Cider by Rosie » apples

High excitement and a bit of bother

Rose — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:37:58 +0000

Towards the end of last November I spent a sunny day on my knees in
Venetia’s orchard picking up the last fallers from amongst her various
cider apple trees. I had previously collected the Yarlingtons, but now
the Dabinetts had decided that their time had also come. The grass was
full of them, beautiful, big and rosy. Next along the row, another big
carpet from the Brown Thorns, brightly orange, also beckoned. I picked
solidly all day, ending up with over half a ton bagged up in the back
of the Landrover. My back ached terribly but I felt satisfied to have
picked enough that day for one complete pressing on St. Em. There must
have been even more than I thought, because next day’s pressing
produced 400 litres of juice. Having laboured so hard and seen the
beauty of the apples close at hand, as compared with my usual casual
regard of machine harvested apples, I felt loathe to add the juice to
the main blend. Rather than that, I decided to keeve it and make it as
a special. Unfortunately the keeving did not work, so in January with
this separate 400 litres of now fully dry cider, I found myself
wondering what to do with it. The sensible thing was to put in with
the main blend. This I did for the most part, but I could not bear to
lose all of this rather special pressing, so I kept 120 litres of it
in a blue tub, to bottle for home consumption. I happened to give this
cider a try, just as I was about to put some cider into demijohns for
the Bath and West. I liked it so much that I decided to send it to the
Show instead of the main blend. What was to happen next has become one
of the most memorable episodes of my life.

I’m still dazed and amazed at my unbelievable good fortune with this
cider at last week’s Royal Bath and West Show. To win the cup for the
champion Farmhouse Cider was like a dream in itself. When that same
cider was then chosen as the Supreme Champion of the Show, I scarcely
was able to take it in. It seemed just incredible! Having had a
completely trophyless lifetime, (I was totally useless at all sports
in my schooldays), to unexpectedly win two silver pots, big ones at
that, was certainly breaking new ground. I was thrilled to bits! For
me this was not only the high point of this cidermaking year but of
all my cidermaking years and doubtless of those yet to come. A joyful,
once in a lifetime experience, thanks to the golden juice from a tiny,
18 tree, Dorset orchard!

I felt honoured to be the first cider maker to bring these two trophys
to Dorset. On coming back here with them last Saturday, I had the
curious thought that bringing the Worshipful Fruiterers Supreme Cider
Cup out of Somerset, seemed rather like stealing the Stone of Scone. I
note however that Alex Hill wrested it across the boundary into Devon,
after winning with his Bollhayes Cider in 2006. But in all other
years it has remained solidly in its home county, being won by
Somerset producers, large, medium and small (notably our Michael Cobb
in 2004).

I might have known that such braggart thoughts could elicit an ancient
Somerset curse, perhaps muttered by some old farmer on the Levels,
into his mug of scrumpy. And so it was that on Sunday morning I found
water was pouring out from under the ciderhouse door and there was an
unpleasant hissing sound coming from within. A pipe had burst during
the night, spraying water upwards and drenching everything. The
electrics had tripped due to water in the light fittings. The steel
vats had been topped up with water on top of their sealed lids.
Fortunately this was unable to penetrate into the cider held below the
seals. Most things were none the worse for a soaking but there was one
terrible exception. A few days earlier I had worked hard bottling,
corking, wiring and labelling, 150 bottles of keeved Kingston Black.
I’d then packed them into cardboard boxes and stacked them below the
table for temporary storage. This whole stack of boxes had now become
a soggy mess. It took most of Sunday to get the water out, from in and
under furnishings and equipment. Today I set to work rescuing the
bottles of Kingston from their squelchy cartons. I found that a large
number of the bottle labels had also been ruined. There is a lot of
work that now has to be done again.

It was a chore sorting out this little disaster area today, but I was
buoyed up with a new resolve. When the Kingston has been reworked I
intend to bottle the winning cider with a little sugar into heavy
weight bottles. This should then preserve it as a sparkler that can be
enjoyed as a memento of last week’s success, for a good few years to
come. I wont put any boxes of it under the table though, just in case.

Rose

Cider Festivals

Rose — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:51:02 +0000

In my Powerstock report I noted, what I have come to see, as an
increasing trend for dedicated cider festivals. Powerstock is of
course a prime example. I have always thought that cider as a beverage
has more than enough variations of flavour and form to excite the
interest of the general public in ‘cider only festivals’. Since
Powerstock I’ve been excited to note two further examples of the
trend. The Drax Arms at Spetisbury near here, is holding a cider
festival on the week end 23/24 th May and has put posters out that
amusingly say ‘ Bring your own mug!’ A few days ago I was visited by
the landlord of The Cricketers in Southampton. He was out and about
with a cider drinking friend collecting cider from local craft makers
for his own cider festival. As he put my B-in-Bs into the back of his
Landrover, I was interested to see a good collection of boxes already
stowed, notably from Mr Whitehead and our good friend Barry in the New
Forest! ( everybody seems to be using B-in-Bs for cider now. I
remember when people thought that I was mad to use them with a live
cider.)

