2020 Apple Harvest Cider Thread

[MattH1973]

So here goes, some apples are in, and more on the trees. I bought some infra red rabbit scarers to try and stop them nibbling the fallers - seems to have worked.....

Pressing later this weekend......

Hope everyone is well........
20200822_081706 by MattH3764, on Flickr

20200807_173248 by MattH3764, on Flickr

 

[chthon]

I heard or read somewher that for cider, you should let your apples rest for a month before pressing. Anyone care to elaborate or deny this?

I hope I can make cider next year, but for that I would need a surplus of 10kg of apples (at least), so that I have at least 5l of juice. Still not there, some of my trees can give more apples. Most of them are consumed normally, or used for juice before they can rot. Yearly problems: codling moth (still have some carpovirusine, and a feromone trap does seem to work), third summer that some of the apples get too much heat, and wasps, but that is mostly on motheaten fruit. So these are used for fresh apple juice.

 

[Cwrw666]

I heard or read somewher that for cider, you should let your apples rest for a month before pressing. Anyone care to elaborate or deny this?

I think it's because some of the acidity is turned into sugars? Got mine in a trug having picked them today - mostly Fair Maid of Devon and a few Kingston Blacks. I'll be leaving them for 2 or 3 weeks unless they start going off, though they shouldn't as there's no windfalls.

 

[raymondo]

Squeezed out my Morgan Sweet last weekend (located in south Devon)- if left more than a few days they have a texture like apple sauce and are very difficult/impossible to press. Just a few Tom Putts added to get the acidity correct - tested at ph3.6. Natural ferment - just the fingers crossed period waiting for it to kick off now.

 

[Moonraker]

I bought some infra red rabbit scarers to try and stop them nibbling the fallers -

Wish there was something for the bl**dy wasps, anything that hits the ground in my garden is covered with the bleeders within seconds...

 

[Moonraker]

I heard or read somewher that for cider, you should let your apples rest for a month before pressing. Anyone care to elaborate or deny this?

Yeah, I read this somewhere too, aparently the starches turn to sugar if you leave them a few weeks, I've got a bag full of windfalls that I am going to press next weekend as like raymondo says:

if left more than a few days they have a texture like apple sauce and are very difficult/impossible to press.

as they seem to have bounced off something on the way down the bruises are getting a bit manky...

 

[Cwrw666]

Windfalls won't store as even if they look undamaged they're bound to be bruised and will go rotten. So you have to use them straight away.

 

[MattH1973]

I too have read that storing the apples can enhance the sugars, in practice we pick ours over a few weeks so some are stored and some aren't. I cannot store for too long as i use sacks, not crates, and quite a few of mine get damaged or eaten, so go bad if left to sit.

Anyways, 45 litres done today.

20 litres of au naturel. Will sit in demijons for a few months to ferment naturally. Hydrometer suggests somewhere between 7 and 8 pct. Not sure on acidity as my meter failed, but previous years have always been low 3's. We cut back an old tree a couple of years ago and this yielded well for the first time in our ownership - smaller apples the others and closer to 7pct rather than 8.

the other 25 litres went in a fermenter with chalk, camden and pectolase. This will have yeast added tomorrow.

 

[MattH1973]

20200830_163607 by MattH3764, on Flickr

20200830_145912 by MattH3764, on Flickr

20200830_122647 by MattH3764, on Flickr

20200830_115644 by MattH3764, on Flickr

 

[MattH1973]

2nd press this weekend.....

Some apples from home, extra maturation in sacks seems to have increased the strength - one DJ looks like it will come out at 10% - that's wine (!) - I'd better dilute that oone......
20200913_163411 by MattH3764, on Flickr

Some applies from friends and family, got 15 litres from those, sugar levels looks like it will come out at 6-7%, so I will add yeast to these:
20200913_163402 by MattH3764, on Flickr

 

[freester]

Hello Matt you've been busy. Nice press BTW

WRT leaving the apples yes for sure the longer you leave them the more the starch turns to sugar and the stronger the product. You can collect them and leave them in netted bags and they will keep longer. I think this works better with proper cider apples as they are smaller, tougher so bruise less, and the wasps aren't so interested especially as some cider apples won't be ready until October / November after the wasps have disappeared! I usually collect apples one weekend and leave at least one week to the next weekend before pressing.

I've got some updates to make - I've not actually tried any of my 2019 yet just finishing the 2018! But I'll add that to the relevant threads! Thinking about my first apple collection this weekend...

Happy Cider Making Season everyone!

 

[MattH1973]

great to see you back Freester. I have been drinking both 2018 and 2019 recently - but really noticed how some of the harsher 2018 (the stronger Lalvin batch) mellowed out with time. As my reserve builds up (thanks to using glass bottles) I plan to see how it ages - so I may leave some of the 4 remaining 2018 bottles until 2021, and see how the process continues.

 

[MattH1973]

Bottled the 25 litres that had yeast added from the first press today. i usually wait 3 weeks, this time it was 4 and it had fermented completely dry. I like the love brewing / wineworks cider yeast the best i think - i used it here for the first time in a few years so we will see how this tastes. Hydrometer sample tasted crisp and sharp, I expect it to mellow in the bottles.

20200927_144343 by MattH3764, on Flickr

So that's 25 litres (with blue caps (for my own records) of 2020, safely conditioning in the cellar along with the last 16 litres or so of 2019, and 3 bottles of 2018 that I am keeping to see how they age.

Got 15 more litres that had yeast to do in the next couple of weeks, and then the au naturel can wait for Christmas leave.

I have decided not to bother with secondary, I am time poor and cant be doing with a extra step in the process, and all the sterilisation involved. it seems to have done no harm in previous years.

 

[freester]

Nice work Matt time poor and all that. I don't think secondary matters that much. You may have a bit more settled at the bottom of the bottles. Poor carefully for clear or less gently for trad cloudy!

 

[Bernie]

How does the electric scatter work? Does it take whole apples and what is the size of the apples afterwards? I have a manual one but the pieces are too large and pass them through a couple of times to get a decent yield.

 

[BartonMillBrewer]

How does the electric scatter work? Does it take whole apples and what is the size of the apples afterwards? I have a manual one but the pieces are too large and pass them through a couple of times to get a decent yield.

I have a similar electric scratter/mill and found that whole apples up to about 30mm in diameter go through but anything larger than that benefits from halving our quartering as the larger whole apples seem to bounce around on top of the blade and cause the machine to block. The cut apples present a straight edge to the blade and get processed without a hitch.
While the cost is relatively high the results speak for themselves. I can process a 20Kg bucket of cut fruit in under a minute.

 

[Moonraker]

While the cost is relatively high the results speak for themselves.

I looked up the cost of electric scratters online -

(I think I'll be sitting in my shed cranking my handle for some time yet...)

 

[BartonMillBrewer]

Not cheap but save so much time.
If you regularly harvest and process 50Kg and above of apples I would take the plunge.

 

[Moonraker]

I have seen an article on how to make a homebuilt scratter out of an old washing machine drum and motor, the wife has just caught me looking contemplatively at our Bosch... :^)

 

[BartonMillBrewer]

Hmm. Dangerous territory! Probably less of a danger to your health to buy a custom made device!