CALAIS � There�s a five-gallon jug of cider fermenting in our house. It�s in a mini root-cellar below the mud room, where it will remain until Town Meeting Day, when I�ve been given the go-ahead to pull the plug, pour and drink.
My instructions come from Terry Bradshaw, who pressed and
squeezed the cider stock from five varieties of apples.
Bradshaw, 36, is a farm manager at the University of Vermont
who moonlights each autumn in his Calais garage.
Wearing long green rubber gloves and a matching apron, with
big black boots, Bradshaw spends Saturdays in October
squeezing juice from a selection of apples � crates of which
are stacked in a corner of his garage. His small business,
Lost Meadow Cidery, produces about 300 gallons of sweet
cider each fall, and 400 gallons of juice for making hard
cider.
�It�s a weekend operation, a hobby operation, that�s a
little out of control,� said Bradshaw, who grew up on a farm
in Chelsea. �But it�s fun, and efficient enough: Let�s open
the doors and sell some juice.�
Bradshaw opened his garage doors five years ago, and sells
mostly to repeat customers. New business is generated by
word of mouth. �I used to have a $21 advertising budget,�
Bradshaw said.
The stock for hard cider is made to order and sold by
Bradshaw in five gallon carboys, at $7 a gallon, along with
fermenting instructions. Certain customers, usually
home-brewers, like to �tweak� their stock, typically more
than necessary, Bradshaw said. Others � and I�m firmly
planted in the �other� category � add yeast, set aside the
stock, and wait.
Bradshaw�s operation is a Saturday afternoon sideshow for
customers and assorted hangers-on, people looking for sweet
and sassy fun on a hilly dirt road about 10 miles northeast
of Montpelier.
The morning pressings of sweet cider are closed to the
public for food safety reasons, Bradshaw said. But afternoon
pressings of hard-cider stock are viewer-friendly, a
spectator sport, because the fermenting process is an
effective pathogen-killer, he said.
Food safety seemed a non-issue at Lost Meadow in early
October, when I watched Bradshaw press a batch of juice for
hard cider. I readily tasted the dried and condensed apple
pulp from the morning squeeze, which was dumped in the back
of his pickup before delivery to a neighbor�s herd of beef
cattle.
The pulp resembled a tightly woven door mat made of apples.
It tasted like the fibery foundation of a highly
concentrated energy bar, observed photographer Emily
McManamy.
The sweet cider Bradshaw extracted from this pulp, which was
bottled in his refrigerator, is an amber-gold liquid treat.
Its sweetness obscures a mild, refreshing tartness; the
drink tastes as a fresh as pulling an apple from a tree.
�I personally select the fruit for the sweet cider,�
Bradshaw said. The apples come from orchards in Lebanon,
N.H., the Champlain Valley, and Bradshaw�s own trees, he
said.
�I don�t divert good, saleable fruit just to use in the
cider mill,� Bradshaw said. �The cider fruit is small, bumpy
and lumpy.�
Lost Meadow�s hard-cider stock is squeezed from several
apple varieties, including tart European varieties high in
tannin, Bradshaw said. An early October stock was squeezed
mostly (60 percent) from dessert apples edible off the tree,
with a variety called Liberty making up the backbone of the
juice.
Bradshaw uses apples from a number of sources, including a
one-of-a-kind central Vermont picker whom Bradshaw calls
�Crazy Chris.�
�He brings me a handful of apples,� Bradshaw said. �I taste
�em, I mull �em over. I say, �Yes. No. Yes. No. I want a few
of these.� I don�t have the energy or the time to get them.
Somehow, Chris does.�
Crates of apples are stacked in the garage, boxes that
include bumped, dimpled and funny-shaped fruit whose
appearance is moot for the pressing they get and the juice
they yield. Bradshaw�s rig � customized for his purposes �
presses 20 gallons at a shot.
�It�s a nice unit to work with,� he said. �Better than five
gallons or 1 gallon. Better than 50 or 100.�
Turning apples into juice is a two-step process � loud, fast
and impressive.
Step 1: Put on ear protectors, for the grinding
phase
In this step, Bradshaw dumps bushels of apples into a
hopper, and plunges the fruit � about 120 apples per crate �
through a grinder. The apple mush comes out fast, and lands
in a five-gallon bucket that is placed on a jack, a piece of
equipment whose height is set to keep apple spray to a
minimum. In a couple of minutes, a bushel of apples is
reduced to mush.
The mush is like rough and raw apple sauce, studded with
chunks of fruit and skin. After Bradshaw runs seven crates
of apples through the grinder, it�s time for Step 2.
�That�s grinding,� Bradshaw announces with a smile.
Step 2: It takes more finesse to press, and it�s
more fun to watch � quieter, too
Pressing involves stacking and loading seven wooden racks
with apple mush, and then pressing the juice out. Each rack
holds a bucket of ground apples, which Bradshaw wraps in
thick brown cheesecloth. When he is satisfied with the
bundle of wrapped apple mush, and when the rack is in place
just so, he adds the next layer of apples � and so on. It�s
like he�s building a big cake, only to collapse it with a
press that pumps out the juice.
When a batch is complete, Bradshaw shoots a dose of sulfites
into the juice, and sets aside the jug for a customer who
has ordered the stock in advance. The sulfites serve two
related purposes, according to Bradshaw: They suppress the
growth of wild yeasts and bacteria, thereby allowing the
fermentation to be carried out by preferred wine yeast.
If Bradshaw is a pro at pressing apples, he�s less easy to
press for answers on how to care for the hand-crafted, five
gallons of juice.
I left with the impression that less is more � and that
suits me fine. We stuck our carboy in a little gravel-lined
pit near the kitchen, where the sugars will ferment to
alcohol over the winter.
I added yeast two days after we brought the stock home, per
Bradshaw�s recommendation, to promote fermentation with a
select wine yeast. I�m hanging onto a piece of rubber tubing
Bradshaw gave me, with plans to siphon the juice out of the
jug in a couple of months, clean the container, and pour the
juice back in.
Other than that, I�m happily anticipating Town Meeting Day,
and a taste of early March fizzy fun.
I asked Bradshaw what he likes to eat with his hard cider.
It seemed to be the only question he didn�t answer before
the words were out of my mouth.
�Oh, gosh,� Bradshaw said. �I don�t know ... dinner!�
Contact Sally Pollak at
spollak@burlingtonfreepress.com or 660-1859; to find out
more about Lost Meadow Cidery, go to
www.lostmeadowvt.com.