4th November - Cider Making

The First Rush of Juice

At 5 AM when the sound of rain still emanated from the black windowpanes I knew that the easy days of summer were over. Mud is the bane of our winter existence, making every job difficult and as half the surrounding wood seems to drain through our garden we get plenty of it! To make matters worse the hunt always seems to appear when the ground is at its wettest and churn the drive into a sticky nightmare.

Having nearly slipped over several times whilst doing the animals I was reminded, as I am annually that smooth soled garden clogs are not suitable for winter, but whether I'll remember tomorrow - who knows? One improvement on last winter will certainly be the new ' quail emporium '. Kneeling on the cold wet ground to collect muddy eggs, always just out of reach was a hateful task and the main impetus for the new construction. This recollection of previous years still makes the daily collection of clean eggs from the dry enclosures a novel pleasure and this morning I was even more pleased to see eggs in with my young stock. They are only 10 weeks old - nearly to the day and despite having kept quail for several years I’m still staggered by their speed of development.

Cider making was the day's chief occupation and the long-suffering C was on hand once again to help with the proceedings. A simple mill and press are all the equipment needed to extract apple juice. Roughly grinding and crushing the fruit before pressing breaks cell walls and allows the juice to run, yet this essential step is often overlooked by newcomers to the activity, leading to lots of work for pitiful yields. Once the slatted press is full of apple fragments thick cover boards are placed on top and pressure applied by a metal head which is screwed down the central threaded bar. There is always a slight feeling of exhilaration as the first rush of sweet juice bubbles through the oak slats and runs in a torrent from the press's lip. The temptation to have a taste is irresistible and having done so today were convinced that the juice was considerably sweeter than it had been last year, most likely due to the hot September and warm autumn. By using the hydrometer (a device for measuring the sugar content of liquid) we discovered in fact that  this year's brew has the potential to reach 8.5%, a dangerous increase from last year's 5%. Working together the two six-gallon kegs were full of reddish brown liquor by lunchtime and when Em returned from work a well earned lunch of fried eggs and tomatoes was consumed with relish.

Milling Apples

Filling the Press

Later Em preserved some excess juice by boiling it briefly and sealing it into hot bottles whilst C and I added yeast to the fermentation vessels and fitted airlocks. A good morning’s work which in a few months should be rewarded with 96 pints of beautiful, strong cider.

Dinner

We dined at S and S’s house tonight and in between marvelling at their new home and receiving stick for my new blog, enjoyed a splendid lasagne, before being thoroughly led into temptation by a sublime ginger sponge smothered in 'butter-nut' sauce and cream.