Apple Picking & Cider Pressing
Apple Picking & Cider Pressing
Summary
Time: 3 pm until everyone leaves
When: 15-Sept (next Saturday)
What: Free apples & cider
Where: Lee's House (3601 Otis Rd, SE, Cedar Rapids)
You are all invited out next Saturday (15-Sept) to pick apples and press cider. We're going to start at 3 pm and go until everyone leaves. In addition to all the free apples you want, there is a good chance some of Tim's leftover BBQ will be available from an event he's catering for me the day before. I'll also have a grill and paper plates available if you want to bring some food.
Liberty, Gala, Jonadel, Ozark Gold, Jonamac, and Jonafree are all either ripe right now or will be by next Saturday.
Last year we seemed to average about 3 gallons of cider per bushel of apples, so please plan accordingly and bring your own buckets/containers for the apples. If I recall correctly, a bushel of apples fits in about two 5 gallon buckets, so plan on 1 bucket per 1.5 gallons of soft cider you want. I will have a bin to wash the apples and a press. Rick is going to let us use the Apple Destroyer again to macerate the fruit prior to pressing.
I'm not putting any limits on how many apples you guys can pick and we're not charging anything this year. I do recommend bringing a ladder, if you can, to help reach some of the higher up fruit, since they tend to be nicer. If you think you might be interested in making cider, I suggest you come out because I can't guarantee we'll be able to do this again next year. We're going to cut down half the trees to make room for more disease-resistant varieties, and it will be 5+ years before we get back to this capacity again.
If you're interested in making hard cider, plan on having a fermenter, some wine yeast, and camden tablets (to sulfite the unpasteurized cider). Rick, myself, and about 15 other people in the club can give you more info if you need it. Alternatively, homebrewtalk.com has some good info in their cider forum. If you just want soft cider, I recommend milk jugs. If you leave some head space in the jug, the cider will store very well in the freezer for over a year.
If you plan to attend, please post on this forum so I have a rough idea of what to expect.
Time: 3 pm until everyone leaves
When: 15-Sept (next Saturday)
What: Free apples & cider
Where: Lee's House (3601 Otis Rd, SE, Cedar Rapids)
You are all invited out next Saturday (15-Sept) to pick apples and press cider. We're going to start at 3 pm and go until everyone leaves. In addition to all the free apples you want, there is a good chance some of Tim's leftover BBQ will be available from an event he's catering for me the day before. I'll also have a grill and paper plates available if you want to bring some food.
Liberty, Gala, Jonadel, Ozark Gold, Jonamac, and Jonafree are all either ripe right now or will be by next Saturday.
Last year we seemed to average about 3 gallons of cider per bushel of apples, so please plan accordingly and bring your own buckets/containers for the apples. If I recall correctly, a bushel of apples fits in about two 5 gallon buckets, so plan on 1 bucket per 1.5 gallons of soft cider you want. I will have a bin to wash the apples and a press. Rick is going to let us use the Apple Destroyer again to macerate the fruit prior to pressing.
I'm not putting any limits on how many apples you guys can pick and we're not charging anything this year. I do recommend bringing a ladder, if you can, to help reach some of the higher up fruit, since they tend to be nicer. If you think you might be interested in making cider, I suggest you come out because I can't guarantee we'll be able to do this again next year. We're going to cut down half the trees to make room for more disease-resistant varieties, and it will be 5+ years before we get back to this capacity again.
If you're interested in making hard cider, plan on having a fermenter, some wine yeast, and camden tablets (to sulfite the unpasteurized cider). Rick, myself, and about 15 other people in the club can give you more info if you need it. Alternatively, homebrewtalk.com has some good info in their cider forum. If you just want soft cider, I recommend milk jugs. If you leave some head space in the jug, the cider will store very well in the freezer for over a year.
If you plan to attend, please post on this forum so I have a rough idea of what to expect.
Apple Picking & Cider Pressing
Yes. Last year our bottleneck was the pressing process. I've made modifications to the press I have that should allow us to press a lot more at once, but it will still be much slower than Rick's Apple Destroyer.
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 12:31 PM, quinton <brew-members@crbeernuts.org (brew-members@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 12:31 PM, quinton <brew-members@crbeernuts.org (brew-members@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:
Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)I have a access to a pretty big, pretty nifty crusher and press. Is there a need for this?
- CMLarrison
- Posts: 216
- Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:49 pm
- Location: Robins
Apple Picking & Cider Pressing
That's fine with me. We should have room on my driveway for 3 presses and 2 crushers.
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 12:56 PM, CMLarrison <brew-members@crbeernuts.org (brew-members@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 12:56 PM, CMLarrison <brew-members@crbeernuts.org (brew-members@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:
Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)I have a press too that I can bring if needed?
-
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:14 pm
- Location: cedar rapids, ia
Apple Picking & Cider Pressing
I've never measured, but I would guess that most of the trees are 15 to 20 feet tall. We routinely use an 8' step ladder and get a lot of good apples off the trees.
Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)
Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)
-
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:14 pm
- Location: cedar rapids, ia
Apple Picking & Cider Pressing
I plan to attend with my wife. Thanks again, Lee, for sharing your apples.
On 09/06/12 23:40, DrPaulsen wrote:
On 09/06/12 23:40, DrPaulsen wrote:
Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)Summary
Time: 3 pm until everyone leaves
When: 15-Sept (next Saturday)
What: Free apples & cider
Where: Lee's House (3601 Otis Rd, SE, Cedar Rapids)
You are all invited out next Saturday (15-Sept) to pick apples and press cider. We're going to start at 3 pm and go until everyone leaves. In addition to all the free apples you want, there is a good chance some of Tim's leftover BBQ will be available from an event he's catering for me the day before. I'll also have a grill and paper plates available if you want to bring some food.
Liberty, Gala, Jonadel, Ozark Gold, Jonamac, and Jonafree are all either ripe right now or will be by next Saturday.
Last year we seemed to average about 3 gallons of cider per bushel of apples, so please plan accordingly and bring your own buckets/containers for the apples. If I recall correctly, a bushel of apples fits in about two 5 gallon buckets, so plan on 1 bucket per 1.5 gallons of soft cider you want. I will have a bin to wash the apples and a press. Rick is going to let us use the Apple Destroyer again to macerate the fruit prior to pressing.
I'm not putting any limits on how many apples you guys can pick and we're not charging anything this year. I do recommend bringing a ladder, if you can, to help reach some of the higher up fruit, since they tend to be nicer. If you think you might be interested in making cider, I suggest you come out because I can't guarantee we'll be able to do this again next year. We're going to cut down half the trees to make room for more disease-resistant varieties, and it will be 5+ years before we get back to this capacity again.
If you're interested in making hard cider, plan on having a fermenter, some wine yeast, and camden tablets (to sulfite the unpasteurized cider). Rick, myself, and about 15 other people in the club can give you more info if you need it. Alternatively, homebrewtalk.com has some good info in their cider forum. If you just want soft cider, I recommend milk jugs. If you leave some head space in the jug, the cider will store very well in the freezer for over a year.
If you plan to attend, please post on this forum so I have a rough idea of what to expect.
Randy Carris
Randy All the Time Brewing
Randy All the Time Brewing