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Cider Digest #1266
Subject: Cider Digest #1266, 10 October 2005
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1266 10 October 2005
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Apple Day (Steve Thompson)
Re: Apple Day in the US (Benjamin Watson)
What apple is this? Winesap? ("Joshua Van Camp")
Sulphite smell (Andrew Lea)
Keeving and acidity (Andrew Lea)
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Subject: Apple Day
From: Steve Thompson <srthompson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 06:13:34 -0400
>>>>>>>>>>>
Subject: Apple Day in the US?
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2005 23:24:32 -0600
Are there any celebrations of note for Apple Day in the US? I haven't seen
anything on it.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi Dick,
Is that a particular date? Here in MA we do have the two day "Cider
Day" event -- www.ciderday.org, on Nov 5 & 6.
Steve
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Apple Day in the US
From: Benjamin Watson <bwatson@worldpath.net>
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 06:50:23 -0400
Dick Dunn wrote:
> Are there any celebrations of note for Apple Day in the US? I haven't seen
> anything on it.
>
> Apple Day seems to have originated with the UK organization Common Ground,
> and as best I can phrase it in a few words, Apple Day is a celebration of
> apples, orchards, community, and tradition. (I hope someone can fill in
> more than my paltry words.) Cider is certainly part of the apples and the
> tradition.
>
> The established date is 21 October (or the nearest weekend to it, but in
> this year it's close enough). We're planning a small party with various
> apples and several ciders...not a big deal, but something. Anybody else?
By sheer coincidence, my local chapter of Slow Food USA is holding a
big Harvest Apple Fest on Sunday, Oct. 23 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at
Harlow's Cafe in Peterborough, NH. I still need to round up some of the
apples, but we will have 8 to 10 uncommon apple varieties from some of
the region's best orchards. I'm even hoping to get some Nodhead
(Jewett's Fine Red) and Granite Beauty from Gould Hill Orchards in
Contoocook -- both are quite rare 19th century New Hampshire apples.
Granite (Granite Beauty) comes from Weare, the town next to mine, and I
have never seen anyone else growing or selling it -- Rich Stadnik of
Pup's Cider Co. grafted a couple of scions this past spring onto G11
rootstock, and we planted them in a nursery bed at Alyson's Orchard in
Walpole, NH, in an attempt to spread this nice 1866 apple.
Anyway, for any CD subscribers who are within striking distance of
southwest NH, you are cordially invited to attend our own Apple Day.
There will be good food from area restaurants, apple desserts, Vermont
and NH cheeses, sweet ciders, and hard ciders from our fine N.H.
cideries: Farnum Hill and Pup's. We're even holding a silent auction,
with the top item a Calvados dinner for two and a flight of tastings of
vintage Calvados (maybe hosted by Christian Drouin, the Normandy
distiller), plus one night's stay at the EF Lane Hotel in Keene, NH. We
have Calvados from 1963, 1969, etc. -- can't hardly wait until Jan. or
Feb. when this will take place,
If anyone is interested in attending, contact me off-list and I can
send more information. Space is limited to 100 people, so you'll
probably want to have me set aside a ticket. Price is $18 ($20 at the
door).
Ben Watson
Francestown, NH
------------------------------
Subject: What apple is this? Winesap?
From: "Joshua Van Camp" <jvancamp@tc3net.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 01:03:22 -0400 (EDT)
These apples come from an old apple tree in my yard in rural southeast MI.
The tree is probably 50-60 years old on a standard rootstock. The tree
is bearing some fruit now, but the tree also has a substantial amount of
fruit that is still turning and just now showing color. Most of the fruit
still in the tree seems to be a bit larger then most of the groundfalls
I am currently getting.
Sorry for the size of the pics...
http://www.msu.edu/~vancamp2/apple/DSC01490.JPG
http://www.msu.edu/~vancamp2/apple/DSC01492.JPG
Is this Winesap? Any other possibilities?
- -Josh Van Camp
jvancamp@tc3net.com
Jasper, MI
------------------------------
Subject: Sulphite smell
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Oct 2005 07:50:13 +0100
Mark Beck wrote:
> The problem is that when I racked the cider after 2 weeks, it had a
> terrible sulfur aroma and flavor--it's quite undrinkable. The yeast I used
> is one I've used before and it's not a big sulfur producer.
>
> I suspect the Campden tablets. Because I've never used them before, I've
> always fermented in a closed fermenter with an airlock--and this is what I
> did this time as well. I suspect that the sulfur from the tablets somehow
> got trapped in the fermenter -- it didn't escape out through the
> airlock. Is this my problem? Any way I can scrub out the sulfur and save
> this batch?
The problem is not residual SO2 itself. It's more likely to be that the
yeast has taken a tiny fraction of that (parts per billion only) and
converted it into some very odoriferous sulphur compounds (organic
sulphides and thiols).
One thing you can do is to add a tiny amount of copper to bind these
compounds. Cupric sulfate up to 0.5 parts per million is a typical
dodge here. That is a *very* small amount so do your calculations
carefully! And do it on a test sample first.
The alternative is to wait a while. Often the sulphur stinks will
disappear with time quite naturally as the cider matures and the
biochemistry settles down into equilibrium again. Come back to it after
a month or two tightly closed storage.
Andrew Lea
- --
Wittenham Hill Cider Page
http://www.cider.org.uk
------------------------------
Subject: Keeving and acidity
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Oct 2005 07:57:33 +0100
> In CD #1264 John Brett wrote:
>
>> Claude Jolicoeur wrote that keeving is most effective with low
>> acidity juices from traditional bittersweet varieties. Has anyone
>> out there experimented with keeving more acidic juices? I'd be
>> interested in knowing the results - good, bad or indifferent.
There are two fundamental problems in keeving high acid juices. One is
that the pH may be too low for the pectin esterase enzyme to work
efficiently. The other is that the pectate anion is more heavily
protonated (hence more positively charged) at low pH and hence will not
bind so well to the existing cations (positively charged) notably
calcium which form the gel.
That is not to say keeving cannot be done at high acidity (low pH) but
it is a great deal more difficult and traditionally was always
considered something of a non-starter I think. On the other hand lime
juice was traditionally clarified in the Caribbean by a spontaneous
process very similar to keeving and you can't get much more acidic than
that!
Andrew Lea
- --
Wittenham Hill Cider Page
http://www.cider.org.uk
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #1266
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