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Woops, sorry PH.
Obviously a trick of the light!
Obviously a trick of the light!
Clochard cider
- Thread starter pomme homme
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rickthebrew
Landlord.
What a great set up you have :
Where abouts in france are you?
Where abouts in france are you?
pomme homme
Regular.
Thank you, Rick.
The key to it all was getting the press. I'd been trying for several years but most of those, on eBay, were in Alsace, Burgundy or the Bordeaux regions. Too far from us to make them a realistic acquisition. We bid on the few that we'd found in this area (by which I mean within a 150 km radius), but they all went up to a price beyond our means. Then last year we found one on eBay, 25 km up the road from us, and put in a bid at the starting price of 100 â¬. We expected to be outbid yet again but there were no other bids. So we got our press and a crusher for 100 ⬠- plus the 20 ⬠I paid a friend for the use of his van and his labour to fetch them.
The rest of the kit was less problematic. Most of the fermenting vessels we had in the UK and brought them out to France with us. As we have needed to increase the number, some kind friends, who have a holiday home nearby, have bought them from Wilkinsons and brought them out with them. We also acquired, for very little money, some 250 litre plastic barrels. So far, those have been used for fermenting plums. The 'plum wine' produced has been taken to the distillateur ambulante to be distilled into eau-de-vie (quite legal in France so long as you pay the taxes of about 8 ⬠per litre). However this year I am minded to use those to blend the cider from the different pressings. The chemicals are very hard to find in France - unless you are buying on an industrial scale - so the internet and UK suppliers have proved very helpful. But that, other than our apple trees and the Briggs & Stratton powered garden mulcher we now use to produce the apple pulp for pressing, is the total of our set up.
Oh, and we're in Deux Sèvres in the west of France.
The key to it all was getting the press. I'd been trying for several years but most of those, on eBay, were in Alsace, Burgundy or the Bordeaux regions. Too far from us to make them a realistic acquisition. We bid on the few that we'd found in this area (by which I mean within a 150 km radius), but they all went up to a price beyond our means. Then last year we found one on eBay, 25 km up the road from us, and put in a bid at the starting price of 100 â¬. We expected to be outbid yet again but there were no other bids. So we got our press and a crusher for 100 ⬠- plus the 20 ⬠I paid a friend for the use of his van and his labour to fetch them.
The rest of the kit was less problematic. Most of the fermenting vessels we had in the UK and brought them out to France with us. As we have needed to increase the number, some kind friends, who have a holiday home nearby, have bought them from Wilkinsons and brought them out with them. We also acquired, for very little money, some 250 litre plastic barrels. So far, those have been used for fermenting plums. The 'plum wine' produced has been taken to the distillateur ambulante to be distilled into eau-de-vie (quite legal in France so long as you pay the taxes of about 8 ⬠per litre). However this year I am minded to use those to blend the cider from the different pressings. The chemicals are very hard to find in France - unless you are buying on an industrial scale - so the internet and UK suppliers have proved very helpful. But that, other than our apple trees and the Briggs & Stratton powered garden mulcher we now use to produce the apple pulp for pressing, is the total of our set up.
Oh, and we're in Deux Sèvres in the west of France.
rickthebrew
Landlord.
Sounds like a great life in a beautiful area, when I was around 13 I went on a three week family camping holiday around the area of Angers and Le Mans and south towards La Rochelle then back toward the Normandy coast for the ferry from Roscoff and it was a great holiday staying in remote municipal camp sites eating fresh bread and drinking little stubbie bottles of Kronenburg (borrowed from the cool box!!) Happy memories ! Your cider production looks like great fun - and the plum eau-de-vie sounds very tasty!
Hope you post more pics of your production line when you harvest the apples
Hope you post more pics of your production line when you harvest the apples
pomme homme
Regular.
Onto another barrel. This is, I think, the first one where I pulped the apples using the petrol powered garden mulcher. It's no less strong but there's a better apple flavour. Can the experts offer an opinion on that?
Dieseljockey
Regular.
Hi PH...cider looking good....and the dog...one of the larger Griffon's (Briquet Griffon Vendeen) by the looks of him....
Where abouts in Deux Sèvres are you?...we lived there for 3 years...near Bressuire miss it a lot..would like to get back one day.
Where abouts in Deux Sèvres are you?...we lived there for 3 years...near Bressuire miss it a lot..would like to get back one day.
pomme homme
Regular.
Ca va, Dieseljockey.
No, he's not a French breed but d'un race écossais, a bearded collie, but of French pedigree.
We're not a great distance from Bressuire, about 15 km south of the town, closer to the gâtinais apple (sadly all desert) growing areas.
No, he's not a French breed but d'un race écossais, a bearded collie, but of French pedigree.
We're not a great distance from Bressuire, about 15 km south of the town, closer to the gâtinais apple (sadly all desert) growing areas.
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