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Cider Digest #0185
Subject: Some observations
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 09:25:57 -0500
From: melkor!rick@uunet.UU.NET (Rick Larson)
Last year I was given 5 gallons of raw cider from my neighbor who has
an apple orchard (sells soft cider, apples, honey, ...). I made five
gallons of hard cider (a Jay Hersh recipe) and bottled in champagne
bottles. What started off as brown, cloudy, sweet cider turned into
light, clear, carbonated ROCKET FUEL! The ale yeast I used didn't
stop as I had hoped. I think it was Cooper's dry Ale.
Actually, the first few sips are quite good, like a apple-ish Brut
but after a half of glass, I'm ready for something sweeter.
After a few batches I have a few observations:
If the hard cider is too tart, mix in something sweeter. I've
used soft cider for that appley taste. I've used Sunkist
lemonade to make a refreshing lawn mower drink and powered
sugar and club soda for something more bubbly.
Don't use hops; save them for your beer. I want this appley.
Don't boil the soft cider. I've heated up a quart or two to
disolve other ingredients (honey, cane sugar).
I have not had success using dried malt extract in cider. YMMV.
Don't use champagne yeast but some Ale yeast. I've used both liquid
(London #1028) and dry.
Expect a lot of trub in the primary fermenter. All those yummy, cloudy
apple particles feed the yeast and fall to the bottom. Makes great
compost slurry.
Cider needs time to mellow. My best ciders are over a year old. Brew
some now for next fall.
I find cider is a nice alternative to homebrew.
rick rick@adc.com
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Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 10:38:45 -0400
From: mgx@solid.ssd.ornl.gov (Michael Galloway)
Subject: sparkling cider
Hello,
Is there a quick and easy way to make naturally carbonated, sweet cider,
similar to WoodChuck from Vermont? I like mine dry, but my SO likes hers
sweet!
TIA!!
Michael D. Galloway (mgx@solid.ssd.ornl.gov)
v-(615)574-5785 f-(615)574-4143
Living in the WasteLand (of Beer, that is)
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Date: Tue, 6 Oct 92 09:38 CDT
From: jimf@iwtdr.att.com
Subject: cider press experience
>Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 11:55 CDT
>From: arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
>Subject: APPLE PRESS
>The heart of the press is about two feet of 5/8" threaded
>rod from the hardware store. This rod threads into a nut
>that is on the bottom of a board that straddles the top of
>the box. There are retainers on the bottom of the board to
>keep the nut from turning and on top of the box to hold the
>board down. The ones on top swing in and out for removal of
>the press. The bottom of the rod presses into a board that
>just fits the inside of the box and presses down on the mush
>when the screw is tightened. The top end of the rod has two
>nuts that act as a lock nut and provide purchase for a box
>or crescent wrench.
I built one using this basic idea, and I have some comments
and questions.
1) The flavor of my first batch has a definite pine taste,
which doesn't make it undrinkable but nearly so. Is this
why real presses are made of oak? I'm not sure how to get
rid of it. I'm hoping that with use and age, the pine
flavor will diminish. Maybe I will soak the bottom part
of the press in water for a while, or mash up some
apples and leave em sit for a day and then discard.
Any recommendations?
2) The presser board that just fits inside of the box, that the
threaded rod pushes into, cracked in half the first
time. I replaced it with a piece of 2x10. 1x just isn't
strong enough. Also, the threaded rod tended to screw
right into it as it was tightened down so some kind of
metal piece is needed on the top of the board. Also, the
threaded rod tended to walk away from the center as
pressure was applied. I recommend some 1x strips to form
a little square around a metal plate or washer in the
center of the top of the presser board. Something like:
_____________
| |
| _____ |
| | _ | |
| | |_| | |
| |_____| |
| |
| |
|_____________|
3) For the top I used 2x pine instead of 1x. To keep it in
place when turning the threaded rod to press the apples,
I attached a small gate latch (the "tongue" part) to each
side of this board.
The other part of the latch is screwed into the outsides of
the press box itself. Then I put the "tongue" of the
latches down over the ring part, insert a stick or piece
of rope in the ring, and start pressing.
There are many different sizes of these at any hardware
store. They come with all the screws needed. Make sure the
latch screws in the sides of the box are short enough that
they don't protrude into the box. If too small, they might
not stand up to the pressure when pressing. I think my
latches are the 2 1/2" size.
Jim Fehrenbacher
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