This year Gary has decided that instead of just picking up the crab apple falls from our trees and giving them to the pigs he is going to make cider. He doesn't want to make hard cider, but fresh sweet cider. We drink a lot of mulled cider in the fall and winter and Gary uses it in the brine before he smokes the hams and bacon from our pigs.
He has spent the better part of the last two weeks picking the falls from the many wild apple trees we have on the property, and using the juicer to experiment with. The first attempts were filled with sediment and had to be put through the juicer a couple of times.
He has spent the better part of the last two weeks picking the falls from the many wild apple trees we have on the property, and using the juicer to experiment with. The first attempts were filled with sediment and had to be put through the juicer a couple of times.
He has been experimenting with various straining methods while Reiley and I have been off doing exhibition and the crafter's guild work. This seems to be his final version:
A simple wood frame which holds the cheese cloth bag from my cheese
making supplies and drains into a pot. A full bag takes the better part of a
day to drain. While he washes the apples before grinding them, they still seem
to be full of yeast. At least to my nose there seems to be a lot of yeasty odour
to his cider. The first attempts are in the freezer now to stop the fermentation
process that started naturally from the first batches.
The more recent batches are much clearer and look more like traditional fresh cider; but they are very ..... tart. Sort of make your eyes screw shut kind of tart.
A new plan has been developed. Gary will continue to refine the process and freeze the results. The first of the 2014 apple harvest should be getting underway in the valley soon, and we will spend a day picking apples for our preserves. We will pick extra this year and he can experiment with different
blends.
Of course the pigs are having a great time as they are the beneficiaries of all the pulp, and Wart is getting most of it as we are preparing to graduate her to the freezer next month. I need to find a day when Jason can come down as it is all hands on deck for pig day. With Graham still working out west it is going to be even more crazy this time. The plan is to try and butcher her shortly after patches has her litter on or about the 5th.
What I don't know, and haven't had time to research with the cider is how to keep the it once Gary has the blend right. I know I can freeze it but we are back to the fact that I am really trying to cut back on the freezer dependency. We can our applesauce and apple pie filling using the pressure cooker so I think we should be able to do that with cider but I need to find out if that process will stop the fermentation. If anyone has any experience with this please share!
Speaking of sharing, we are up to several hundred views a day, I find this very humbling. I know there are many people who want to live a simpler life and just down shift from the craziness. I hope you are finding the information I post useful. If there is something you would like to see here please let me know.
I would also like your feedback on workshops. I am going to sit down with Matt and Gary this weekend and start. planning our workshops for next year. I would like to know what topics you would like covered in the workshops. Even if you would never be able to come and take a workshop with us, please let me know what topics you are interested in.
We are going to be building infrastructure here in the next 6 weeks and having a solid idea of which workshops we will be hosting will help us decide which projects have priority.
That's all I have for today. Today was my last day working at the crafter's guild at Upper Clements Park, the park shuts down after this weekend. So apart from a large fundraiser for 4H and pro-show next month the calendar is open to get on with homesteading again. Yay!
I have been doing some behind the scenes work on the site and some planning for the blog and some writing projects also. Starting tomorrow Thursday's will be, for the most part, featuring different herbs and how to
incorporate them into your homesteading life. Or alternatives to the chemicals
we dump into our houses and bodies on a daily basis. More on that tomorrow.
Have a great day everyone.
making supplies and drains into a pot. A full bag takes the better part of a
day to drain. While he washes the apples before grinding them, they still seem
to be full of yeast. At least to my nose there seems to be a lot of yeasty odour
to his cider. The first attempts are in the freezer now to stop the fermentation
process that started naturally from the first batches.
The more recent batches are much clearer and look more like traditional fresh cider; but they are very ..... tart. Sort of make your eyes screw shut kind of tart.
A new plan has been developed. Gary will continue to refine the process and freeze the results. The first of the 2014 apple harvest should be getting underway in the valley soon, and we will spend a day picking apples for our preserves. We will pick extra this year and he can experiment with different
blends.
Of course the pigs are having a great time as they are the beneficiaries of all the pulp, and Wart is getting most of it as we are preparing to graduate her to the freezer next month. I need to find a day when Jason can come down as it is all hands on deck for pig day. With Graham still working out west it is going to be even more crazy this time. The plan is to try and butcher her shortly after patches has her litter on or about the 5th.
What I don't know, and haven't had time to research with the cider is how to keep the it once Gary has the blend right. I know I can freeze it but we are back to the fact that I am really trying to cut back on the freezer dependency. We can our applesauce and apple pie filling using the pressure cooker so I think we should be able to do that with cider but I need to find out if that process will stop the fermentation. If anyone has any experience with this please share!
Speaking of sharing, we are up to several hundred views a day, I find this very humbling. I know there are many people who want to live a simpler life and just down shift from the craziness. I hope you are finding the information I post useful. If there is something you would like to see here please let me know.
I would also like your feedback on workshops. I am going to sit down with Matt and Gary this weekend and start. planning our workshops for next year. I would like to know what topics you would like covered in the workshops. Even if you would never be able to come and take a workshop with us, please let me know what topics you are interested in.
We are going to be building infrastructure here in the next 6 weeks and having a solid idea of which workshops we will be hosting will help us decide which projects have priority.
That's all I have for today. Today was my last day working at the crafter's guild at Upper Clements Park, the park shuts down after this weekend. So apart from a large fundraiser for 4H and pro-show next month the calendar is open to get on with homesteading again. Yay!
I have been doing some behind the scenes work on the site and some planning for the blog and some writing projects also. Starting tomorrow Thursday's will be, for the most part, featuring different herbs and how to
incorporate them into your homesteading life. Or alternatives to the chemicals
we dump into our houses and bodies on a daily basis. More on that tomorrow.
Have a great day everyone.
RSS Feed
