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Cider Digest #1249
Subject: Cider Digest #1249, 24 August 2005
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1249 24 August 2005
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Hindsight, a wonderful thing (david.pickering@dpi.nsw.gov.au)
Apple Damage - Any Ideas? ("Joshua Van Camp")
Cider Press Plans (Donald Davenport)
Cider press From: Sidney VanNess CD 1248 ("Silver Creek Cyder Co.")
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Subject: Hindsight, a wonderful thing
From: david.pickering@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:18:58 +1000
The following extract is taken from "A Book About Cider and Perry" by CW
Radcliffe Cooke MP, published by Horace Cox in 1898.
At the time, Radcliffe Cooke was the President of the National Association
of English Cider Makers.
It is interesting to read with the benefit of hindsight, and to wonder
whether we have come a long way or perhaps 'not that far'.
"Until recently, although it was known that fermentation changed a sweet
non-alcoholic liquor into a spirituous, the nature and cause of the
chemical process were not thoroughly understood.
"To M. Pasteur, the eminent French chemist, is generally ascribed the
credit of the discovery that fermentation is produced by the action of
certain germs invisible to the eye, known as the yeast plant, which are
found on the skins of ripe fruits. Under the microscope these germs are
sen to consist of minute vegetable cells, which, when immersed in some
suitable liquid, as the juice of the fruit to which they are attached,
grow by accretion, each cell sending out a bud which becomes another cell,
this cell in turn producing a third cell, and so on.
These cells in growing exert a chemical action on the sugar in the liquor,
whereby the sugar itself is destroyed and converted into alcohol and
carbonic acid gas. The action of the germs, therefore, resulting in the
destruction of the sugar as such, they are said to feed on it. This
process is that known as fermentation - a process which, until the
discovery of the germs as its initial cause, was supposed to be occasioned
by some spontaneous change which in certain conditions took place in the
liquor.
"There appears to be many sorts of yeast germs, some of which promote a
better kind of fermentation than others. Chemists allege that they can
tell the bad from the good, and, by the gelatine method of cultivation
invented by the German investigator, Koch, can create good yeast germs,
which when introduced into liquor whose natural germs, some good and some
bad, have been destroyed by heat or eliminated by filtration, will set up
a fermentation which will proceed more regularly and be controlled more
easily than what may be termed natural fermentation, with the result of
producing a vinous liquor of uniform quality.
It is also alleged that that certain sorts of apples which have a
reputation for yielding good cider have attached to them special germs,
which in the course of fermentation produce the flavours peculiar to those
fruits, and that by introducing these germs into the juice of other apples
the flavours of the fruits from which the germs were taken will be
imparted to the cider so fermented by them. It is also stated that the
various descriptions of ferment germs found on the apple produce different
effects in fermentation, some facilitating the process and some retarding
it; but at present experiments on this head have not advanced beyond the
laboratory of the chemist.
"The subject, however, is an important one, and may ultimately have a
considerable bearing on the conduct and prospects of the cider industry.
Experiments in cider making, including trials with cultivated yeast, which
have been instituted on a small scale by Mr Lloyd on the estate of Mr
Neville Grenville, near Glastonbury, will be found recorded in recent
volumes of the Journal of the Bath and West of England Society. The
researches there carried out are of an extremely interesting character,
and will, I feel sure, add considerably to our knowledge of the scientific
principles underlying the practice of cider making.
"But, as Mr Lloyd himself says in his report for 1895-96, "the many causes
which affect fermentation, and the various kinds of fermentation which are
set up in apple juice, will take some years to investigate," and in the
meantime English cider makers cannot wait for a counsel of perfection, or
they will find themselves cut out in the home market by foreign producers.
Possibly the labours of these inquirers in this useful field might be
earlier rewarded if they could avail themselves of the knowledge of
practical cider makers, acquired partly by tradition, and partly by
personal experience, since the most highly trained scientists, when they
enter on the investigation of a subject connected with an industry new to
them, are apt to spend time in the discovery of phenomena familiar enough
to those practically engaged in the industry, though they may not be able
to account for them scientifically."
The book contains an advertisement at the back on behalf of the
Association:
"This Association has been formed for the promotion of the Cider and
kindred fruit-growing industry of Herefordshire and neighbouring Counties.
It has, amongst other work, already done good service in obtaining from
the various Railway Companies cheaper rates for the transit of Cider and
Perry in bottle and wood.
The efforts of the Association are now being directed towards the
suppression of adulteration and misnaming of Cider, spurious aerated
decoctions being vended under this name, guiltless of the apple, which
deceive the public as to the real nature of cider.
