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Cider Digest #1511
Subject: Cider Digest #1511, 15 June 2009
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1511 15 June 2009
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
deer repellent (Jack O Feil)
Re: repelling deer ("Jay Hersh aka Dr. Beer(R)")
Cellar Manager needed at Sea Cider ("Kristen Jordan")
Re: Additional Ingredients? ("Charles McGonegal")
Early racking. (Duncan Galletly)
good reading and a question (Terry Maloney)
NOTE: Digest appears whenever there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to cider@talisman.com.
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: deer repellent
From: Jack O Feil <feilorchards@juno.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:44:33 -0700
We have a commercial repellent available for use in our commercial
orchards, it's hundreds of times more powerful than Tabasco sauce
(capsicum oleoresin). I don't recall the name, I've sprayed it on young
cherry trees that deer seem to prefer along with young apple trees. It
seems to work and no tree damage if used according to directions.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: repelling deer
From: "Jay Hersh aka Dr. Beer(R)" <jsh@jaguarking.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:31:13 -0400
OK, technically this isn't about repelling deer, it's about keeping them
out in the first place.
We were putting in an orchard and knew we had lots of deer around. We had
seen the deer in Western CT jump over a 6ft high fence with ease that our
friends had around their vegetable garden. So I decided we needed at least
an 8ft fence. When I went to the store I found that the tall U shaped metal
fence posts with the little slots to hook the wire mesh into didn't come in
8 ft heights, only 6 ft.
I realized however that it would be possible to pound one into the ground,
then flip one over and bolt it to the one in the ground with about 12-18
inches of overlap. With this approach I was able to create an 8 ft high
fence around our orchard (which is on level ground) which has 8 trees
total. 2 rows of 3 semi dwarf apples and 1 row of 2 semi dwarf pears. I
used the 4ft high square mesh wire that is fairly rigid and is coated in a
green plastic or rubber material. I used zip ties to hold them together at
the gap. On one end I added 2 additional sets of fence posts and used that
to make a frame onto which I was able to bolt 2x4s to make a frame with
hinges within hich I mounted a door with a latch.
We've had this fence for 5 years now and we've never had a deer get into
the orchard. This approach may not be as feasible for a fairly large
orchard but so far it has held up well and worked as intended.
For ground critter protection (voles, etc.) that tend to strip bark under
the snow pack in the winter my wife got some wire mesh with a very small
grid sizes and cut it into circles. She cut a slot in them then put it
around each of the trees weighted down with stones and surrounded by rigid
garden edging which she pounded into the ground. The edging keeps them from
tunneling under the outside of the mesh. So far this has worked well to
prevent these critters from getting at the bark below the snow. She also
wraps the trees in winter from as close to the ground as possible to about
3-4 feet up in case they are tempted to go above the snow.
My wife, as well os our neighbor (who is originally a good old boy from
Kentucy) claim that human urine works to keep deer off the flowers. I
personally have adopted a don't ask don't tell policy about the flowers and
have expressly forbid her from putting it on anything I might eat...
One other approach my neighbor from Kentucky recommends for deer is
shooting and eating them. They're quite tasty if cooked right you know :-).
That and we live in deer tick country so the fact that their numbers have
been increasing around here is especially alarming since incidence of Lyme
disease has been increasing in my area. Hey it's a battle, them or us.
ttfn,
Jay
------------------------------
Subject: Cellar Manager needed at Sea Cider
From: "Kristen Jordan" <kristen.jordan@shaw.ca>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:49:56 -0700
Hello cider makers! Sea Cider is a certified organic orchard and Ciderhouse.
We make and sell fermented cider. We are looking for a Cellar Manager
who will be responsible for planning and executing all cider production
processes and activities. Production management experience and extensive
technical expertise related to cider, wine or beer making are essential.
The Cellar Manager role requires a multifaceted and highly flexible
individual who is prepared to both manage production and be very hands-on
in all activities related to cider production.
A more detailed position description is available on our website at
http://www.seacider.ca/job-opportunities/
Potential candidates are invited to send a cover letter and resume to me
at kristen@seacider.ca
Thank you!
Kristen Jordan
Owner
Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse
www.seacider.ca
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Additional Ingredients?
From: "Charles McGonegal" <cpm@aeppeltreow.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:25:28 -0500
In Cider Digest #1508, 5 June 2009, Bruce Kahn wrote:
>Subject: Additional Ingredients?
>
>Confessions of an Adulterer
>
>I would like to know what ingredients (besides apple juice) do people add
>to their hard cider, and which have been most interesting.
>.....
Bruce - I overlooked this earlier. People who are just having fun making
cider add a number of things. Mostly commonly honey. And then maybe oak
chips (if you don't a barrel handy) or other sources of oak tannins - or
even non-oak tannins. Then various fruit, prefermentation (raisins,
cherries, raspberries, etc.) Folks do this to suit their own tastes and
sense of adventure. It doesn't make 'authentic' cider. Well, except for the
fabled New England Cider. Or here around the western Great Lakes, where I
often encounter the 'if my grandpa made cider with 'x' apples and put 'y' in
it, then it's traditional, darn it, and hang the Europeans!' philosophy.
If you're striving for authenticity, then about the only thing you should
put in is more apple juice, post fermentation. This takes a bit of
technique, or technology, or both, to keep stabile in the bottle at cider
alcohol levels. But it can be done.
At AEppelTreow, we flavor our draft cider series with fruit juices just
prior to kegging. Apple, cranberry, strawberry/raspberry. Oh, and then one
is has spices steeped in the (steel) barrel during aging.
Have fun with your experiments.
Charles
AEppelTreow Winery
------------------------------
Subject: Early racking.
From: Duncan Galletly <duncan.galletly@otago.ac.nz>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:57:49 +1200
Hi,
This is a question that I can't seem to find the answer to from cider-
making books, but I'm sure the answer will be obvious to many on the
cider digest.
I think I am following a reasonably standard sequence of pressing, and
then adding an appropriate dose of sulphite, placing the airlock,
cooling (10-15 C), and waiting for a natural fermentation to take
place. Occasionally with certain apples however, over the next few
days the juice will clear quite markedly, before fermentation starts,
leaving a heavy deposit on the bottom of the fermentation vessel.
There is no chapeau brun as might be expected with a natural keeving
and the clarity of the juice is perhaps not as bright as a keeved
cider. My question however is to whether there is value, if this
happens, to rack the clear juice off the sediment before fermentation
starts as one would do with a keeved cider? Would the resulting juice
have a lower nitrogen content similar to a naturally keeved juice, or
is the nitrogen loss with keeving primarily from removal of the
floating pectate gel. My reticence to do this early racking is to
avoid further contamination of the juice before fermentation starts.
Thanks
Duncan
------------------------------
Subject: good reading and a question
From: Terry Maloney <terry@westcountycider.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:18:29 -0400
There is a good revue of cider-making and apples by Ian Merwin et al in
"Horticultural Reviews" Vol 34, Ed. by Jules Janick, 2008, John Wiley
and Sons. It doesn't seem to be on the web (copyright problems I think)
but worth getting a hold of.
Does anyone have any experience with Schizosaccharomyces pombe they
would be willing to share? Lallemand markets it as ProMalic in an
encapsulated form, the only source I have been able to find.
- --
Terry Maloney
West County Cider
Colrain, Massachusetts
_www.westcountycider.com
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End of Cider Digest #1511
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