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Cider Digest #1991
Subject: Cider Digest #1991, 8 October 2015
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1991 8 October 2015
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: cider apples and trees (Wes Cherry)
Maceration ("Cline, Shane K.")
Ground harvesting in North America (Alan Yelvington)
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Subject: Re: cider apples and trees
From: Wes Cherry <eightway@kmonkey.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2015 16:12:10 -0700
I suggest contacting all the home brew stores within Washington. Set up
a special sale of juice at the store with a specific pickup date. Get the
store to hype it to their customers.
Bob's home brew in Seattle does this every year using juice from a cider
orchard on Lopez island. it's a big thing. Demand far outstrips supply with
it selling out months in advance. I think they charge $10/gal for the juice.
It's also worth contacting the Nw agbiz center. They put on Peter Mitchell's
cider making class. Many of the graduates would love to get their hands
on bittersweet juice.
- -'//es
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Subject: Maceration
From: "Cline, Shane K." <Shane.Cline@hdrinc.com>
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2015 15:43:26 +0000
I am a home cider maker and have been making cider for 6 years (pretty
obsessively for 4 years) and following along quietly on cider digest for
nearly as long.
Am thinking about macerating my pomace this year and was hoping for a few
suggestions of the benefits of maceration between grinding and pressing.
Have collected a bunch of apples this year including lady, newtown,
winter banana, crab apples (wiksome?) Will be supplementing with juice
apples including a blend of jonathan, jonagold, rome, granny smith, galas,
and possible others.
Am getting ready to press for the season and have been thinking about
macerating for an hour or two. I would think that leaving the pomace in
contact with the skins and seeds for some time would add complexity and
augment the color of the must. Jolicoeur indicates that it would also
increase yield and "mellows the bitterness and astringency". However Watson
indicates that it "greatly reduces the amount of tannins" by more than 90%".
I struggle to get enough tannins for my preference (largely because of
my heavy reliance on juice apples - they are the only ones I can get
quantities of without breaking the bank) so reducing the tannins by 90%
would not be a step in the right direction. In my opinion.
My questions are:
* Does maceration provide complexity to the must or is the benefit
a mellower less astringent cider.
* Are there some apples that handle maceration better than others.
* Conversely are there apples that should not be macerated.
* And as a bit of an aside, I'm thinking about using restaurant bus
tubs that are NSF approved (~6 gal) for maceration. Any cautionary tales
about using these to store the pomace.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Happy pressing
Shane
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Subject: Ground harvesting in North America
From: Alan Yelvington <al@happydogfarm.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2015 12:36:54 -0400
Hello all,
Is anyone out there using a ground harvester
for their cider apples? It's easy to use
tarps and the likes under larger trees, but
I'm looking at solutions for when my row
trees start to bear.
I talked to the U.S. representative for a
German manufacturer, and the machines are
what you would expect from Germany,
wonderful! Regrettably, transportation
charges are on a par with the cost of the
equipment.
http://www.feucht-obsttechnik.de/en/fruit-harvesting-technology/fruit-harvesting
-machines.html
I'm also looking at "hedgehog" harvesters
that are fully manual, puncture the fruit,
but much more affordable. They are a start,
and I may end up building my own since the
transportation charges to import them are
just as prohibitive.
Does anyone out there have recommendations
for mechanical ground harvesters available in
the U.S.? I'm a very small operation, so it
needs to be affordable.
Al Yelvington
Happy Dog Farm
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End of Cider Digest #1991
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