All persons anxious to encourage the consumption of genuine cider, an
excellent beverage, which may well be styled the wine of this country, are
invited to become members of the Association. The annual subscription is
only nominal, 5s, and may be paid to the Secretary at the above address."
Perhaps we could discontinue use of the term "alcopop" as we have located
the original term, "spurious aerated decoctions" .
Use of this term or its acronym SADs is to be encouraged, since we
obviously haven't beaten these products in the last 107 years.
David Pickering
Orange Agricultural Institute, Forest Road, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia
david.pickering@dpi.nsw.gov.au
phone 02 6391 3800 fax 02 6391 3899 mobile 042 727 1477
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Subject: Apple Damage - Any Ideas?
From: "Joshua Van Camp" <jvancamp@tc3net.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:24:01 -0400 (EDT)
Can anyone out there tell me what is happening to my apples? I have
used conventional all in one spray for times this year. Up until a month
or so ago my apples were blemish free. Now I have all of these spots.
They appear to be mostly superficial. Any ideas?
http://www.msu.edu/~vancamp2/apple/apple1.jpg
http://www.msu.edu/~vancamp2/apple/apple2.jpg
- -Joshua Van Camp
jvancamp@tc3net.com
------------------------------
Subject: Cider Press Plans
From: Donald Davenport <djdavenport@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:18:50 -0600
Sidney VanNess wrote:
> I'm a new subscriber with two questions. First, do you know of any
> good
> construction plans for a small/medium cider press? Second, is there a
> searchable database of past issues that might be a more appropriate
> place to go with such questions? I'd wager I'm not the first to ask
> this sort of question.
You can find a lot of different approaches if you do a Google search.
The most provocative is probably the one which describes making a press
out of a top-loading Maytag washer.
There are plans for a pack press which are available in several places.
It was originally of Canadian design, I believe. It has appeared
various places, including plans in Annie Proulx/Lew Nichol's book
"Cider: Making, using..." Andrew Lea has a link on his website to a
scanned in Ag Department circular that has photographs. And, in fact,
I believe Andrew's old press was just a scaled up version. There are
photos of it on his website, also.
The advantage of a pack press--as opposed to the slatted bucket type
that Happy Valley and others sell--is that there aren't any tricky,
complex cuts for staves or needing to fabricate metal hoops. It's just
kind of building block construction and well within the capabilities of
anyone who graduated from high school wood shop. It uses a hydraulic
bottle jack to provide the pressure, easily available at any auto parts
store.
One suggestion, however, on wood stock. The plans call for hardwood
4X4s, which are extremely expensive if you can even find them. Home
Improvement stores often sell oak and poplar in 4"X1"X10' lengths. Cut
them down to the length you need, glue them up, clamp them down, and
you've got extremely strong hardwood laminates in the proper size.
Alternate your wood type and it's also quite attractive.
As for the grinder, those are available commercially from places like
Happy Valley, or you can build your own by running stainless steel
screws into the rollers of an old hand wringer, making patterns of
teeth. The best suggestion is the one made by Don Yellman a few years
back. Get a brand new, stainless steel garbage disposal. It makes
nice consistency pommace and doesn't require a shoulder replacement
after a few seasons. (The bigger the better, HP-wise, since they can
get hot and pop a thermal breaker if they're working too hard.)
Donald Davenport
------------------------------
Subject: Cider press From: Sidney VanNess CD 1248
From: "Silver Creek Cyder Co." <silverckcyder@austarnet.com.au>
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 23:52:34 +1000
Cider Presses.
Don't laugh at this, but I use a very old, and very midified, hydraulic
tobacco bail press. The side walls have been removed and a half inch
thick steal press floor added added about 15 inches above the original
floor of the press. This has also allowed me to widen the press floor to
easly accept 24inch square racks and frame above a large collecttion
tray, and I could mount a tank under it if needed.
I would have prefered an old wool press, (much bigger) but we can't have
everything.
The racks are 3/8 X 2 inch hard wood at 1/2 inch spacings, that have
been sealed with polyurethane, and I still us hessian cheese cloths.
Although I could go higher, I generally only go 5 cheeses high.
Set up like this it will handle about 100 Kg.s at a time, if you are
patient.
It serves me very well, though I have just about outgrown it.
I guess what I am trying to say is, have a good look around, you might
be supprised at just what you can use. I've even seen plans to use an
in-ground car hoist out of an old sercice station.
Cydering on
Dave Orson
The Silver Creek Cyder Co.
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End of Cider Digest #1249
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