The beginnings of a Cider Empire ?

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The beginnings of a Cider Empire ?
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Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 4:13 pm Post subject:
I only picked two 25kg bags of apples today but on the plus side, I also managed to place loads of posters for the cider weekend and the best part of the day, was when I picked up a small farm orchard thats loaded with apples.

T.G

Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 6:40 pm Post subject:

Bodger wrote:

Most of my trees have some fruit on them this year TG, with the exception of my Dabinetts. They were planted as maidens in 2008.

So in three seasons they've produced, that's not bad going at all. How long do you think it will be before you can crop them bodger?

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 8:55 pm Post subject:
Not a huge amount, but I'll be picking some apples off them this time. If it hadn't been a lousy season just about all over, then there would have been considerably more.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 12 4:37 pm Post subject:

This year is going to be a poor year all round for apples but I do have one variety in my orchard that has bucked the trend. While all the trees around them are virtually bare, my Kingston Black cider trees have a heavy crop of fruit on them. I have 25 of them that were planted as maidens during the winter of 2008. I've checked them out again this afternoon and some of the branches are so heavily laden, that I've had to prop them up to avoid them snapping.
Most ciders are made up from a variety of different apples blended together, either at the time of pressing, or by blending different ciders after they've fermented. The Kingston Black however, is one of the few varieties of cider apple that's recognised as being suitable for making whats known as single variety cider and this, is exactly what i'm going to do. I'm Hopeful that I should have enough apples to make at least one barrel, if not two and I can hardly wait to give it a try. I'll will have to hold my horses until at least October though, which is when the book says that they'll be ready for picking.

All in all, despite the tribulations of a poor apple harvest, things are looking interesting for the coming cider season. :nwink:

Whilst researching the KB single variety cider, I came across an interesting blog.

So you want to be a cider drinking expert? I know that I'd like to be. Well here's a extremely useful bit of kit to help you on your way.

https://ciderpages.blogspot.co.uk/p/index-of-reviews.html

Now thats the sort of homework that I'd really like to have.

I'd hate for him to try my cider just yet, but who knows, maybe one day. :nwink:

yummersetter

Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 3241
Location: Somerset

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 12 8:27 pm Post subject:

I'm just reading the Somerset Cider Handbook, by Alan Stone and thought it would interest you.

My apples are so behind this year, even the Morgan Sweets which are normally ready in August are a month off at the least - a lot of the varieties are the size and ripeness they normally are in early July. I was just looking at Jupiter, which is a pretty large, red striped on orange apple, and its the size of a lunchbox Cox still and solidly green.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 9:53 am Post subject:

I did myself a good turn today. After the sale of cider last weekend, there was a barrel with some cider left in it. Well cider in a barrel, once its been opened wont keep, so I thought that I'd give a drop or two away to friends and neighbours.
One of my calls, was to the local garden centre and I got talking to the owner there. Apparently, although there's lots of people about in August, its always a quiet time for garden centres. The bedding and veg plants have been sold and its generally a slack period. As a result of our conversation, next year we're going to have a joint apple day. He'll be promoting his apple trees, there'll be lots of apple pies from his cafe etc and I'll be selling my cider and apple juice. It sounds like a good plan to me. I must pencil it in for next year.

Croatia Keith

Joined: 27 Mar 2012
Posts: 23
Location: Croatia

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 10:02 am Post subject:
What a great way to promote both your businesses and have a good time to boot. Hope it goes well Bodger. A friend of ours (Joe) has taken on the mantle of becoming our version of the Croatian "Bodger" and is aboput to tackle the first 300litres. Wish us luck.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 10:11 am Post subject:
I certainly do, I hope that things go well. I've got a friend who goes out to Croatia for holidays, infact he's flying over there in a couple of weeks time and he really rates the place. Croatia plus cider would be even better.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 12 6:41 am Post subject:

I've somehow managed to find space for a further 30 apple trees, so later on today I'll be back on the phone to Adams Apples. I've been like a little old woman trying to make my mind up as to which varieties to get but after changing my mind goodness knows how many times, I've finally decided on the following.

10 Brown Snout.
10 Major
5 Chizel Jersey
5 Stoke Red

If anyone fancies a weekend away by the seaside, we'll be having a tree planting session after Christmas and you'd be most welcome.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 12 5:56 am Post subject:

I really bottled it yesterday, we bottled 29 bottles of cider and 89 bottles of apple juice. The cider came from one of the barrels that we made last year . We'd opened it a few days ago and it had to be bottled to save it from going to waste.
Once cider meets the air, you only have a few days in which to either drink it, or pasteurise it and get it into an airtight container.
The apple juice came from the apples that we pressed yesterday.
This deep feed wheelbarrow makes a super container for washing the apples in. The apples destined for apple juice should be picked directly off the tree and shouldn't need washing. The apples used for cider making can however, come off the floor and can be washed ready for the apple mill.

My youngest son Rob working the press.

The bottling machine.

You have to pasteurise if you bottle cider or apple juice. Here are our pasteurisers in action.

Yesterdays efforts produced these.

We bought an encapsulator last week and we use it to put the plastic heat shrink wraps over the lids. We think that our bottles look quite a bit more professional now.

You've seen 'Young Rob', now heres the old man. Here you see us posing for an article that a friends husband is doing for one of the smallholding magazines. I'm not really a poser.

Surely you can see that, by the style statement that I was making with my magnificently quaffered hair?

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 12 8:52 am Post subject:

Kingston Blacks.
In our orchard, we've got twenty odd something Kingston Black cider apple trees that we planted back in the winter of 2008 and this year, they've proven to one of the few successes of the season.

https://www.talatonplants.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=165

They are almost the only trees that have cropped for us this year and for the last two or three mornings, I've noticed that they've started to fall. This means that this coming weekend, we'll be picking them ready for pressing into cider. They will be our first crop of any sort from our own orchards and I'm looking forward to turning them into a single variety Kingston Black cider. This variety of cider apple comes with an extremely good reputation and if all goes well, it should go on to make a cider that should be a bit special.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 13 3:08 pm Post subject:

Yesterday, a friend and I pruned about 150 of the apple trees, I tell you what, it was blooming freezing cold and by the time we'd finished my feet were numb. I may have developed my first ever chilblain.

Today, I armed myself with a staple gun I've been out in the orchards again. I've replaced a few rabbit guards to protect the trees from damage. We have far too many rabbits at the moment.

The new trees that should have been delivered before last weekend have been held back because of the weather. It certainly suits me, because I don't fancy planting them in this weather. I've ordered 56 apple trees, forty for me and sixteen for friends. This time around, for the first time ever, I've used the Adams Apples nursery.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 13 3:21 pm Post subject:
Nice fella, nice trees. I'm sure you'll use him again. I haven't even thought about pruning my apples yet.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 13 4:12 pm Post subject:
He does come across as a decent fellow. I've paid a little bit more for the trees than I usually do but he had a much wider variety of apples available than the nursery that I have been using.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 13 4:33 pm Post subject:
I've just seen the cider and apple juice pics - great set of shots. The press is smaller than I thought. Our neighbour make about 2000 bottles a year for home consumption His press is much bigger - but size isn't everything I suppose At the end of the day it's taste that matters - is your a sweet or dry cider?

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