Batch Codes
Individual batches are coded first by the harvest year, followed by a
letter.
KMS= Potassium Metabisulfite
PME= Pectin Methylesterase
OG= Original Gravity
SG= Specific Gravity
2005
2004
2003
2005
All juice squeezed on Lost Meadow Mill.
Four Squeezes...
1) North American Keeve / 'Common' Cider
Blend- 2 Liberty: 1 Haralson: 1 N. Spy: 1 Golden Delicious/Pinova Mix.
Squeezed 10/15/05. No OG or pH taken. Macerated pulp for 2 hrs with 4 ml PME / 15
gallon batch, 70 g CaCl, and 50 ppm KMS. Pinch of dry DYW-80/ R-2 yeast from morebeer added to the top of the keeve
barrel (30 gallon HDPE juice barrel).
10/29/05- No brown cap, racked to cellar into two carboys. Left
behind ~ 3 gallons thickened, gelly juice/funk at bottom of barrel.
Slow, nearly stuck ferment (1.050 by 1/12/06). By Jan/Feb she was
smelling pretty funky and sulfurous, so added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and a pack of
Red Star Premier Cuvee dry yeast. Ferment picked up, settled down to 1.005 on 5/07/05,
when it was racked.
8/16/06: Finished dry with excellent fruit aromatics and flavors that last
long into the profile. I am pleasantly surprised by this one, and at one point began
to wonder why I'm messing with all these European apples. Nice clean golden hue.
2) New England Style
Squeeze 10/15/05. Blend- 2 Liberty: 1 Haralson: 1 Golden Delicious: 1
Northern Spy: 1 Gala: 1 NY 74828: 0.5 Eurocider Mix (first harvest of dabinett, chisel
jersey, and michelin). OG 1.052. Added 50 ppm sulfite, 10# white sugar, 4# brown
sugar, 3# raisins (new gravity 1.078). Pitched EC-1118 and DYW80/R@ dry yeasts.
Fermented in 30 gallon HDPE barrel in back yard for one month.
Racked to corny kegs 11/13/05, sg 1.072. 11/26/05, sg 1.059, added 1
lb medium toast oak chips that soaked in 750 ml Old Crow Bourbon, split between the four
cans. I also added the bourbon they were soaking in, which we'll learn later may
have been a mistake. Cold fermented in cans, vented pressure from cornies manually a
couple of times a week. Racked from cornies mid February, tossed oak chips (sg 1.038) .
Racked 5/07/05, sg 1.002. Carboys cleared well by mid-May.
5/20/06: Nice cider taste, actually a really good batch but the bourbon
flavor is a tad over powering. I like bourbon, though, so I'll have to enjoy this
batch even if it falls a bit out of the guidelines.
8/16/06: Bourbon flavor is ageing nicely and integrating well with the
cider. Many folks seem to like this batch the best of this year's, but the nearly
9.0% abv may throw them off pretty quick.
3&4) European Blends
European varieties are from Poverty
Lane/Farnum Hill in Lebanon, NH. All squeezed 10/30/05. Pulp macerated 2 hrs with PME
and 150 ppm KMS. After squeezing, a couple of grains each of W15 and EC1116 yeast were
floated on the top.
Blend 3- 2 Yarlington Mill: 1 Ashton Bitter: 1 False Yarlington Mill: 1
Liberty. OG 1.052.
Blend 4- 3 Dabinett: 1 Chisel Jersey: 1 Liberty. OG 1.054.
 From each blend 1 carboy was fermented
without keeving, and two buckets were keeved. Initial keeve, done in cellar (~50 F)
was pretty good, bottom gel but little brown cap. On 11/07/05 keeved juice was
racked to glass, where it keeved again, beautifully. Keeved ciders fermented slowly, with
OG on 5/08/06 1.011, 1.020, and 1.032 on 4/08/06 for blend 3, blend 4, and blend 3+4
respectively. SG for non-keeved euroblends on 4/08/06 was 1.000.
 All euroblends were racked into corny kegs
on 4/9/06 with 50 ppm KMS for dry and 75 ppm KMS for sweet ciders.
