Wild stuff

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht
the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the
huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but, the wrod as a wlohe.

Ptetry amzanig huh?

Re: Keeving Question

Dave:

Gary Awdey has produced some nice instructions of getting a keeve
going. I don't have them handy but they can be summarized as such:
Since you are starting with a juice with a good proportion of
bittersweets I don't see where PME enzyme is necessary, and as we
discussed it isn't really available in the states anyway.Allow the juice
to rest in a cool spot, preferably <50F, around 40 is better. Add your
CaCl at a rate of about 9 grams per 5 gallons, a little more won't hurt.
Keep the carboy covered, a dry airlock or even a condom works well.
Watch for signs of keeving over the next few days. Gel should start to
form within a few days; the key point is when it coagulates and rises to
the top of the carboy. Siphon the clear juice under the gel into a
fresh carboy. Sometimes the cap just won't float up, in this case you
can do a 'bottom keeve' and siphon the juice off the top of the gel.
There are some pictures on my website
<http://www.lostmeadowvt.com/cider/keeve.htm>. I've had some problems
getting spontaneous ferments from the press this year, so you may want
to pitch a few grains of packaged wine yeast into the juice at the start
of the whole process. Ferment to clarified juice as you would any cider
or wine, but keep it cool. You may wish to rack it in midwinter if a
good yeast bed forms.

Good luck!

TerryB

> Hi Terry,
>
> Thanks again for the cider and the carboys. Since I have my mind set
> on doing French cider, I probably could not have found a better
> contact than you. I appreciate all the advice and support.
>
> A question about the keeving process: Apart from putting some calcium
> chloride in the cider you gave me, do I need to do anything else? I
> will be keeping the jugs in my cider room (soon to be finished) in my
> basement and I will try to keep the temperature there at around 50
> degrees once it gets colder). How long should it take for the keeving
> to happen, a month? two months?
>
> Thanks very much.
>
> Best,
>
> Dave

Season's ending soon

Hey all:

I was just wanting to let everyone know that the mill will only be
squeezing for two more weekends, and the hard cider blends will run out
so if you're in, let me know now- how much you want and when you want
it. I'll be squeezing Saturdays 10/18 and 25; pickup can be between
1:00-6:00 on those Saturdays or all day the following Sundays (19th and
26th). I could also be convinced to accept empty carboys on the Fridays
prior at my work in South Burlington with return the following Monday.

The remaining apple stash looks great: Major and Somerset Redstreak, two
really nice bittersweets from Poverty Lane Orchard; the bittersweets
Binet Rouge, Bedan, Chisel Jersey, Dabinett, and Stembridge from my own
plantings; some Esopus Spitzenburg, Black Oxford, and Hubbardston
Nonesuch heirlooms from right here at Lost Meadow Orchard; a bin of
Golden Russets coming from Douglas Orchards in Shoreham and my workhorse
Liberty from the Champlain Valley to round it all out. The blends I
will make from these fruit simply cannot be found at most other cider
mills, and your resulting ciders will be worth the trip. See the awards
page here for proof: http://www.lostmeadowvt.com/cider/awards.htm

Hard cider blends will remain at $7 per gallon, in your container, this
season. I try to carry a limited number of supplies (ailocks, stoppers,
carboys, sulfite, yeast) to get you started.

Any questions or for reservations email me (click email in sidebar) or
call (802)229-2004.

TerryB

--
================
Terence Bradshaw
Lost Meadow Orchard and Cidery
Calais, VT 1450 feet asl

http://www.lostmeadowvt.com

Cider Day!!

For those in the area, check out Cider Day in Colrain, MA on November 1 and 2 this year.  It's a great event for all things cider.  For more information go to www.ciderday.org.

Heirloom Fruit Workshop

Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008
9 a.m - 7 p.m.
Old Sturbridge Village, Mass.

Dear Fruit Growers, Chefs and Food Historians of Massachusetts,

You are invited to attend a workshop on rediscovering forgotten heirloom fruits and restoring historic orchards in Massachusetts. The workshop will take place on November 1, 2008 beginning at 9:00 am at Old Sturbridge Village, with a visit to a local orchard in the afternoon, followed by an heirloom apple tasting event. Co-sponsored by the Renewing America's Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance and hosted by Old Sturbridge Village, it will feature two heirloom fruit conservationists from Arizona, Kanin Routson and Gary Nabhan, in addition to local experts. The goal of RAFT is to safeguard foods currently at risk in the landscape, and bring a greater diversity of these back to our tables. In the morning, the workshop will highlight the historic loss of fruit diversity; reasons for still maintaining heirlooms; how to begin to identify "unnamed" varieties found in abandoned orchards; historic orchard restoration; and establishing a regional directory of sources of historic scion wood. After lunch, we will journey to an abandoned orchard in Rutland, returning to Old Sturbridge Village for an heirloom apple tasting event. A $25 fee per person includes the costs of materials and lunch. Reservations may be made by contacting Old Sturbridge Village at www.osv.org and must be made by October 22, 2008. We look forward to your involvement; please call Gary Nabhan at 928-225-0293 or email him at gpnabhan@email.arizona.edu if you have questions.

