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Cider Digest #2033
Subject: Cider Digest #2033, 9 August 2016
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #2033 9 August 2016
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: Cider Digest #2032, 15 July 2016 (Phillip Kelm)
Re: fruit quality of rootstock varieties? (Dick Dunn)
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: Re: Cider Digest #2032, 15 July 2016
From: Phillip Kelm <phil_kelm@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:38:03 +0000 (UTC)
Re: pH meters. I have nothing but good to say about the Hanna HI2020W kit.
Very sollid. Very good deal on everything you need to do most any cider
job at a reasonable price. Not like their stick instruments which I've
found to be garbage. Check it out. Interest of full disclosure: I have
no interest in any instrument company.
http://hannainst.com/hi2020w-edge-wine-ph-meter-kit.htm
Phillip Kelm
Manager of Palau Brewing Company,
Home of Red Rooster Beers;
Owner of Gitche Gumee Ciderworks,
Feral Ciders from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
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Subject: Re: fruit quality of rootstock varieties?
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2016 16:37:00 -0600
Back to a question I posed a couple months ago, essentially, if you grow
out a rootstock into a tree instead of grafting onto it, are there any
rootstock varieties which produce useful cider fruit?
Andrew Lea came up with some reports from Long Ashton 1974 and 1975
assessing the main numbers on fruit from a couple dozen rootstocks.
He also contacted Liz Copas, who found a short report on the topic done
at LARS in the 1970's.
It seems there are some rootstocks which produce fruit useful for cider
in terms of juice characteristics. This still leaves us not knowing
whether these trees would pollinate well, crop well, not be too biennial,
etc., etc. But it's interesting potential.
There are four rootstock varieties mentioned in the reports which are
generally available nowadays: M-7, M-26, MM-106, and MM-111.
M-7 (mid-size semi-dwarf) produces mild bittersweet juice with good sugar.
M-26 (somewhat smaller than M-7) produces bittersweet juice said to be on
the hard-tannin side. The two 74-75 LARS reports differ substantially in
the amounts of tannin and sugar reported.
MM-106 (larger than M-7) produces a sharp, mildly tannic juice--the numbers
seem to put it between "sharp" and "mild bittersharp". Sugar appears to be
mid-range based on the couple of numbers.
MM-111 (larger than 106) produces a sharp, slightly tannic juice--the
acidity and tannin numbers straddle those of 106 between the two report
years. Sugar is higher than 106.
Make of all this what you will. Obviously "your mileage may vary"
depending on how the trees respond to your weather/climate and soil, but
it seems that any of the four I mentioned would be worth a trial. If you
have trees which get top-killed and re-grow from the roots, that's a
minimal-effort start--just let them grow and see what happens.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #2033
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