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Cider Digest #0956
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Subject: Cider Digest #956, 10 March 2002
Cider Digest #956 10 March 2002
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Advice ("Adam L Elliott")
Eucalyptus screen (Tim Bray)
screw press vote (Brian Ross)
How To ?? Make Cidre Like the" French" ("Walt Harris")
Apple Grinders (Don Yellman)
Smokey bacon!! (Andrew Lea)
Andrew's website (Andrew Lea)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Advice
From: "Adam L Elliott" <adamle@earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 11:06:35 -0600
Hi,
I recently purchased a house in Kansas City and am interested in planting
some different varieties of apple trees for the express purpose of making
cider. Any suggestions on what kinds of trees to plant? This will be low key
cider--for myself and a few friends and family. Also, any suggestions on
what types of cider presses would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Adam
------------------------------
Subject: Eucalyptus screen
From: Tim Bray <tbray@mcn.org>
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 09:55:43 -0800
> It seems like it would be a good thing
>to plant my apple trees near the eucalyptus trees, but I just wanted to ask
>if anyone can foresee a problem with this? Also, does it make a difference
>if I make one long row or two short rows as far as pollination is concerned?
I'd stay away from the eucalyptus, for several reasons: They are messy,
their leaves are toxic and tend to stunt growth of understory plants, and
they are major water thieves - their extensive root systems will drain the
area around them.
Apple trees love sunshine and most varieties tolerate heat quite well, as
long as they get enough water. Make sure you have a good irrigation setup
- - in their first couple of years you will probably need to water very
often, perhaps two or three times a week in summer depending on your
soil. If the trees are on standard or MM111 rootstock, they will be more
drought-tolerant after the second or third year.
The best thing about hot summers is, the fruit will develop its best flavor
and highest sugar content.
As for pollination - if you have enough bees, any configuration will do, as
the bees will go wherever the trees are. If there's a shortage of
honeybees in your area, get some orchard mason bees.
Cheers,
Tim
------------------------------
Subject: screw press vote
From: Brian Ross <rossoon@imag.net>
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 11:46:42 -0800
I prefer a really a simple screw press; largely on the KISS principal.
My own press is a home built. The catch basin is a food grade plastic
proofing box for dough. The press is two stainless steel plates (5/16"
thick) and four 3/4" threaded rods to draw them together; with four
stainless steel wire meshes (woven type) as separators between cheeses.
The stainless nuts under the bottom plate are either welded or (in my
example) pinned so that they won't turn.
Assembly:
the bottom plate rests in the proofing box; the four threaded rods
are screwed into the fixed nuts; a mesh is placed on the bottom
plate.
The cheeses are one meter squares of mosquito netting. Form over the
side part of a spring form cake pan, pour crushed apples, fold over
netting, remove baking pan, add wire mesh, repeat. Put on the top plate
and add top nuts. To press, tighten down with a wrench. Siphon off as
juice approaches top of proofing box. Put a spacer under one side of box
to create a deep spot to siphon from.
This simple device has a forty to one mechanical advantage: four nuts x
ten threads per inch. It reduces ground apples (fermented on skins for
three days) to five gallons of juice plus damp cardboard in about an
hour and a half. That is not fast, but most of the time is waiting for
the juice to flow. Screwing it down harder just warps the steel plates
and doesn't speed the juice. Since the pressing is now done in my
kitchen, usually with company and a glass of last years' cidre, the wait
is not too difficult.
When not needed the whole press takes down and stores in the box. If you
own a dish washing machine, size your components to fit in it.
Although hydraulics are certainly the best for serious production, other
factors than pressure effect the system efficiency. I feel that the
meshes separating the cheeses in my system contribute a lot to its
effectiveness.
The resistance to pressing is related to the surface area available for
the juice to exit, and the distance travelled to that surface. A basket
press is a usually simple cylinder, generally with the top plate not
serving as an exit surface. Area = (pi x r x r) + ( pi x 2r x h). Adding
a mesh between layers adds twice the area of the mesh: cheese above and
cheese below can now flow into the gap.
An undivided basket press one foot high and one foot across has a
surface area of 3.9 sq. feet. The same press divided into four cheeses
has an extra 4.7 sq. feet of drainage. You have also decreased the
maximum distance to drainage from six inches to one (assuming a cheese
two inches thick).
Brian Ross
Burnaby BC
------------------------------
Subject: How To ?? Make Cidre Like the" French"
From: "Walt Harris" <wdh@psnw.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 23:38:37 -0800
I am doing a Hard Cider start-up ... and will be planting the necessary
cider apple varieties.
I am interested in producing hand-crafted quality cider using the
methods employed by the French. So far, I have been unable to find much
detailed information; and, very little technical data on their cider
making methods.
Can anyone tell me where I might be able to find detailed, in-depth
information on the French Methods of making hard cider. I have questions
relating to getting a "consistent defecation", yeast inoculation vs.
wild yeast, maceration, etc.
If anyone knows where I might find any Handbooks, publications, written
articles, or knowledgeable individuals, I would, perhaps, be able to
learn more about this cider making method. Thanks,
Walt
------------------------------
Subject: Apple Grinders
From: Don Yellman <dyellman@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 03:19:01 -0500
Dick:
With reference to your article on presses and grinders in #955, I
mention again (I think I did this about 2 years ago on this list) my use
of a garbage disposal as a very fast and efficient apple grinder.
Compared with the toothed, hand-cranked grinders supplied with many
presses, a garbage disposal will increase juice yield by as much as 50%
with no negative effects on product quality. I've been using a disposal
for nearly ten years now, and the difference in the grind between a
disposal and traditional grinders is pretty clear. The metal parts of a
disposal, which consist of stainless steel hammers, a zinc cast body,
and a zinc plated lower plate, impart no metallic tastes or colors to
the cider, and, if properly rinsed after each use, will be clean and
sanitary for the next season. You do have to cut apples in half or
sometimes in quarters to insert them into the throat of the disposal,
but this extra step is more than compensated by the speed and
thoroughness of the grind.
Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
------------------------------
Subject: Smokey bacon!!
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2002 18:58:08 +0000
Shaun wrote
> Both batches were wine
> like with a kind of smokey bacon taste found in some Kingston Black ciders.
How pleased I was to read that! IMHO, that is the distinguishing mark
of a fine bittersweet cider. The smoky bacon flavour comes from
malo-lactic fermentation of the apple 'tannin' and is what high quality
UK cidermaking was once all about! Anyone who achieves it has truly
arrived!
Andrew Lea
- ----------------------------------
Visit the Wittenham Hill Cider Page at
http://www.cider.org.uk OR
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea
------------------------------
Subject: Andrew's website
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2002 18:58:15 +0000
Elayne asked
> Could you post Andrew Lea's web page address?
My URL is at the foot of this posting. Since Dick has said some nice
things about it, may I just add that it's a bit of a curate's egg (for
those who know the allusion)! That is, parts of it are OK and parts of
it are pretty dire!! Like most everyone else I know, I just don't have
the time to keep it up to scratch as I would like. I have just scanned
in and added three new historical pages, though, which relate to UK
cidermaking as it was in the 1930's. Very different from today!
Andrew Lea
- ----------------------------------
Visit the Wittenham Hill Cider Page at
http://www.cider.org.uk OR
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #956
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