Thank you,
Gary, Suzanne, Christie, Jenny and Leigh

Managed by Slow Food USA, RAFT is an alliance of food, farming, environmental and culinary advocates who have joined together to identify, restore and celebrate America’s biologically and culturally diverse food traditions through conservation, education, promotion and regional networking.

Founding RAFT partners: American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, Chefs Collaborative, The Cultural Conservancy, Native Seeds/SEARCH, Seed Savers Exchange and Slow Food USA

For more information about RAFT visit www.slowfoodusa.org

Simple Steps to a Great Dry Hard Cider:

1.        Use the best juice possible.  A blend of high-tannin cider fruits from wild apples, European bittersweets, or some crabapples, mixed with a balanced juice apple like Liberty, Golden Russet, Gala, Golden Delicious, Northern Spy will give a fermenting ‘must’ with good fermentation characteristics.  If possible use fruit from low-fertility soils or trees without excess soluble nitrogen.  Our cider blends offer these characteristics.

2.        Press on a clean press with wooden racks, preferably cultured for a good wild yeast population.

3.        Transfer to a sanitized carboy, filling to just  below the shoulder.

4.        Treat the juice with 50 ppm sulfite to limit growth of wild bacteria.

5.        Place the fermenter in a cool area, preferably <60°F.  Primary fermentation should begin within a few days.  Using wild yeasts you will not tend to get the vigorous foaming found in a cultured yeast ferment, but some froth will be evident. Yopu may want to attach a blowoff tube to the airlock or even leave the fermenter open with a bit of cheesecloth over the top to prevent bugs from getting in. A secondary container such as a bathtub will allow easy cleanup if it does ‘puke out’ a little bit. 

6.        After the initial froth subsides, top up the carboy to the neck with fresh cider and attach the airlock.  Make sure the water level is kept up.  For an extra degree of safety a sulfite solution or even vodka can be used in the airlock. Keep the fermenter cool, preferably <50°F.

7.        Let her sit for 2-3 months.  Rack off the lees in midwinter if desired.  Then let her sit some more.

8.        Bottle or keg in late winter or early spring.  Or let her sit until summer. For a sparkling cider prime with ½ cup cane sugar at bottling time and crown cap.  Let the bottles warm to 65-70°F for a day or two, then return to a cool spot for conditioning.

9.        Enjoy.  When coming for next year’s cider, be sure to bring a sample to swap.

Scott Farm cider apples

Passing this email on at the request of Zeke, a grower of really interesting apples just outside Brattleboro, VT:

Terry, we have a very good supply of Kingston Black along with several other American and English apples well suited for hard cider if you could pass the word along.
Our price would be $14/bu, $12 for American and some of the other French and English varieties.
Contact Scott Farm at scottfrm@sover.net or 802 254 6868. Thanks and good luck with the season.
Zeke Goodband

Fall is Here: Lost Meadow Cider Mill Opens September 13, 2008

Calais,VT:

Lost Meadow Cider Mill will be open weekends this fall starting September 13 and going until October 26. The mill is located off County Rd in Calais, VT, two miles south of Maple Corner.

Fresh juice will be available for pickup Saturday or Sunday 12:00-6:00 PM or until it's gone. Call or email for directions. Sorry, the mill is not open to the public during operation. If you need juice and can't catch us on weekends or want us to reserve some, call and we'll work something out [(802) 229-2004].

We will also have our own vinegar for sale at the mill as well as the odd bag of apples that we just didn't have the heart to put through the grinder.

Lost Meadow Cider Mill is located on Wheeler Road in Calais, VT; just off County Road a couple miles south of Maple Corner or about seven miles from the Main St rotary in Montpelier. _ Sweet Juice ('Cider')_ Generally we squeeze on Saturday morning and try to be cleaning up by the time we'open' around noon. Sweet juice (unpasteurized 'cider') will be available every weekend until it's gone. The price for all fresh cider on these days is$5 per gallon, in our one-gallon jugs only. We do not fill your containers with fresh juice. _ Fermenting stock ('Cidre') _ We will be making cidremaker's blends on the most weekends of the season, at the end of the squeeze day. Varieties used will change with the season; come a couple different times and compare the ciders you make! Juice blends consist of a base, usually Liberty, Cortland, Gala, or Golden (Delicious and Russet) and a bittersweet/sharp component such as Foxwhelp, Ellis Bitter, Yarlington Mill, Chisel Jersey, Dabinett, and some local crabs. Blended cidre juice is $7 per gallon in your container only. Carboys and other supplies can be had from Vermont Homebrew Supply in Winooski, VT (802) 655-2070. For a basic cider you will only need to bring a clean, sanitized carboy and airlock. We can take care of the rest, including any tips and consultation needed to get things going.We strongly suggest getting reservations in ASAP for your blended juice. While the sweet juice will ferment into cider, the special blends tailored for cidermaking are the reason why we do this, and a much superior product will come from it. And once the barrels are empty, it will be a long wait until next year.

