Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Cider Digest #1275
Subject: Cider Digest #1275, 12 November 2005
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1275 12 November 2005
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
New (old) grinder and press ("Christian Layke")
Azeotropes ("chris horn")
ice cider (Kristen Jordan)
Cider day, Shelburne MA (Steve Thompson)
Brix Brag ("McGonegal, Charles")
Media Rave (and Rant) ("McGonegal, Charles")
Send ONLY articles for the digest to cider@talisman.com.
Use cider-request@talisman.com for subscribe/unsubscribe/admin requests.
When subscribing, please include your name and a good address in the
message body unless you're sure your mailer generates them.
Archives of the Digest are available at www.talisman.com/cider
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: New (old) grinder and press
From: "Christian Layke" <clayke@wri.org>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:00:18 -0500
My wife was kind enough to buy me a really neat old press for my
birthday. It is a "new and improved" Buckeye with copyright dates of
(18)'65 on the grinder. Astonishingly, both the grinder and the press
is in quite good working condition. Not so surprising, though, is that
there are parts that could use to be updated or fixed. The staves on
both tubs are quite loose and the whole tub sort of relaxes in one
direction or the other. The platform where the bins stand during
grinding and pressing is split and lets cider leak through (I put
plastic down). Most egregious is that one end of one of the two
opposing rollers that masticate the apples was partially broken
off--this allows relatively large chunks of apple to make it through.
Otherwise, the metal is solid with slight pitting on some pieces. The
wood is also mostly intact with a bit of minor decay on the bottom of
one of the (thankfully chestnut) legs.
I know this is a digest for making cider, not maintaining antique
presses, but I figured in anyone, someone on this list would be
maintaining such an old press. So I'm wondering if anyone could guide
me to a source that would help me maintain and improve this old tool.
I'm also very interested in peoples' experience maximizing extraction
efficiency from presses like this.
Thanks in advance,
Christian
------------------------------
Subject: Azeotropes
From: "chris horn" <agent_strangelove@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:47:57 -0800
There was an article in the paper about cooking with wine and the fact that
not all of it boils or burns off...
I was taught (in distillation class) that you get some azeotropes in the
'pure' ethanol derived from distillation. You have to use different
techniques to get ethanol over the 95% mark.
But if I am getting azeotropes in my distillate, why do I still have
azeotropes in my remaining liquid (as the article claims)? Is there a range
of boiling points for an assortment of water/ethanol azeotropes? Does this
assortment of boiling points come from differing water/ethanol moelcule
ratios or configurations?
Can you get a pure mixture of azeotropes (no loose water or ethanol
molecules)? Or is it more that the water and ethanol are not really bound
together and it's just law of averages that some ethanol and water molecules
vaporize together? If you can have a pure volume of ethanol/water
azeotropes, would it have the same intoxicating properties as plain ethanol?
(There has to be some O-chem. wizard lurking in here somewhere that wants to
enlighten us...)
Thanks
Chris Horn
Scappoose Oregon USA
'Those who gave away their wings are sad not to see them fly.'
~Antonio Porchia
------------------------------
Subject: ice cider
From: Kristen Jordan <kristen.jordan@shaw.ca>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:52:42 -0800
Hello fellow cidermasters;
Of late we have been wondering how to produce an "ice cider". Being on
the balmy west coast, ambient temperatures aren't generally conducive to
apples freezing on trees, so we put a bushel of golden delicious in a
freezer, then milled and pressed them just to see what would happen.
Our results:
- - Milling: the apples went through the mill fine. They were hard as
stones but it didn't matter to the mill.
- - Pressing: we used a small belt press. 10 lbs of apples yielded 500
ml of juice. This was definitely a low yield, but what we expected.
- - Specific Gravity: I was expecting a specific gravity of at least 1065,
and preferrably over 1085. Instead, the s.g. was 1030. The juice to
taste was definitely bland (very low acid) and very low sugar.
We were very surprised at the low s.g., and wondered if anyone has any
thoughts on why we didn't achieve a higher s.g. - when making ice cider
can one achieve a higher than normal s.g. by freezing the apples? How
do others make ice cider?
Cheers,
Kristen Jordan
Sea Cider
------------------------------
Subject: Cider day, Shelburne MA
From: Steve Thompson <srthompson@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 18:36:08 -0500
I was fortunate enough to be part of this gathering and think everyone
will be entertaned by the local Greenfield MA reporting.
Steve
>From Greenfield, MA 11/7/2005
Cider Day
recorder.com
Exercise in bad taste
By PATRICK O'CONNOR, Recorder Staff
One cider-maker's batch had the odor of blue cheese. Another's had a
smell like something burnt in a vacuum, while someone else brought in
a bottle-full that had a "lingering wet-hair-of-dog taste."
These were a few of the comments made at a hard cider evaluation given
Sunday at Apex Orchards, a 180-acre apple and peach orchard in
Shelburne.
As part of the workshop, which was one of several cider-related
activities during this weekend's CiderDay 2005, participants were
encouraged to bring in bad-tasting homemade cider.
