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Cider Digest #1517
Subject: Cider Digest #1517, 3 July 2009
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1517 3 July 2009
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
sidra ("derek bisset")
A trip to Australia (David Pickering)
Cider Digest: Anyone using a "shop press" for a cider press? (Nat West)
Re: Finding closure (Dick Dunn)
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: sidra
From: "derek bisset" <derek_bisset@shaw.ca>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 19:06:07 -0700
I haven't seen any discussion on Spanish cider. Has anyone done an
exploration of the Donostia or Asturias areas ?
Normandy and the West of England are well known and discussed because we
seem to be growing their apples in N America and creating their style of
cider . particularly English .
From what I can gather it seems likely that cider apples may well have
come from Spanish origins but the style of cider seems to be different.
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Subject: A trip to Australia
From: David Pickering <davidp@cideroz.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 20:36:44 +1000
Dan Young asking on behalf of a friend about possible cider trips in
Australia.....
For the cities mentioned there is cider available in most bottle
shops. He will be able to find the ubiquitous Strongbow in various
iterations together with a number of nationally available brands such
as Mercury, Pipsqueak, Newtons (imported from Belgium?) and Magners.
To get to the more crafted ciders there will be something of a drive
in each case.
Western Australia - from Perth it is about 180k south to Bunbury and
then southeast 35k to Donnybrook for Old Goldfields and a further 60k
to Bridgetown for The Cidery. If time permits then you could continue
to Pemberton for Mountford (another 70 odd k) and to Denmark for
Elephants Rock (another 200 odd k). This puts you down near Albany
which it should be possible to locate on a reasonable Australian map.
Few ciders in WA utilise cider apples, generally working with Pink
Lady, Granny Smith etc
Victoria - from Melbourne its about 35km ENE to Kellybrook who have
both cider and apple brandy.
Again with Melbourne as the start point you can travel approx 120k NNW
to Harcourt. This town has the distinction of having two cider
producers; Bress, and Henry of Harcourt. HoH has the distinction of
having taken out prizes for both cider and perry at the Adelaide cider
tasting competition in late 2007.
New South Wales - from Sydney it is about 270k west to the apple
growing region of Orange (named not for citrus but for Prince William
of Orange who became a King of Holland). Orange has Small Acres Cyder
who likewise took out a prize at the Adelaide competition.
If time permits an alternative is to drive from Harcourt to Orange
(about 750k or 9-10 hours). An interesting trip that would let you see
something of the Australian countryside. Not the "outback" - just
country!
Each of the producers mentioned can be found on the web and I'm happy
to pass on further information regarding other areas if the itinerary
permits. Tasmania has some producers as does South Australia and
Queensland.
- --
David Pickering
"Linden Lea" Huntley Road, ORANGE NSW 2800 Australia
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Subject: Cider Digest: Anyone using a "shop press" for a cider press?
From: Nat West <natjwest@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 09:36:47 -0700
Has anyone refashioned one of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=32879
or these:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_604_604
or similar, to press their cider? It seems like you'd just need to weld on a
wider plate at the bottom to hold your catchbasin, then supply your own
racks, basin, cloths, etc, for far cheaper than a Goodnature.
My timber frame jack was creaking a lot and had a couple ominous-sounding
cracks during the last of last year's pressings so I'm trying to plan ahead.
Thanks,
- -Nat West, Portland Oregon
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Finding closure
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 11:57:39 -0600
Frank Stevens <moose49017@comcast.net> wrote:
> Thought I would just throw this out there.
> I would like to here about your preferred way to put up your ciders,
> cyser's etc.
> Both short term and long term. Utility and for flair.
For utility, you can't beat crown caps: cheap, easy, and utterly reliable.
There are two cautions:
1. The bottle, cap, and capper MUST match up. There are two standards--
26 and 29 mm, referring to the outside diameter of the lip which holds
the cap. European sparkling-wine bottles are generally 29 mm; most
others (beer, US sparkling wine, etc.) are 26. In the US, caps and
cappers that are readily available are 26. If you try to put a 26mm
cap or use a 26 mm capper on a 29mm bottle, you are quite likely to
crack the bottle lip. WCS is you crack it but it appears to hold,
until you open the bottle and shards of glass fall down into your
precious cider.
(Don't use twist-off bottles. Although a capper can actually fit
crown caps on them, the glass isn't strong enough for that re-use.)
2. For carbonated ciders, the bottle must be able to withstand the
pressure. Crown caps will not come off under pressure; the bottle
will explode first. This means if there's any possibility of (re)
fermenting in bottle, the residual sugar must be low enough not to
overcarbonate dangerously. Although yeast will eventually stop
fermenting at high enough pressure, that pressure is much higher
than a beer bottle or cheap sparkling-wine bottle will withstand.
Well...all that sounds rather dire, doesn't it? It's not that bad.
If you're scavenging or dumpster-diving for bottles, you'll soon learn
to recognize 26 vs 29. I suggest you just stick with 26 as they're
easiest to find. I -strongly- suggest you don't have a mixture of
26 and 29; that way you never have to worry about a mix-up.
Carbonation isn't that big a problem in practice, as long as you
observe residual sugar level, because you probably don't want so
much fizz in a cider as would endanger a beer bottle.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1517
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