Freester's 2019 Cider Thread

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I've got to admit I've been struggling with motivation this year. Weekend's are busy with a young family.

A new location for apples. A beautiful walled orchard. Mainly eaters. And a few pears. Collected today I'll scrat and press next weekend. Haven't really thought out a plan yet but may go full trad / au naturel this autumn.

About 50-75l here I think...

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good to see you back Freester, nice haul ! The good thing about the au naturel is that once the pressing day is over you literally have nothing to do for months, so its a good option if your time is precious. Mine hasnt started to clear in the DJs yet, so it is a good few weeks before I need to worry about bottling - will probably do it on a quiet day over Christmas with my winter pruning.

Great orchard ! I'm jealous....
 
Busy day Sunday. Collected a load of little cider apples from another site. Bitter sweets.

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I then had to crack on and press as much of last week's haul and this week's...

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Long back breaking work I managed to brim 4x 30l brewing bins, and a DJ with the pear juice. 4 bags of the little apples left but I ran out of time and light.

The bins are between 1044 and 1050 so will come out around 5.5 - 6.5%

No campdens this is 120l of traditional. I won't touch this lot until Easter at the earliest!
 
For someone who wasnt feeling the enthusiasm, Freester, a 120 litre day is a damn fine effort. Good call on going traditional, I drank a bottle of my 2018 this weekend and it is so much smoother than the yeast batches....
 
Popped into the garage last night. Some evidence of a ferment beginning to start. These bins are pretty much airtight, the lids are bowing upwards now and the odd bubble out of the airlocks. I'll just sit, watch and be patient until spring now.
 
Popped into the garage last night. Some evidence of a ferment beginning to start. These bins are pretty much airtight, the lids are bowing upwards now and the odd bubble out of the airlocks. I'll just sit, watch and be patient until spring now.

Well everything is bubbling away like a train now despite the temp in the garage well under 10 deg C. I've still got 4 bags of apples in the garage that are in still good nick I think I'll press them this side of Xmas hopefully.
 
How do you know it won't turn into vinigar, sounds almost too easy, how is the finished product also, thanks
 
How do you know it won't turn into vinigar, sounds almost too easy, how is the finished product also, thanks

There's no guarantee it won't. Although my understanding is it's most likely to turn to vinegar if the fruit flies get in so just be careful.

I've been making cider for the last 4 autumns now. The last 3 I've always made a proportion of 'traditional'. It's a better product. More mellow, less harsh. But it's a risk / reward thing. You have no control but potentially a better product. But also potentially a worse one. There's an old fella in the village he has always made it the traditional way. One year I tried some it wasn't very good. Mousy I suppose. Not a nice after taste. But normally it's spot on.
 
It's interesting to hear, I have a bucket of mixed apples in the freezer but if a go to the effort of crushing them up I may just sprinkle a good cider yeast on top, swinging the tide my way a bit. Thanks a good read through.
 
It's interesting to hear, I have a bucket of mixed apples in the freezer but if a go to the effort of crushing them up I may just sprinkle a good cider yeast on top, swinging the tide my way a bit. Thanks a good read through.

That's not a bad plan. A place local to here who make a bit of cider to sell but also rent out their scratter/press recommend no campdens just pitch a yeast into the juice and let the natural vs pitched sort itself out. I've no idea whether the freezing could affect the natural yeasts also.
 
Yes probably wild natural yeasts are much tougher than the specialist brewing yeast that may not stand the cold.
 
I've just primed and put into pressure barrel 20lt turbo cider.

aldi pressed apple juice and white labs 616 cider yeast.its amazing.
 
There's no guarantee it won't. Although my understanding is it's most likely to turn to vinegar if the fruit flies get in so just be careful.

I've been making cider for the last 4 autumns now. The last 3 I've always made a proportion of 'traditional'. It's a better product. More mellow, less harsh. But it's a risk / reward thing. You have no control but potentially a better product. But also potentially a worse one. There's an old fella in the village he has always made it the traditional way. One year I tried some it wasn't very good. Mousy I suppose. Not a nice after taste. But normally it's spot on.

+1 - the "au naturel" with no yeast has been much smoother for me the last 2 years. My apples come out a 9 percent, and the yeast versions taste harsh, but no such issue with the "au naturel"

key thing is to use a narrow necked vessel like a demijon or carbouy to minimise the oxidation chances.
 
Well it's been a while since I checked in here. Apologies. I hope that these crazy times are treating you well and everyone is being good citizens and obeying social distancing rules.

I've not done a lot recently. I left the 120l I pressed in the autumn in fermenting bins all winter. It started bubbling again the last few days as it warms up.

I bottled 23l from my 2018 batches today. One more carboy left. Had a taste of the leftovers. It tasted damn fine and possibly the best I've made so far in my short cider making career.

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