All cider apples are sourced from Vermont or New Hampshire orchards and are tree picked, whole, sound fruit. The variety mix will change with the season and we use only the freshest fruit available, not cold-storage packing house cast-offs. The orchards we work with all follow modern Integrated Pest Management protocols to ensure that their produce is free of harmful residues and grown in an environmentally responsible manner. Some fruit are sourced from organic or unsprayed trees depending on availability and quality. All juice is unpasteurized. For more information on cider/food safety go to http://www.lostmeadowvt.com/juice/safety.htm/

Lost Meadow Orchard and Cider Mill are run by Terry Bradshaw and his family. Terry has been in the orchard business for fourteen years and has made cider every one of them. His fermented ciders have won national awards in American Homebrew Association-sanctioned events and have developed a local following. These hard ciders are never for sale, but he is always glad to show you how to make your own.

A tale of two ciders

I've been making cider for a long time, let's say 13 years or so. For a long time I was working solely with 'dessert' apples and some crabs for tannin kick. Now I have/had access to table fruit unlike the average Mac-Delicious-Cortland fruit widely available in New England and elsewhere, and discovered that Liberty, a scab-resistant apple from the Cornell breeding program, makes a decent cider on its own and contributes a lot to a blend as well. After a lot of trial and error I came upon a blend from an unsprayed block I used to manage. At the time the mill I used would not squeeze sprayed fruit, so this was a good block to have. For a number of years my main cider blend consisted of Liberty, Haralson, Nova-Easy-Grow, and some Redfield crab. This made a decent cider, but it tended to be rather sharp, although my tongue got used to it. In 2003 I even did an oak barrel ferment of this blend that turned out well, if not a bit overpowered with oak.
But in the meantime I was just getting it together to grow or source my own 'real' cider fruit, the bittersharps and bittersweets of European ancestry. After reading Proulx and Nichols' cider book, and talking with Steve Wood on the subject, I was convinced that I needed these fruit to make the best cider. In fact I think my infamous statement that I had not yet made a great cider came from that time. So I planted my orchard, and began buying in fruit from Steve. Yes, I was still blending with Liberty most of the time, and starting making good, even great ciders. But I still had not approached the holy grail of ciders, at least according to the books and experts. I'm talking about a varietal Kingston Black cider.
In 2007 I finally had enough KB for a single squeeze. Mind you I was throwing terroir out the window...these fruit came from South Burlington and Calais, Vt as well as Lebanon, NH. But squeeze it I did, and fermented in my usual minimalist style; 50 ppm sulfite at the squeeze, wild yeast, cold fermentation, one racking. In May it was still at a gravity of 1.005 or so, and fairly cloudy, so I hit it with some bentonite, 25 ppm sulfite, and racked. I bottled it two weeks ago.

The verdict? This is a damned good cider, I'd even say excellent (look for it as an entry in the 2008 GLOWS competition). Full bodied, slightly fruity, rich, with just the right acid-tannin balance. It's dry, but that tiniest bit of sweetness carries through with a nice apple character. I call this my Kingston Black Special Reserve, and even state on the label that the drinker should consider themselves lucky to be trying this potion.

So just the other night I was poking around the cider room and came across a bottle of 03 Bar (barrel blend, 2003 harvest). I didn't expect much from this five-year old cider; pulling the cork found a slight effervescent 'pop', maybe not a good thing. It poured into the glass with the most gorgeous trains of bubbles I've seen, the color a nice mild amber. There was still some nice sharp fruit in the aroma, and the flavor? Spectacular! Balanced sharpness, fully dry but fruity, very subdued oak. If I'd known that it would have aged this well I would have saved more than one bottle, and that was probably a mistake.
As for how it matches up to the Kingston Black, I'd put it on equal footing. Once you reach a certain level, particularly with the balance of acid, fruit, and sweetness, they become peers and do not deserve judgment against one another. Am I surprised that 'domestic' apples could make a cider on par with the supposed king of cider apples? Not really, and I have long advocated that the right domestic/crab blends can make decent and even great cider. I just thought it interesting that I got a chance to haphazardly try these two within a couple of days of each other.


Oh, and I no longer say that I haven't ever made a Great Cider.

TB

I'm Back

From where? Nowhere, I'm just telling myself that it's time to breathe some life into this little cider tale. Expect a few more posts in the coming weeks, and of course details on the 2008 season at Lost Meadow Cidery.

TB