Posted on Thursday, November 08, 2007 - 01:26 am: |
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Hey Paul,
Ain't nuthin' wrong with reminiscing about simpler times! I just turned 48 today, so I'm not quite as old a fart as you, but I'll get there soon enough! 
I spent a part of the day today thinking back to growing up as well. Obviously, I'm from German bloodlines on my Dad's side, but I can assure you, the only thing that my mom made that remotely resembled "homebrew" was some horrible wine she made once. Lots of table sugar in the receipe and was so bad the jug sat in the refigerator for over a year without anyone (but me) drinking it. I was about 13 at the time and carefully measured the amount I drank so I could add back that much water to keep the volume the same in the jug.
Surprising how the wine improved the more I watered it down!! 
Oh . . and to stay in line on this thread . . ABC definately for the time off work over Thanksgiving (along with about 4 beer sessions) |
Brews and Views Archive 2007 
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