This years cider (Post 2) - My Mix

Note - I am trying to catch up to current events.. so, several posts will be pretty long.. hopefully when I catch up, I can switch to shorter updates..

First - Horsie Pee. (Happy, Erik?)

Ok..

As a kid, I remember going to my uncle's house (My grandfather's house at that time), and picking up a few buckets of drops from the couple of apple trees on his property, and crushing and pressing them into fresh juice, using a beat up old crusher and press that was old by the time I was a teenager. Eventually, the crusher and press went to my father, and then to me.

Now, every Fall, I collect apples and have an apple pressing day out on the deck. Originally, this was just to get some juice for drinking straight, or mulling, but it grew into a larger format, and then included juice for fermenting. This past Fall, I collected 17 bushels of apples of different varieties, and over a VERY long day, we pressed 25 gallons of juice, 20 of which went into fermenters. The rest was distributed to the helpers,

I find that I dont take real good notes on my Cider process. The REASON is I am lazy.. the justification is that there is no reasonable way that I can expect to get the same apple mix year over year, and, frankly, I wouldn't want to. It's fun to see how creative I can get when trying to scrounge for apples, and each year, I never know where the apples are coming from until I get them. I have a couple of local orchards that I always call, as well as a couple people I know who have trees in their yards, but I dont really know what will be available, or at what cost (cost being a big factor).

So, this year, my mix includes Macintosh, Cortland, Redfield (a GREAT find), Empire, Red Delicious.. and one or two others that I just cant remember.. As well as about a half bushel of pears from a friend's backyard tree.

The juice was REALLY good, and a lot of people went home with bottles of it. I sulfited the must, and innoculated it the next afternoon with Lalvin D-47 yeast and left it alone until January(about 10 weeks from pressing day).

By that time the primary fermentation was done and the cider had already dropped clear, so, I actually think I waited a little longer than I should have.. but, it was time to add the adjuncts..

A note on adjuncts. My first couple years making cider, I tried to remain close to pure (juice, yeast, time, and nothing else), but, I find that the end result has been drinkable, but not particularly interesting. That is NOT a bad thing.. A nice, dry cider, just out of the fridge, or on tap, is a Real Good Thing(tm). But since I do this for fun, I figure why not have some fun? This year I am having a LOT of fun...

So.. adjuncts..

Two carboys of cider (10 gallons) recieved the following -

• 3 or 4 pieces of orange peel, with the pithy part sliced out
• 3 pounds of honey, dissolved into some of the juice I froze at pressing time

The other two received -

• 3 or 4 pieces of orange peel, with the pithy part sliced out
• 6 pounds of honey (dissolved into thawed juice)
• 1/2 pound of raisins

So, the cider that got the 6 pounds of honey, I am calling "cyser", which is the "correct" name for cider fermented with honey. I am not sure if there is a point at which the name changes.. for all I know, technically, the other cider is also "cyser", simply because it has any honey in it at all.. I am assuming that before it is called "cyser" it has to have a certain percentage of fermentable sugars come from honey.

I let the carboys sit with the raisins and orange peel for about three weeks, and then racked off of the adjuncts into fresh carboys. The taste was really interesting. The orange peel really expressed itself. Right now the gravity is till pretty high, and, as the basement warms up in the Spring, I expect the fermenttion to pick up again, and the gravity to drop down to about .098.

My expectations are that I will rack once more in April, and then let them sit until September, when I will bottle.

This years cider (Post 1)

I'm going to talk about cider and sap wine for a few posts..

But first.. a word about.. well, words.. I am going to guess that there are conventions for naming, when discussing things like cider. In the U.S., "cider" is the juice from crushed and pressed apples. In the UK and perhaps Europe in general, "cider" is fermented apple juice. I am unclear on the rules of capitalization. In the U.S., "cider" is "hard cider".

I use "cider" when referring to "hard cider", at least partially because I suck at typing and will take any shortcuts I reasionably can, but also, and perhaps more importantly, there is already a single word that means "fermented apple juice" and this word has been around for a long tme, before we Americans co-opted it and changed it's meaning.

That doesn't mean I am a word-Nazi. I don't go around to local (New England, USA) cider houses and try to correct them about the word they use to describe their product (sweet juice made from pressed apples).. but, on this blog, "cider" is fermented apple juice, and "must" is apple juice intended for fermenting.. and "juice" is sweet, unfermented liquid meant to be consumed. "Must" is also used for other pre-fermented liquids, like the honey-water mixture that will become mead.

I also, as much as possible, will use the "right" words to describe the variations on each drink, with explanations as necessary for those readers new to this type of fermenting.

This assumes that anyone will actually read my blog...

Welcoming myself to the blogosphere.

If I use the word "blogosphere", does that mean I am cool, or a hopeless wannabe tool who cant keep up with the changing language of technology..? Was that a false dichotomy? Is there a choice "C" that put's me somewhere between cool and loser..?

Anyway, Hi!
My name is John Simmons, and I am a homebrewer ("hiiii Johhhnnnn...."). I'll ferment anything that has enough sugar, and sits still long enough for me to innoculate it with an appropriate yeast. My current projects include Cider, Cyser, and Mead (Oh MY!!). I also have a Sapwine going, but that would have thrown off the joke.

I will be attempting to blog about my endeavours in a meaningful way, providing what original insights I can, and stealing them (credited, of course..) where appropriate.

Interspersed will be bits and bobs related to my other interests.. including, but not limited to, basement projects, photography, athiesm, Celtic/Irish music.. whatever else comes to mind..

But mostly about brewing, and fermenting in general..