Cider Digest #0995

eZine lover (@eZine)

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Cider Digest

 · 8 months ago

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Subject: Cider Digest #995, 26 September 2002 

 
Cider Digest #995                                         26 September 2002 

                 Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues 
                      Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor 

Contents: 
  Re: Cider Digest #994, 18 September 2002 (John Vandermeulen) 
  Baker's yeast () 
  Extensive US Pear collections? ("McGonegal, Charles") 
  Concentrating Cider ("gmarion.dri.edu") 

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Subject: Re: Cider Digest #994, 18 September 2002 
From: John Vandermeulen <vandermeulen@ns.sympatico.ca> 
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 20:14:24 -0300 

> Subject: concentrating cider 
> From: applehilorchard@webtv.net (Lee Elliott) 
> Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 05:40:35 -0500 (CDT) 
> 
> I have tried pressing my cider, then put into gallon jugs and freezing 
> until later, thaw out the jug and siphon out the top quart that is 
> mostly water, this greatly increases the flavor and body of the 
> remaining cider, then either ferment or use as sweet cider( I like sweet 
> cider just as well) Have others tried this method and is there a better 
> way to reduce the amount of water in cider? Lee Elliott 
> 
> ------------------------------ 

Hello Lee, 
what you described is in fact the first step in making 'apple jack', known in 
Normandy, France as calvados.  What I do is fill plastic 2 or 3L bottles 
(distilled water jugs) half-full with hard apple cider (alcoholic), and freeze. 
Freezing to solid takes about 1 week!   Then up-end the jugs and let them rest 
on and drain into 1 qt glass canning jars.  The stuff draining into the jars is 
the concentrated alcoholic apple juice, and a large colourless block of ice 
stays behind. 
You can drink the juice, or distill once to get brandy. 
John 

------------------------------ 

Subject: Baker's yeast 
From: <excite@politas.mailshell.com> 
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 19:26:06 -0700 

Just had a query raised in another forum about whether baker's yeast can be 
used for brewing cider.  My assumption is that it would be no good, but I 
thought I'd put the query here in case I'm wrong. 

Mike Dowling in Australia (NSW) 

------------------------------ 

Subject: Extensive US Pear collections? 
From: "McGonegal, Charles" <cpmcgone@uop.com> 
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 08:13:28 -0500 

Are there any extensive pear collections in the the US other than the 
Corvallis Germplasm repository? 

I'm already aware of Nick Botnet/Spearheart Farms. 

I've been trolling Hedrick's Pears of New York for perry varieties.  168 
names later, I'm drooling at the thought - but have only located 2 'new' 
ones in the Corvallis collection. 

Charles McGonegal 

------------------------------ 

Subject: Concentrating Cider 
From: "gmarion.dri.edu" <gmarion@dri.edu> 
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 12:17:33 -0700 

Hi Lee:  You could try freezing the cider without thawing.  I make 
applejack from apple wine by placing the wine in the freezer until 
frozen.  When a solution freezes, a relatively pure ice phase forms, 
concentrating everything else (alcohol, sugars, etc.) in an unfrozen 
component.  Then I remove the frozen container from the freezer and pour 
the unfrozen liquid before the ice begins to melt.  I can convert a 12% 
alcohol wine into a 25 % apple jack using this simple technique.  A 
problem that you may have with sweet cider is that the solutes will be 
more dilute than is the case for apple wine.  This may result in the 
unfrozen component getting trapped in the ice and making it difficult to 
remove.  If this is the case, try warming the freezer.  If you have 
complete control of temperature, you could control the ice/unfrozen 
component exactly.  Unfortunately, such is not the case for most home 
freezers.  If the solution will not pour and you cannot warm the freezer 
any higher, you might try freezing the solution with a fat wooden dowel 
in the middle.  After everything is frozen, remove the dowel.  This will 
create a well in the the middle of your container that may be more 
efficient at capturing the unfrozen component.  Good luck. 

- -- 
Dr. Giles M. Marion 
Earth and Ecosystem Sciences 
Desert Research Institute          775-673-7349 (phone) 
2215 Raggio Parkway              775-673-7485 (fax) 
Reno, NV  89512                      gmarion@dri.edu 

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End of Cider Digest #995 
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