05SQ3K: final gravity 1.011, alcohol 5.0%. Medium sweet cider with
assertive tannins but low acid to balance out the sweetness.
05SQ4K: final gravity 1.020, alcohol 4.2%. A touch on the sweeter
side with soft tannins. This is a good 'introductory' cider to folks who like (or
expect) a little sweetness and less bitter bite.
05SQ3+4K: As is would seem, a pre-ferment blend of the two above squeezes.
Moderate tannin level but rather high sweetness at a final gravity of 1.030. Will be
used in blending.
05SQ3: Final gravity 1.000, alcohol 6.6%. Dry, assertive.
Strong apple aromatics with hard, bitter tannin finish. A true connoiseur's cider,
and likely an acquired taste.
05SQ4: Final gravity 1.000, alcohol 6.6%. Dry and smooth, not particularly
acidic. Tannin soft and subdued, a little thin. Very smooth, easy drinking. A
West Country-style session cider.
back to top
2004
Gingerbrook Farm mill, 10/17/14. Variety mix- 4 Haralson: 6 Liberty: 6
Nova Easygrow: 5 Redfield: 1 mix crabs (flame and prunifola). OG 1.052, pH 3.15. All
treated with 75 ppm KMS. Keeved all but one
control for two weeks outdoors, at about 50 F day, 30's at night. Keeved ciders
recived roughly 0.3 ml pectin methyl esterase (Thanks Gary!) and 3 g CaCl per gallon.
Pretty good bottom keeve developed but cap never rose. Racked off of bottom gel
first week of November into 2003 barrel and eight carboys. All fermented pretty
slowly, with barrel fermenting a bit quicker than carboys. Unkeeved control did not
ferment noticeably faster than other carboys. Racked all carboys 3/05/05 at around
1.025.
By mid-June all carboys dropped clear and had finished around SG 1.020.
Barrel was clear and fully dry by this time. Three 125 ml packs Wyeast 4007
ML culture added to barrel on 5/17/05.
6/25/05
Kegged Carboys (04 BCDEK), transferred barrel to carboys to clear.
04 Carboys (A-E, CK, K): All keeved except
control K, from above blend. All performed similarly in ferment, working slow and
finishing right around 1.020. Finished very fruity, quite sweet, deep red in color, with a
distinctive anthocyanin character from the Redfields.
04 Barrel: Above keeved blend, fermented in trusty
cellar barrel. Fermented much faster than carboys, and totally dry. Flavor a bit
tarter, with solid Brett/barnyard character.
The best drink from these batches, in my opinion, is a 2:1 blend of the
barrel and carboy ciders, making for a medium sweet beverage. With the heavy use of
Redfield in this blend, these ciders came out pink/red, so much that they were docked in
the competitions they were entered in.
back to top
2003
Two squeezes this year:
1)Gingerbrook Farm Mill, variety mix- 8 Liberty: 6 Haralson: 4 Jonafree: 2
Nova Easy Grow: 1 McIntosh (Rogers Strain): 1 Redfield. 60 Gallon squeeze
divided into two HDPE barrels with 90 ppm KMS; 1.5 oz / 30 gal NaCl; 1 oz / 30 gal
CaCO3. Left outside for ~2 weeks at 38-60 F to allow for some sort of keeve, then
siphoned into cellar barrel (old Can Whiskey, used for cider in 2002) 10/19/03. 15
gallons reserved for fermentation on its own.
2) Squeeze 2, Jaffrey Hand press. Variety mix 1 Aston Bitter: 1 Stoke Red:
2 Pinova: 1 Golden Hornet Crab. Squeezed 10/19/03. 10 gallon yield. Added to
previous squeeze, all racked (45 gal sq 1, 10 gal sq 2) into the cellar barrel.
03Bar: Above mix,barrel fermented. Bone dry, tart,
tannic, and a little horsey. MLF culture (Enoferm Alpha) added 3/7/04.
03Car: Squeeze 1 only, nice slow ferment in glass.
Finished a little fruitier than 03Bar, medium sweet (1.008).
back to top
|
