2016 Cider

porkchop · November 14, 2016, 2:19pm

I finally got around to pressing my apples for the year. The deer got most of them, but I managed to put together a couple 5-gallon buckets and yielded a couple gallons at 1.054. Not bad, but pretty low sugar content compared to previous seasons.

One gallon went to the kids, and one gallon went straight into the fermenter… no campden, no heat pasteurization, no nothin’. Just the juice straight from the press. I pitched a bit of slurry from some harvested Kveik yeast, just because it seems to be the yeast of the year. I’ll be interested in seeing how the esters play with the apples, but this morning it’s chugging away nicely.

Anyone else manage to get some apples this year from their trees?

dmtaylo2 · November 14, 2016, 6:21pm

My dog ate most of my own apples this year, so I literally only got a handful off my three young trees. However I did buy many gallons of local juice and have a 3.5-gallon batch going right now. Of that I juiced more than a gallon’s worth from some apples from local orchards, including Cortland, Empire, and Gravenstein. A half pack of Cote des Blancs and I just walked away, it sits in primary in my garage. Soon I’ll rack it. It should be good, albeit dry this year. Usually I try to stall fermentation at 1.010 but I missed the boat, it’s already well below 1.000. Oh well. I’ll still drink it!

brew_cat · November 14, 2016, 11:51pm

I got skunked this year. Last year was awesome. I bought some juice and have already done 10 gallons. One keg will be finished at a party this weekend. The second will be tapped in a couple days. I’m letting it naturally carb in the keg

sneezles61 · November 15, 2016, 1:43am

My apple quest wasn’t good,, Next year should be great again, Sneezles61

porkchop · November 15, 2016, 2:44am

Yeah, this is my off year, so I’m surprised that I managed as many as I did, considering my lack of effort. I did manage to get one of my trees back on a yearly schedule, so there’s hope. But next year should be gangbusters!

Nice thing about doing a small batch is the experimentation. I have a cranberry viburnum that’s completely loaded with berries - I’m thinking of racking it over a half pound or so in secondary.