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Cider Digest #1022
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Errors-To: cider-errors@talisman.com
Reply-To: cider@talisman.com
To: cider-list@talisman.com
Subject: Cider Digest #1022, 17 February 2003
Cider Digest #1022 17 February 2003
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Cider apples in NSW, Australia (Ross McKay)
many trees, but no posts (Cider Digest)
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Subject: Cider apples in NSW, Australia
From: Ross McKay <rosko@zeta.org.au>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:56:44 +1100
G'day,
This weekend just gone, I finally got my hands on some cider apples.
After making a few batches with store-bought pasteurised juice, and one
with a mix of that and juiced Granny Smith apples, I can finally try a
couple of ciders with cider apples!
The apples came from Bilpin Springs Orchard, in Bilpin NSW. Bilpin is
about 2 hours drive from the centre of Sydney, or 3 hours from Lake
Macquarie where I live. (yes, 200km each way trip to buy apples - work
associates are now convinced that I am nuts.)
I have two fermenters bubbling away now, with the following:
#1:
Lalvin D-47 yeast
9L Bilpin Apple Juice
14L juice from crushing:
12kg Gala
4kg Tremlett Bitter
3kg Michelin
8kg Breakwell's seedling
SG=1.048
#2
Lalvin D-47 yeast
8.5L Bilpin Apple Juice
14.5L juice from crushing:
16kg Gala
4kg Foxwhelp
2kg Michelin
1kg Kingston Black
7kg Breakwell's seedling
SG=1.048
I put all of these apples through a juice extractor, not exactly the
best tool for the job but it did produce about 1L of juice for 2kg of
apples. After putting through some cider apples, the blade is now
stained a lovely gold colour from the tannin - a new experience, as no
other apple I've juiced had any tannin to speak of.
You might wonder why so many varieties in each batch, but, well, I could
only get so many of each variety, and I wanted to try them all out! For
example, I was only able to get 1kg of Kingston Black, more's the pity -
I am impressed by the flavour of this little bugger, and I hope that the
orchard has more of them next year.
Of the lot, the apple that most impressed me was Breakwell's seedling.
This variety produced reasonably good sized apples that had a lot of
tannin and actually tasted like apple - unlike, say, Michelin, which
tasted like cotton.
Does anyone have any opinions on the varieties listed above? I want to
let the orchardist know what I'd ideally like to see him grow (albeit he
seems a little disappointed in the yield and might yet decide to pull
them all out - though hopefully not!). I'm not thinking that I'm at all
special enough to suggest he only grows what I want, I just want to give
him some feedback.
Personally, I'm thinking that I could get by with just Breakwell's
seedling and Kingston Black. Any other cider apple is a bonus, as these
two seem to me to offer a lot.
If any other Aussies in NSW want to know how to get in touch with this
orchard, here is their web site:
http://www.pnc.com.au/~cl/Juice.html
Oh, and if you know of other good sources of cider apples in NSW, please
let me know. I cleaned this orchard out of what was picked, plus all the
Michelin and Kingston Black that we could pick off their trees. Cider
apples is just an experiment for them. I'd be surprised to see much
quantity in another orchard this side of Bass Strait and north of
Albury, so I'm happy to do the rounds of any in NSW that have apples to
offer.
cheers,
Ross McKay
------------------------------
Subject: many trees, but no posts
From: cider@talisman.com (Cider Digest)
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:12:08 -0700 (MST)
I've finally updated the web page for sources of cider apple trees; see
http://www.talisman.com/cider/sources
There are now several sources of quite a few varieties of cider-specific
apples in the US, plus one in Canada. I'm expecting to add at least two
more sources fairly soon. It looks like the possibilities are pretty good
for being able to find the varieties you want on rootstocks suitable for
your area.
The situation with pears is bleak...I've not come across ANY sources that
have ANY perry pears for this year. (There were some but they're all sold
out already.)
_ _ _ _ _
However, dear readers, there is a distinct *lack* of articles for the Cider
Digest lately. After we came through the end of last year and into the new
year with a good flow of articles on various topics, it's all suddenly
dried up. There has been just ONE article submitted in two weeks (it's the
predecessor to this one in the current digest).
"This too shall pass"; the digest traffic does tend to go in waves. But
it's particularly disconcerting for your poor old janitor here...who has
seen not only the lack of real input to the digest, but some 1200+ pieces
of spam that the rest of you don't get to see.
So...if you've been thinking about asking a question or offering an idea...
now wouldn't be a bad time to submit an article.
- ---
Cider Digest cider-request@talisman.com
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Boulder County, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1022
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