Cider Digest #1164, 17 September 2004

Here's the email from the Cider Digest that I mentioned earlier today. Here's the subscription info: Use cider-request(a)talisman.com for subscribe/unsubscribe/admin requests. When subscribing, please include your name and a good address in the message body unless you're sure your mailer generates them. Archives of the Digest are available at www.talisman.com/cider - Al ----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 09/17/2004 08:07 PM ----- cider-request@tal isman.com To: cider-list(a)talisman.com cc: 09/17/2004 04:11 Subject: Cider Digest #1164, 17 September 2004 PM Please respond to cider Cider Digest #1164 17 September 2004 Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Contents: RE: Cider Digest #1161, 4 September 2004 ("J. K. Davis") Re: Any suggestions on these apple varieties? ("chris horn") a word on juicer for small cider production ("Diane Gagnon") Cider Making Classes ("Drew Zimmerman") Perry (fruit and beverage) questions ("McGonegal, Charles") Send ONLY articles for the digest to cider(a)talisman.com. Use cider-request(a)talisman.com for subscribe/unsubscribe/admin requests. When subscribing, please include your name and a good address in the message body unless you're sure your mailer generates them. Archives of the Digest are available at www.talisman.com/cider ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: RE: Cider Digest #1161, 4 September 2004 From: "J. K. Davis" <andiroba(a)hotmail.com> Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 14:15:35 -0400 OK, I've been persuaded to try in-bottle fermentation to get the carbonation I want in my cider. Champagne yeast to dryness - and then? Sugar in the fermenter just before bottling, or in the bottle? A naive question, I suppose, but I made cyser last year, with honey added to each bottle at bottling time. I got a nice light carbonation, but it was very hard to control - some bottles were more carbonated than others. Any suggestions? Thanks so much for all your comments over the last several months. I've learned a lot about cider making! Jan Davis Weasel Hill Farm Amissville, VA ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Any suggestions on these apple varieties? From: "chris horn" <agent_strangelove(a)hotmail.com> Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 13:39:55 -0700 I see that you have gotten good info on the rest of the cultivars except for Hidden Rose. I believe that this is the red fleshed one you are talking about. I don't know anything about it other than the fact that the local nursery had a bunch of them they were getting rid of them at half price earlier this summer. I was tempted to get a couple for the hell of it... Everyone of them had anthracnose bad.... I passed on that.... I don't know if Hidden Rose is more prone to get this but you may want to be aware.... There was a cider company in Quebec that was making pretty good cider out of a red fleshed apple. It had a nice pink hue to it.... I can't remember the brand but the cider place wasn't too far off the highway between Sherbrooke and Montreal.... Chris Horn Scappoose Oregon 'The great world powers have not yet found the weapon to destroy dreams' -Subcommandant Marcos ------------------------------ Subject: a word on juicer for small cider production From: "Diane Gagnon" <gagnond(a)endirect.qc.ca> Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 11:02:35 -0400 The " Breville " juicer is quite impressive as to quantity / time = output. My 2004 production ( 10-15 gallons) has begun with 140 lbs of = Geneva apples, yealding about 1/3 of pretty clear juice the whole = process taking about 3-4 hrs . Easy to clean up, and to handle the = pomace. Hope cider quality follows ....... ------------------------------ Subject: Cider Making Classes From: "Drew Zimmerman" <drewzimmer(a)comcast.net> Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 11:14:36 -0700 WSU Mount Vernon will again be offering two weeks of cider making classes this fall, November 8th through the 19th. The two classes are "Cider Making - Principles and Practice" and "Cider Making - Science, Technology and Quality Control" and will again be presented by Peter Michell, Worcestershire, UK. Detailed information in available at http://mtvernon.wsu.edu/frt_hort/fruit_horticulture.htm ------------------------------ Subject: Perry (fruit and beverage) questions From: "McGonegal, Charles" <Charles.McGonegal(a)uop.com> Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 10:50:12 -0500 Good morning all, I recently acquired a small sample of 14 different perry pears. I have all of them growing in our orchard, but this year I finagled some real fruit to try. (In anticipation of that day when I will be able taste my own - if I still have tastebuds by then.) I made hardness, flavor, bouquet and Brix observations. I was not able to check pH, titrable acidity or tannins. I will be checking pH and TA on the combined juices. As I anticipated, many of them are essentially 'crab pears'. Hurray! Imagine something like a wonderfully balanced sweet/sharp (think Ashmeads, Margil, or Cox's) with tannins that grab your cheek linings and then fade back to let the fruity aftertaste through. Then go plant a few Thorn pears for your grand kids. But looking at the various states of ripeness that I received them in, I have some real questions about perry production. I believe that these pears were tree ripened. Not the best practice for dessert pears - but I didn't have any choice this time. Many of the pears were hard as rocks, even though they had dark brown seeds, no overt starchy taste and a Brix from 13-16. Other varieties had a mix of hard pears, and specimens that had turned brown from the core out. The brown fruit was soft and very juicy, but had a stong odor that was very unpleasant to me. Sort of like a bad Jolly Rancher candy. One cultivar was turning brown in spots througout the flesh, while still being rock hard by external observation. Cider apples are swept from the orchard floor in England. I can't imaging that they would treat pears differently. Does anyone know what traditional practice actually was/is? SO... If perry pears are hand picked early, and sweated/bletted (like medlars) off the tree - do they still turn brown and develop that sickly flavor and bouquet? Do perry pears tend to fall when still hard - and so the time to milling becomes critical? I've always assumed that the milling times in Luckwill & Pollard were general 'maximum storability' times, not 'wait this long, no less or more'. Is the brown, intensly flavored state what they mean by 'highly colored' - and it's just my youth, inexperience and American-chauvinism that makes me think the fruit is rotten? Lastly, I have high-res digital pics of all 14 cultivars, and will put them on my website if there is any interest. Let me know. Charles McGonegal AEppelTreow Winery ------------------------------ End of Cider Digest #1164 ************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic Privacy Notice. This e-mail, and any attachments, contains information that is, or may be, covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521, and is also confidential and proprietary in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you are legally prohibited from retaining, using, copying, distributing, or otherwise disclosing this information in any manner. 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