West County Winery started CiderDay in 1994 and, since then, the
two-day event (which starts on the first Saturday in November, after
the late-bearing cider apples have been picked) has grown into a local
feature that novices and longtime fermenters from throughout New
England attend.
Being a home cider-maker in this area "is akin to being a home
wine-maker in the Napa Valley," said author of the book, "The Art of
Cider Making," Paul Correnty of Pepperell.
But sometimes the process falls flat. As such, Correnty was among
three panelists who helped cider makers discover where they may have
gone wrong.
Bottled cider was poured into small plastic cups for panelists and
audience members (about 100 people were in attendance), who gave hints
on how to make better batches.
"If you're embarrassed, you can stay seated so we don't know who you
are," Panelist Charlie Olchowski, one of the founders of CiderDay,
told about eight people who brought in their concoctions.
Cider is fermented from fruit and has under 6 or 7 percent alcohol.
Hard cider has been a traditional New England drink since about the
time of the first settlers.
Martin Stokes, a panelist and the 1993 Cider Maker of Year, was the
first to present his cider.
"How many old socks did you use?" someone called out from the audience.
Stokes's cider would not ferment, but no one could figure out why.
"This is one of those (cases) where you scratch your head, and you say
'Everything was right,'" Correnty said. "Why did it turn out to be
such a turkey?"
Frank Becchetti of Wendell was next up. Becchetti, a cider-maker for
about 15 years, experimented by letting 20 gallons of cider sit for
one year without any other attention.
Correnty held a plastic cup, filled about a quarter full, in front of his f=
ace.
"The first thing you're going to look at is a slight haze, which is
not a good sign," he said, and gave it a taste. "Frank,
congratulations. That's bad!"
The workshop wrapped up after about an hour of tasting.
Afterward, Stokes, who's from Maine and has been making hard cider for
about 20 years, said he enjoys the local event because he reunites
with people he hasn't seen since the previous year.
"We all have a great time," he said, sipping a small glass of hard
cider. "And we learn from each other."
But, sometimes, it remains a mystery why some cider doesn't come out
as planned, Stokes said.
"There are many ways to make bad cider and not know what you did
wrong," he said. "I basically did everything right, and still had bad
cider."
Other CiderDay events included tours, tastings and lecturers. To find
out more about CiderDay events for next year, log onto
www.ciderday.org.
CiderDay is sponsored by West County Winery, Franklin County Chamber
of Commerce, Greenfield Cooperative Bank, CISA (Community Involved in
Sustaining Agriculture) Slow Food, Shop Western Mass and the
Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
You can reach Patrick O'Connor at: poconnor@recorder.com or at (413)
772-0261 Ext. 280
------------------------------
Subject: Brix Brag
From: "McGonegal, Charles" <Charles.McGonegal@uop.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:07:51 -0600
In CD #1274, Bob Sorenson writes: "Anybody higher this year? What
variety?"
In deference to Tim Bray's appeal for for information about people's
eperience with cultivars and terroir, I will preface my brag with some
site notes. I'm in SE WI, zone 5a. The orchard is on a gentle slope of
a glacial drumlin with a westerly aspect, somewhat shadowed by a higher
point directly south. The soil is clay-loam with glacial deposits
underneath for several hundred feet. Climate markers in the sourround
area: oak-hickory climax forest, and the state's largest remnant of
prairie borders the property.
My high brix apple this year: Hewes Virginia crab, coming in at 20 Brix.
My mixed russet cider (mostly English Golden Russet, with some Blenheim
Orange and Margil and maybe a little Roxbury Russet) weighed in at 17.8
Brix.
Wickson Crab, despite it's reputation, only seems to make it to about 16
Brix in my climate, and has a 'baked squash' taste that I haven't
decided if I like. Haralson comes out bland in our climate.
I should note that we had a warm, dry season, skirting killing drought
the whole summer. Nothing in the orchard is 'sharp' this year -
everything tastes sweet.
Charles McGonegal
AEppelTreow Winery
------------------------------
Subject: Media Rave (and Rant)
From: "McGonegal, Charles" <Charles.McGonegal@uop.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:18:35 -0600
The Chicago Tribune had a huge article on artisan cider in this week's
'Good Eating' section. A nice article, with references to imported
ciders, a Michigan cider, quotes from the MI Hard Cider Club principals
and mentions of some of the west and east coast players. I sure it can
be found online.
Hurray for cider exposure.
There's my Rave, now for my Rant.
Can anyone give me suggestions on how to stay on the radar of these
folks? The Trib did a similar article a couple years ago, and I was
included in a side bar. This time I open up the morning paper (I'm a
subscriber) to find this gorgeous piece of Cider Promotion - and it was
a complete surprise. And maybe I'm a bit narrow minded - but a bit
disappointing. So in a world of high reporter turn-over and research
that extendes shopping the major chains - how you stay visible?
Suggestions?
Charles
Aeppeltreow Winery
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #1275
*************************
