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Cider Digest #0710
Subject: Cider Digest #710, 11 December 1997
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #710 11 December 1997
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Juice in So. Cal (Chasman)
Juice and wood (Andrew Lea)
Fermenting Vessels (Terence Bradshaw)
Cider Tasting Results (Scott Bauer)
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Subject: Juice in So. Cal
From: Chasman <cwhudak@mail.adnc.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 10:56:14 -0800
John asks about unpastuerized ciders in So. Cal
>I know that Trader Joe's has cider fit to be fermented, but
>does anyone have any other sources for cider in the Southern
>Californai (preferably Orange County) area? Farmers markets?
>Do I have to make a trip to Temecula (would doing so actually
>yield me a cider source?!)?
I don't know about TJ's but I get my cider from Julian (not that much
farther if you're going to go to Temecula. The only problem is that
unpastuerized cider is certainly a seasonal commodity. I got 10 gallons of
early season juice that was very nice, very acidic. I made a cider with 5
gallons (+ 1 pound golden brown sugar) and fermented with an english ale
yeast. It is drinkable now. I also made a cyser with four gallons of the
juice. I added 10p Orange Blossom honey, 1p of golden brown sugar and
fermented with cote de blanc yeast. These contrast remarkably with some
juice that I picked up recently(about 3-4 weeks ago). It was very sweet
with no acidity at all. It will surely need to be doctored up with malic
acid once fermentation has finished.
I have the name of a nice gent in Julian who will do bulk juice if you call
ahead, but, again, apple harvest is pretty much over for the year. Even the
granny smiths taste like golden delicious now. They still probably have
some juice though if you feel like calling.
C--
Charles Hudak in San Diego, California (Living large in Ocean Beach!!)
cwhudak@adnc.com
ICQ# 4253902
"If God had intended for us to drink beer, he would have given us stomachs."
- --David Daye
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Subject: Juice and wood
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 18:29:05 -0500
Just to chip in on this one .... my press too is home-made (following the
NYAES Geneva design). The juice tray is made of what we call in the UK
'marine ply' - no idea what the facing is but the bonding between the
laminates is waterproof! The laths for the racks are made of ramin. I
coated all these surfaces with a 'yacht grade' polyurethane varnish which
was left to cure for about a month before its first use. So, in practice,
all that the juice 'sees' is a layer of fully cured polyurethane. I've
been using this press every season for 6 years now and I've never had any
problems of taint from this source. Nor any problem of flaking finish,
either!
Andrew Lea, nr Oxford, UK
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Subject: Fermenting Vessels
From: tbradsha@zoo.uvm.edu (Terence Bradshaw)
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 16:51:54 -0600 (CST)
Just wodering what folks out there are using for fermentation vessels.
Before this year I have used glass carboys exclusively, but I am using a
55-gallon food grade barrel as well this year, as it's hard to beat the cost
vs. volume ratio. I am interested in hearing from amateurs and
professionals, as I know of one commercial cider maker in Vermont who uses
plastic and makes a damn good produt in the process.
- -----------------------------------------------------------
Terence Bradshaw
Fruit Grower
work:
Tougas Family Farm, 246 Ball Street, Northboro, MA 01532
home:
721 Main Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545 (508) 845-2083
Internet:
tbradsha@zoo.uvm.edu
http://www.uvm.edu/~tbradsha/home.html
------------------------------
Subject: Cider Tasting Results
From: Scott Bauer <sbauer@ccnet.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 00:49:15 -0800 (PST)
1997 Holiday Cider Tasting
Once again, 8 of us got together for a cider tasting and dinner. Taking
advantage of the increasing popularity of cider, I went a bit overboard
this year... and brought together over 20 ciders for the tasting!
The tasting was double-blind, and was limited to apple ciders only (i.e.,
no raspberry, cranberry, honey or other flavors were included), and to
ciders available for purchase in Northern California. The panel were asked
to rate the ciders on a scale of 1 (best) to 10 (worst), and produced a
range of scores from 3.1 to 9.0.
As with last years tasting, the panel demonstrated a "sweet tooth" in
their preferences. I suspect this is in part due to the number of ciders
tasted; toward the end of the list, sweetness seemed to dominate. This
worked against some of the dryer styles of cider....
The ciders tasted included:
American Hard Cider (Massachussets), Archers (Washington), Blackthorn
(England), Green Mountain (Woodchuck, Vermont), Hardcore (Boston Beer Co.,
MA), Harvester (Washington), Herout Fils (France), Rhyne (Sonoma,
California), Spanish Peaks (which seems to be produced by Archers), Spire
(Washington), Vermont Cider (Beverages and More house brand, Vermont), Two
Rivers (Sacramento, California), Weston's (England), Wild Country
(France), Wildhorse (Seven Sisters, Idaho), Woodpecker (England).
When the tasting was finished, the top ten ciders (with brief excerpts
from panelists tasting notes) were:
10: Spire's Dry Draft. Aroma reminded me of sweet, green apples. The taste
was not as sweet, and the green apple was just barely present among the
overall nice apple flavor.
9: Vermont Dark and Dry. Very dark color... almost like a cola. Light
carbonation. A very slight apple aroma. Medium sweet taste, apple-y with
some vanilla flavor as well.
8: Cider Jack. Faint apple aroma and faint apple taste. Okay... but it
didn't make my top ten....
7: Vermont Draft Amber. Deep amber color. A bit of a musty, "off" smell
that (fortunately) I did not detect in the taste. Not as sweet as the
"Dark and Dry".
6: Archers' Draft. Medium amber color. Very little carbonation. Not too
sweet, smooth, a bit of spice. But only faintly tasting of apples.
5: Spire Dark and Dry. Dark amber color. Strong, sweet apple aroma. Fairly
sweet taste, with some nuttiness.
4: Woodpecker. Light-to-medium amber. Slight carbonation. No aroma to
speak of. But strong, straight-forward apple flavor. My favorite of the
few English ciders I've had a chance to taste (though the complexity of
the Stonehouse cider I had on tap was very pleasant as well.)
3: Spanish Peaks. Apple aroma stronger than the apple taste. Medium sweet.
2: William Tell (produced by Spire, I believe. Found at Trader Joes.) Pale
amber color. Light carbonation, which cuts some of the sweetness. Good,
peeled apple flavor... perhaps a bit too juice like, but overall very
good.
1: Hardcore. Deep amber color. Light carbonation. Strong apple aroma is
followed up by an equally strong, crisp apple flavor (reminded me of a Red
Delicious.) Sweeter than I normally like in a cider... but it certainly
works well here.
Scott Bauer sbauer@ccnet.com
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End of Cider Digest #710
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