:)

[Trunky]

[beermonsta]

wow, very impressive set up. I love the big press - how does it work, is the people dragging the cables linked to a small cog which is turning both big cogs down a spiralled thread?
your scratterer looks the dogs too!
how about...

from
http://www.bowsersupply.co.uk/water-bow ... er-bowser/
you never know you might be able to hire one long enough to ferment in too!

[sleepygonzales]

[beermonsta]

nice gonzales - but from my crude maths that would take about 7 trips

[Trunky]

[Trunky]

[beermonsta]

ah! was waitng for this post. Mine has been sat in bedroom "maturing" and I was wondering when was a good time to rack into Cornies!
I can happily leave it longer - would that be fine? or better to rack it now?

[Trunky]

[beermonsta]

Well it's all crystal clear and has been since well before x-mas but thats probably because it's sat in a bedroom thats not cold. The spare that was in a couple of 2 litre pet bottles was drunk way before x-mas and tasted very dry (sg was 996 ish IIRC).
As I've plenty of ale in my cornies and more conditioning in the conical I think I'll leave the cider in the main carboy for longer until sunnier days start to arrive. Unless that would cause a problem? I don't want to tie my cornies up with gallons of cider that I'm not ready to drink/share.
As always thanks Trunky.

[jason123]

The cider I made is now almost gone. Trouble with it, was that it was like effin rocket fuel due to me thinking it needed some additional sugar. After 3 pints of it on New years eve, I was scared of going near it. Getting a taste for it now but theres only about 20 bottles left.
Planning on getting more made up this year, if there's a good supply of apples to be had somewhere local.

[Trunky]

[jason123]

Thanks for that link Trunky.

I know where to find his ciders too, The mrs is about to move into a new business unit which is just round the corner from the springfields tavern, which serve some of his brews. What a coincidence

[Trunky]

[vinceg]

I've had 30 litres of cider sat in the cold of the porch since October. It's a mix of bramleys and worcester pearmains from a mates trees. Discovered a fruit farm about 20 miles away that juices your apples for you as I've only got one of those crap pulpmaster things and a very small press, so it used to be a pretty laborious affair. www.parkfruitfarm.co.uk
They charged me £12 and I got 30 litres of good juice out of it.

I found the cider I produced from these apples was very tart last year, drinkable but not great. So I've invested in a few additives this year: precipitated chalk to reduce acidity, wine tannin which adds tannin which isn't present in the varieties I've used, and finally a bag of french oak chips for a woody hint.

Tastes pretty good now, just like a west country scrumpy. One question, I read about something called malo-lactic fermentation, which starts the brew bubbling again once the ambient temperature gets over 15 degrees. What does this do to the brew and is it worth waiting for? The intention is for this to be my summer drinking anyway so I might wait and see what occurs.

[jason123]

I've not been back to Spalding for years but used to go in the White Horse a lot supping museum ale and then staggering back home.

The white horse is my preferred boozer of choice. Don't think they have had museum ale for a while though.
I went in the springfields tavern at the weekend and they didn't have any of his cider.