Posted on 09/05/2012 3:10:02 AM PDT by djf
Perry, a cider made from pears, is positively etherial.
Heck, used to be any kid knew the difference between “pie apples” and “eatin’ apples”. The former were crumbly & bland tasting, the latter crisp & tart.
Apple strains just for cider? Interesting. One can imagine Johnny Appleseed being pursued by Carrie Nation & her hatchet.
But I recall when during the harvest that if an apple was bruised, it “went surely to the cider-apple heap, as of no use”.
In the late sixties, I stayed for several weeks on the farm of my German professor. Her father lived there and he had two barrels of hard cider. Every evening we would sit on the porch of the farmhouse and enjoy a pitcher while watching the fireflies and having discussions in English, German and Russian (not me). Wonderful and facinating people who had been displaced by war several times in their lives.
Growing and harvesting grain became much, much cheaper with mechanization.
Growing and picking apples remained labor intensive.
Storage of apples also became more feasible.
Free market at work.
OK.
Call it free markets.
Bulk production.
There is one thing free markets will NEVER make up for.
The pursuit of excellence.
Wish there was a distributor near me. Closest would be in the Jackson, Miss. area. I may have to stop by that store on my next trip back to my house in Ms.
yeah, the fruit flies are a problem mostly during fermentation itself. They like to hang out around the air locks where theCO2 and the odors escape. I use flypaper to control them but I think if you could prevent them from smelling the odors escaping from the airlocks, they wouldn’t become a problem. a fume hood of some sort perhaps?
I never use air locks or bubblers.
I use saran wrap. Take a piece about 9 in X 9 in and cover over the top of the carboy. Snap some rubber bands around it to hold it in place.
If it gets to really fermenting good, just take a sewing needle and poke a very tiny hole in it.
It’s always worked good for me and is just easier than messing with more stuff I would have to disinfect before brewing.
Great flick, catch it on netflix if you can.
yes sir, I loves me some Laird’s apple brandy-the 7 1/2 year old bottle on the far right is my favorite. It’s real good but double the price of a typical 3-4 year old grape brandy. Commercial corn liquor will never taste good to me again. blech
I’m familiar with the process but I’m pretty well used to the air locks. I like them. They’re especially nice when you’re trying to get the fermentation started. you can count the number of seconds it takes the air lock to rise and fall and get a good idea if things are moving along as they should or if you need to turn up the heat or repitch yeast or whatever. then, when things are winding down, you can see that too because the airlock went from rising and falling once every second or so to once every 30 seconds or whatever. I just dip them in 70% alcohol initially and then use those 70% alcohol wipes on the rubber stopper and the inside mouth of the carboy as needed. too easy. and of course I never introduce isopropyl alcohol into the wine itself under any circumstances.
“Rumors of apple tree blights and diseases that killed the orchards and forced people to switch to beer are not backed up by any evidence.”
The author of this piece is incompetent.
Proper cider requires “bittersharp” and “bitter” apples (i.e., apples with a high tannin content). The tannins give body to the cider, and balance the sweetness of the alcohol. All of the bitter and bittersharp apples of which I am familiar are HIGHLY susceptible to fireblight, and most are susceptible to apple scab as well. In the U.S. it is difficult to grow them anywhere but the pacific coast states. It was, indeed, disease that killed off cider.
I’m a cider lover and an orchardist, and I’d be growing my own cider apples if I could.
I always make a starter and make sure it’s going hells bells before I pitch it. Want it to totally overwhelm anything else that might have sneaked in!
But sounds like it works for you and you got it down!
Mrs. Renfield and I spent a week in Wiltshire last month, and, though surrounded by good ales, I opted to drink cider the whole time. I tried many regional and local brands and enjoyed all of them! I really like the Weston’s and Thatcher’s.
By the way, RD, I finally made it to Sergio’s in Louisville. That place is the Vatican Library of beers...well worth a visit. It has more rare, hard-to-find Belgian exotics than any place I have been.
I always keep three or four packs of safale 05 in the fridge. Would a yeast nutrient be needed for a cider?
The Safale 05 is perfect, I have used it several times. Another good one is the Wyeast 1968 London ESB ale yeast.
And I always add about 1 tsp yeast nutrient to whatever I brew. Even if it doesn’t get used by the yeast, it will break down during a month or so aging.
Guess I’m stuck with bad cider made out of rotten apples, eh?
If I want alot of tannins, I’ll drink a good Merlot...
Proof that God loves apples. :-)
It is available in the states at some liquer stores. Almost all Military Class 6 stores carry it. :-)
I made hard cider once, broke the rules, and it still worked great. All you need is a cheap mini-refrigerator, in an outside closet or laundry room, unless you want your home to reek of fermenting apple.
I set the mini-fridge to 60F, then found an open plastic tub small enough to fit inside, filled it with apple juice and a couple of cups of table sugar, stirred. Then I closed the door and ignored it for a couple of weeks, checking every now and then just to see.
At a particular point, it tasted alcohol-y, so I turned the temperature of the fridge down to hard freeze. After a day, there was a big block of apple-water-and sludge ice on the bottom, and I could pour off the cider.
It worked! Got about a pint or so from a gallon or more of apple juice.
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