and now it ends - the 1st cider of autumn in the glass

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lord groan
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and now it ends - the 1st cider of autumn in the glass

Post by lord groan » Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:44 pm

Well the heavy rain and wind has brought down aload of apples in my mum's garden so I gathered them up, I got about 55 litres of loose apples, after a spray down to wash off dirt, quartering and cutting off the nasty bits I scratted them to get about 40litres of pulp, then after pressing I have roughly 22l of juice.
4 campden tablets dissolved in hot water added and left for 3 days seemed to have killed off any remaining nasties, 3 teaspoons of nutrient added and a sachet of gervin cider yeast and I now have a happily fizzing fermenter. No sign of sulphur smells that I got last time I brewed with fresh juice.
Apple's were a mix of discovery, Cox's orange pippin, James grieve and russets.
OG1042.
Waiting to see what that tastes like!
Last edited by lord groan on Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Wonkydonkey
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn!

Post by Wonkydonkey » Sat Aug 19, 2017 10:38 pm

With my new home made apple scratter, I could pulp my apples this year. Not in a whole fruit juicer which I have in other years (it's started to make that magic blue smoke) and it's been worked hard.
Sops of wine is the first to drop, and the wind helped a bit. it also helped a few other trees, and what with the saw fly larvae, I picked and picked up, then washed them all just in tape water. it made 25 Lts of juice @ 1.050 ish it's fermenting with its own yeast or bugs. So we shall see what it turns out like sour/dry/nice/crap/funky farm cider stuff.

I think I may have another 50lt on the way as the other trees have loads of apples still ripening.

Cheers..
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lord groan
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn!

Post by lord groan » Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:19 pm

Any pics of the scratter build wonky?
My eldest is coming to her grans with me tomorrow, she wants windfalls for making crumble, I want them for more cider but this'll have blackberries in it too - not a clue how that'll come out. Had to do a bottlecount today - I'm in danger of running out of empties

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Crastney
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn!

Post by Crastney » Tue Aug 22, 2017 5:57 pm

pics or it didn't happen - :D

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HTH1975
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn!

Post by HTH1975 » Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:34 pm

I've got some local sources of free apples, so I'll be starting cider season again soon. My last batch from 2016 is bulk aging in demijohns. I used various yeasts in the DJs, but the best one by a mile was just letting it 'wild' ferment. Also did a wild-fermented perry too.

Looking forward to bottling them.

lord groan
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn! and pics for Crastney

Post by lord groan » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:53 pm

Pics as requested! Sorry didn't get one of the scratting happening
Apples
Image
scratter/press, moved into shed due to rain
Image
after 2 pressings, 2 fermenters in the fermentation fridge, the bottom one also has 1.2l blackberry juice added
Image
purple krausen!
Image
racked blackberry cider before bottling
Image

Cheers

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Wonkydonkey
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn!

Post by Wonkydonkey » Sun Sep 10, 2017 5:34 pm

lord groan wrote:
Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:19 pm
Any pics of the scratter build wonky?
My eldest is coming to her grans with me tomorrow, she wants windfalls for making crumble, I want them for more cider but this'll have blackberries in it too - not a clue how that'll come out. Had to do a bottlecount today - I'm in danger of running out of empties
I have a few pics but up loading them is a pain, I will try later/soon, I just need to get a few more pics to make a good representation of how it all works
ps.... its a real heath robinson thing..lol but it sort of works, ive done more than 200lt this yr
but to give you an idea of what it is
stainless steel screws, screwed in a angle about 45 degrees in a cylinder of hard wood. I got the idea from youtube. it taken me 2 yrs to get round to making it
it is driven by a 24vdc scooter motor by a 12vdc car battery, it would spin to fast otherwise. which is being charged by an alternator which is being driven by an old lawnmower engine.
the scooter motor does not have the ummph for me to just drop lots of apples in the hopper, so I have to feed 2s and 3s of apples in at a time
the pressing is done by a vergo 12lt press.
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Crastney
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn! and pics for Crastney

Post by Crastney » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:44 am

cool - looks good.
I too built my own scratter, but it's hand driven, which is a pain, but I only use it once or twice a year. This year it's worn out, so next year I''ll have to build a new one.
like yours it's screws screwed into a cylinder of wood, housed in a funnel. The main body was made of chipboard pieces left over from other things (mostly old IKEA billy bookcases), so when that gets wet and gouged into, it starts to disintegrate.
unfortunately I too find it difficult and/or time consuming to get pictures hosted and then linked else I'd put something up here.

WalesAles
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn! and pics for Crastney

Post by WalesAles » Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:13 pm

Hello,
I hope some of these Ciders will be kept back for this.......
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=79245
You can all come along and knock me for six! :D
I took 1st and 3rd prizes in 2017 with my Ciders! :D
Come and have a go if you think you are hard enough! =D>
Great Fun to be had by everyone.

WA

Go on, You know you want to.
See you there! :D

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Wonkydonkey
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Re: and so it begins... first cider of autumn! and pics for Crastney

Post by Wonkydonkey » Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:27 pm

i'm not on here much, but i did get a video of my scratter in action, i will see if i can up it to my you tube account

i'm uploading it now not that you'll see much apart from it working

i'll edit this post with a link

cheers
edit....here
https://youtu.be/_hG4uZeZKP4
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lord groan
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Re: and now it ends - the 1st cider of autumn in the glass

Post by lord groan » Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:01 pm

The first pint of this years crop, clear and bright (thats condensation on the glass), very dry which is just how I like it and needing a little more bite I think, the lack of cookers or proper cider apples shows up in the lack of acidity. That said it isn't 'flabby' so I'm very happy with it
Image

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