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Cider

Cider General

Cider main page. Cider Making Notes 2019 Harvest 2018 Harvest 2017 Harvest 2016 Harvest 2015 Harvest My Trees: (years are the year of tree purchase or initial graft in January of that year) Sweet (eating apples) with the following branches: (2008) Jonagold McIntosh? Granny Smith Gravenstein (2016) Honeycrisp (2017) Kingston Black (2015?) …

Cider 2018

  First Pressing: 175lbs / 8 gallons of small apples from Seth’s tree. (Definitely not Lady apples!). Maybe Fameuse? 0.5 gallon of Gravenstein 1.5 gallons of Sequoia St. Crabapples (1.5 bags) 10 gallons total of juice, divided among 3 batches (plan for 3 3-gallon carboys) OG=1.050,  Acid= , pH=3.0 Batch …

Apple Cider Vinegar

How to make cider vinegar Make apple cider alcohol Open lid to allow air to enter the container.  Replace lid with cheesecloth to keep bugs from getting in. A gelatinous mat will form on the top surface.  That’s the culture that’s converting the alcohol to vinegar. Wait a few months. …

Cider 2016

Plan to ferment single-varietal ciders so we can taste the flavors of each, and then blend them afterward. I posted on nextdoor.com for local apples, and I got a lot of responses: Apples: Red Gravenstein from Curt’s place in Sebastapol Old apples and drops, very waxy when pressed.  Sweated for …

Apple grinder and press

After looking for apple grinder plans, I found the one from Woodgears to be the best design for me.  The first year, 2015, I ground some crabapples using the hand-crank method of grinding, and it worked pretty well, and I used my bench vice with some cutting boards and plastic …

Crabapple Cider 2015

Making a test batch of cider using local bittersharp crabapples from the house at the corner of Mangels and Nordhoff 35 lbs apples Made 2.5 gallons of juice Ground apples with my apple grinder Pressed them through cheesecloth on my workbench vise! (with some extra plastic wrap around everything) 2015/12/6: …

Normandy Cider

Shannon and I visited Normandy, France last week, and traveled through Paris on the way.  Even though Caen was a nice town to stay in, and Mont Saint-Michel was beautiful, the highlight of our trip was our visit to Luc and Nicole’s beautiful organic cider apple farm.  We were so …