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Cider Digest #1597
Subject: Cider Digest #1597, 29 November 2010
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1597 29 November 2010
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Probably too long, but -- (Jim Cummins)
Sparkling Cider ("JosephC")
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: Probably too long, but --
From: Jim Cummins <rootstocks@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:28:54 -0500
Dick, if you sometime get desperate, you might consider using the Ben
Davis blurb below. It's at least 65% true story.
[Thanks, Jim...now's a good time for a story--CD very quiet. -janitor]
Even though I'm not a cider maker (son James is), I really enjoy the digest.
//Jim
Thirsty Cider
Lots of folks complain about those big red Delicious from Washington
state being all dry and mealy once you get your teeth through the
tough skin. But I tell you, you don't know "dry and mealy" till you've
chewed a Ben Davis apple.
Eating a Ben Davis apple was an experience you remembered. Ol' Ben was
a pretty enough apple, brilliant red skin on the outside and the
inside a pure white. But in your mouth, that pure white apple turned
into pure white cotton; only difference was that the Ben Davis didn't
lodge fibers in your teeth.
Back 35 years ago, when son Jamie was a student at Cornell, he was
experimenting with cider blends. He'd put together all sorts of mixes
- -- basically Macs and Delicious and Goldens and such-like, but with
different special varieties added in -- usually English cider apples
or their cousins from Normandy, sometimes Chestnut Crab, or Dolgo, or
Transcendant. He always built up his rack of pulp with the special
variety he was testing on the bottom "cheese", and then the regular
Delicious and Macs and Goldens racked on top.
One Saturday afternoon I brought Jamie a bushel of Ben Davis to try;
told him that would give a special dry character to his cider.
Somewhat doubtfully, Jamie ground up the Ben Davis, racked the pulp,
racked the regular basic varieties on top, and began to screw down his
press.
Now you could see juice begin to flow from the top four racks, the
Delicious and Goldens and Macs, but none from the rack of Ben Davis
pulp. Jamie kept putting on the pressure, but still no juice came into
the catch-vat at all -- the Ben Davis pulp was soaking up every drop.
Jamie kept pressing away, and pretty soon we heard a great "burp" from
the cider press, and an empty gurgle from the half-filled cider
barrel.
That bushel of Ben Davis had soaked up all the Delicious and Mac and
Golden Delicious juice from the racks above and then had emptied that
half-filled barrel of cider for dessert!!
- -- from The Orchard Remembered.
Dr. James N. Cummins
Emeritus Professor of Pomology
Cornell University
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Subject: Sparkling Cider
From: "JosephC" <josephc99@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2010 11:20:41 -0700
I am looking for advice on bottling cider fermented to dry as sparkling
cider. for years I have bottle conditioned my ciders by bottling dry cider
with some priming sugar and some fresh yeast and I like the results but with
the yeast sediment they don't travel well.
The bright tank and counter pressure filler seem to be the standard. Has
anyone had success with smaller batches (5 gal or so) using other methods?
One I might try is the corny keg with a counter pressure bottler or beer gun
filler. I am thinking about the Beer Gun because it is easier for one person
than the counter pressure filler. If someone out there has had success of
failure using this approach I would appreciate hearing about their success
or failure.
Some questions are:
How many atmospheres or psi and for how long in the conditioning stage?
What should final psi be for sparkling cider?
How long to condition in keg or tank before bottling to get the best
quality bubbles?
Does the Beer Gun work for this (requires relieving the keg pressure
before bottling)?
What should final psi be for sparkling cider in the bottle?
I haven't posted before but read this all the time. I've been making cider
for 10+ years.
Thanks,
Joe Conway
Erie, CO
Phone: (303) 828-0649
E-mail: josephc99@earthlink.net
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End of Cider Digest #1597
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