It may be that landlords in this difficult time for pubs, are perhaps
looking for innovative ways to stimulate business, other than the
standard beer festival, but from my perspective I see the trend
developing as a result of the increasing interest and demand for real
cider. I see it in the increasing demand for boxes of cider for
private functions, especially weddings. Here no doubt the economic
aspect of units of alcohol versus cost holds sway, but it is not that
alone. It is the quality and the flavour that they want for their
special occasion. Increasingly I find that people are aware of the
difference when they sample the real thing. In conversations with
several landlords, I’ve been pleased to hear that they are becoming
more aware it too. Yesterday, on my delivery round, I’d dropped my
usual full juice mantra into conversation with one of the landlords. ”
Oh, I can tell the difference, Rose”, he said. ” When I turn the tap
on for a pint of yours, I can really smell the apples”. He is not a
cider drinker, but I’m working on it. The pleasure of that little
aside stayed with me all day.

May I also add as a footnote re cider festivals, there is our usual
little ‘cider only’ festival here tomorrow. We will crown the May
Queen in my orchard followed by a BBQ and cider tasting, from 3 pm. If
you are a local cider maker and would like to bring a small quantity
to donate to the cider table you will be especially welcome.

Rose.

The big tank

Rose — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:28:06 +0000

Last year I decided to take my two ex winery aluminium ‘Sputnik’ tanks
to the scrapyard. They were taking up too much room in the ciderhouse.
I was also not convinced that their internal enamel coating would
continue to survive being immersed in cider for a great deal longer.
Scrap metal prices were good and I was able to more than cover their
original cost of £50 on Ebay. Having less tankage has however made
blending even more difficult than usual, since I’d lost two tanks that
I could move the cider to, during the mixing process. I do like my
draught to be truly composed of the complete season’s apples. It has
become a ‘lodestar thing’ for me that Cider by Rosie fully represents
the season from mid September to Christmas and that its flavour
remains the same throughout the drinking season.

This year it was impossible to fully blend until the first 1000 litre
IBC had been emptied, due to the lack of tank space. The cider in this
tank was acceptable but rather on the sharp side. Although in itself a
blend of perhaps 4 varieties, they were early season apples which tend
to be acidic. It sold well enough but I was not really happy with it.
When it had gone I was able to blend the remaining 5 IBCs ( I make
6000 litres of traditional draught). It was a moment of truth when I
tasted the result, being very pleasing and having the same rich, soft
dry, sort of flavour as in previous years. My full season ideal seemed
to be vindicated once and for all. The romantic notion that Nature
provides its own balance came to me, not for the first time.

I’ve given this blending problem a lot of thought in recent years.
I’ve mentioned it here which stimulated clever proposals involving
pumping this way and that between the tanks to ensure that each
contained the identical blend. One posting stood out in my mind. It
was about Customs & Excise inspections rather than blending. Tom
Oliver remarked that he had difficulty explaining to the inspector
that his 6000 litre blending tank was not used for the storage of
cider! This is the solution for me too, I thought. Never mind the
inspections. I will cross that bridge as and when needed. I want a
6000 litre tank! I can do the initial fermentation of the whole
season’s cider in it, whereupon all will be fully blended. Plentiful
co2 will fill the headspace, safeguarding the juice as the season’s
pressings progressively fill the tank. Then just after Christmas I
will transfer the still fermenting cider to the 6 IBCs in the tank
room, thus performing a racking in the process. Well that is the theory.

Today it became a reality. A massive plastic cylindrical water tank
now stands in our garden. I can’t believe how big a 2 metre diameter
tank actually looks! My mind has been working flat out thinking how to
alter its role from being a giant garden ornament, to a functional
item situated out of sight behind the cider house. I had thought it
would be possible to move it by rolling, but have been dismayed by its
great weight and the fact that it is impossible to get any sort of
grip on such a large drum. It is over 2 M in height which is also
unhelpful. I can see that I will definitely be in need of help from my
friends.

A few weeks back Barry and Albert came with a very awkward load.
Somehow back at Burley they had managed to get some very heavy items
inside Barry’s big white cider van. One of these was a pallet of
champagne bottles. These Barry had kindly bought on my behalf along
with his own consignment from France. This weighed best part of a ton
as did the other item. This was a 500 litre stainless dairy tank
complete with outer cooling tank and refrigeration equipment! Barry
and Albert had been determined to rescue this for me from a farm in
the New Forest where it was no longer required. It will be perfect for
keeving, due to the possibility of temperature control. I look forward
to modifying it and putting it to good use. However the immediate
problem was how to get these things out of the van and into my garage.
Luckily Charles, a friend in the village, came along with his tractor
and was able to lift them out with his front loader.

I am now very much in need of Charles with his tractor again! There is
a strong lifting eye moulded into the top of the tank. I’m hoping that
Charles will be able to lift the tank up and over the fence behind the
cider house, once I have obtained permission from the owner for access
to his adjoining field.

This is what the tank is like except that it is black. There is a 1 in
BSP stainless outlet fitted near to the base. Luckily I thought of
asking for that, as the standard fitting is brass.

Rose.