Cider saga

[Old Philosopher]

I didn't want to clog up the cider sticky with this, but I thought I'd share my adventure with a new batch of apple cider.
Luc will be laughing his tail off, I know. ("Send him to school, buy him books, and all he does is eat the covers.")
Anyway, I started with 20 pounds of Johnathan apples from my trees. Not having a traditional apple grinder, I ran them through my electric grinder. That gave me about 4 gallons of ground apples. These were ground directly into a 5 gallon bucket, lined with a paint straining bag.
The bucket was then covered and set outside in 5 F temperatures to freeze. The frozen mass is in the process of thawing. The plan is to extract the bag from the bucket, and collect the initial juice. Then back in the bucket and a dose of pectic enzymes to further liquefy the pulp.

(Note to self: What takes 2 days to freeze at +5F, takes 3 days to thaw at 75F!)

 

[Wade E]

You didt grind up seeds also did you?

 

[Old Philosopher]

You didt grind up seeds also did you?

Without a blade in the grinder, it's like making sausage. The seeds didn't get cut/ground, and they'll only be in with the apples until it's strained. The mess is only up to 40 degrees, so it will be another day before it's up to room temperature. They'll be long gone before fermentation starts.
In regular apple pressing, the seeds aren't removed.

 

[Wade E]

Sounds good then!

 

[Old Philosopher]

Sounds good then!

The only real difference in this experiment is using freezing and enzyme to do the job of a 4 ton press! Luc proved that enzymes won't work below 68 F, so I'm just stirring and twiddling my thumbs right now.

 

[Hillbilly Bill]

OP... what, if anything, are you going to add to the apples? Cinnamon? Brown Sugar? etc.

 

[Old Philosopher]

OP... what, if anything, are you going to add to the apples? Cinnamon? Brown Sugar? etc.

SWMBO said, "Make some more (of the same)." So I'll just be going an f-pak and back sweeten at the end. I'm going to add some sugar, if necessary, to get the starting SG up to at least 1.060, though.

 

[Hillbilly Bill]

Sounds good... I think my next batch of apple wine will have a higher s.g. and I will probably add a cinnamon stick or two. I also plan to back sweeten for the XYL.
We drank some of the last batch as soon as we bottled. If I make another batch while I still have some on the rack, maybe I can let it age a couple of months before popping a cork.

 

[Old Philosopher]

Sounds good... I think my next batch of apple wine will have a higher s.g. and I will probably add a cinnamon stick or two. I also plan to back sweeten for the XYL.
We drank some of the last batch as soon as we bottled. If I make another batch while I still have some on the rack, maybe I can let it age a couple of months before popping a cork.

I hesitate to add sugar, since I'm trying to make cider, and not wine. It's just juice and yeast.

 

[Luc]

Sounds good to me !!!

Just wait indeed till it reaches room temp before adding enzymes. Then wait another 24 hours.
I would add sulphite to prevent browning, or at least citric acid or citrus juice:

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/03/bruin-worden-van-appels-browning-of.html

Luc

 

[Old Philosopher]

Yeah, well...too late on the browning. I was trying to add citric acid at the time of grinding, and couldn't keep up with it.

 

[St Allie]

OP?

put the citric acid and the pectolase in the primary.. Pour everything else on top as soon as you have it .. stir between additions..

you won't have browning or oxidation..

Allie

 

[Old Philosopher]

Allie, that makes perfect sense. But I didn't want to add water, or dilute the juice. So...I guess I'll have "golden cider". Hahaha!

 

[St Allie]

heheh OP..

dunno what golden cider means?

no water etc in my cider..you do know to leave it 6 months before drinking right?

it tastes watery and terrible before 6 months..

trust me and wait.

Allie xxx

 

[Old Philosopher]

heheh OP..

dunno what golden cider means?

no water etc in my cider..you do know to leave it 6 months before drinking right?

it tastes watery and terrible before 6 months..

trust me and wait.

Allie xxx

Ooops! Nobody told my wife that. First gallon's gone, and another 3 on order.

 

[Hillbilly Bill]

Ooops! Nobody told my wife that. First gallon's gone, and another 3 on order.

Are you taking orders?
I know... yes... but only from SWMBO... right?

 

[Old Philosopher]

Are you taking orders?
I know... yes... but only from SWMBO... right?

Yeah...and your point? You're obviously not taking S.W.M.B.O. literally enough!

 

[Hillbilly Bill]

Yeah...and your point? You're obviously not taking S.W.M.B.O. literally enought!

Obviously not!

 

[Old Philosopher]

Update

I got the apple grind thawed out, and added PE, letting it sit 12-14 hours.
Humm...not much going on here. I hung the straining bag over the 5 gallon bucket to drain. Humm...not much going on here. After about 4 hours of alternately wring the bag and letting it drain some more, I had about 2 gallons of juice. There was still a lot of moisture in the apples, so I put them all in a kettle (about 2 gallons) and added a gallon of water, which just barely covered them. I added more PE and let it sit another 12 hours.
I transfered the kettle contents to the bag hanging over the bucket again. That gained me about 1.25 gallons of water/juice. I'll have to go with that.
Tomorrow, the K-meta will have done it's job, and I can get the SG adjusted. I'm gettin' there.

 

[Old Philosopher]

I got the first fermentation going today. The slightly diluted apple juice had a SG of 1.042. I used Luc's SG calculation tables and added 66 gr/l of white sugar. The table was right on, and I nailed the SG 1.060 I was wanting.
I had the whole bucket of juice at 90 F, and I made a yeast starter out of the juice itself, rather than more water. I added a packet of Red Star Premiere Cuvee yeast to the 2.5 gal of juice. It seemed to like its new home. We'll see....