My in-laws used to live in Devon (UK) where they were making cider a couple
of weeks before Bodicea or Boudicca (Buddug if you are Welsh) learnt to
drive her chariot. I was down with them one summer a good few years ago
when we visited one of the old time farmers who used to make his own cider.
Cloudy, a wisp of froth round the edges of the mug and served at whatever
the outside temperature was. Just a gill of that sent me walking in spirals
and with a tongue thickening between my lips I asked how he made it.
"Get the windfalls", came the reply, "put them in a sack (he was talking of
a large hessian or gunny sack) and hang then up from the rafters in the
cellar. When they've been there for a week or so put a half leg of pork in
the middle of them and then a funnel underneath to drain into the barrel.
Leave it and come late on in the New Year around Gwenton you'll have a brew
to put hairs on your chest", he said, looking lustily down my wife's
stretched low neck tee-shirt.
I've heard of this way of making cider from a couple of sources although the
pork was now beef and could well have been lamb and one year thought I
would have a go. I'd got a sack full of apples from this chap and was
driving home from Devon in a hired panel van with a roller shutter door. On
the way back the catch came loose, the door vibrated open and the sack of
apples slumped onto the van floor. So if any-one found a trail of squashed
apples along the M5 northbound leading onto the M6 and the M62 that was
going to be my home brewed cider.
I never did go back for more.
Good fortune to you all,
Guy R Day
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Bastedo"
To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] as long as the list is slow
>I started homebrewing in 1978.
> Funny when I look back on it, used an open top 5 gallon crock with malt
> and
> hops and water and yeast.
> Laid a plastic cover over it just to keep most of the extraneous "stuff"
> out.
> That was a great top fermenting lager as I remember it.
> Now I might not even want to try it but back then it was ambrosia.
>
> I recently discovered I have a great intolerance to gluten, therefore
> beer.
> I was pretty bummed out about this until just recently when I finally
> thought "what about hard cider?".
> I have the kegs and the fridge and the CO2 with the regulators and I'm
> just
> so completely set up for this.
> So, not knowing any better (sometimes that is a good thing) I went to the
> store and bought 5 gallons of Tree Top apple juice and four or five frozen
> concentrated cans of Tree Top.
> I chose Tree Top because of the commercially available apple juices out
> there they are the only ones I could find that display right on the front
> "Made only from apples grown in the USA".
> So I went to my nearby wine & beer making shop and bought a new airlock
> and
> rubber stopper (with the hole in it for the airlock) and a package of
> Wyeast Cider Yeast.
> Went home, activated the yeast and put all the juices in the carboy.
> Once the yeast pouch was getting nice and puffy I opened it up and pitched
> it in.
> Fermentation began rapidly, and went on for a week.
> I racked it out into a clean carboy (I own several) and let it run for
> another week.
> By the end of the 2nd week it was clearing pretty nicely so I racked it
> into a keg.
> Hooked up the CO2, gave it some shakes and let it sit a few days.
> This was at Christmas time, so I had nice bubbly hard cider for my guests
> who came for Christmas dinner.
> That was so good I decided to do it again.
> Like any good brewer worth his salt I save packets of yeast from a good
> batch, the Wyeast people say this will work fine up through about 7
> generations.
> The second batch came out even better than the first.
>
> I know it would be better if I had a cider press and juiced my own apples
> yada yada.
> You can't argue with results however, and this stuff was great!
>
> Ok, there you go - hope all you guys and gals hunkered down for the storm
> are well stocked and stay warm and dry.
>
> Rick Bastedo
>
>
> ******************************************
> From: Jim Johnson <>
> Subject: Re: [Spridgets] as long as the list is slow
>
> Now if you fellows were home brewers you'd have some beer in your constant
> 42F kegerator...
>
> Cheers!!
> Jim - 5 gals of my Double IPA and 5 gals of my Snake Snot Stout in the
> cooler with 5 gals of Amber Ale in the fermentor.
> ------------------------
>
> spridgets@autox.team.net
>
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