Milwaukee cider mills?

Hey all!

I'm going to try fermenting some fresh ciders this year. I went to a local orchard/mill and noticed that their cider has potassium sorbate.

Before I go looking around at all the other places in the area, I wanted to ask if any HBT'ers know of anywhere in the Milwaukee area that has good preservative-free cider? Thanks!

My home is in Burlington, so these are in that neighborhood. The second guy is less than a mile from my house, but I'm further afield at the moment.

Check with Brightonwoods Orchard. I've used theirs before. Right next door is AeppleTreow Winery which uses their apples. They have many classic old varieties intended for cider rather than just sweet apples in their mix. 878-3000

The other guy just off Plank Road (Racine county A) who normally sells his from a monastery driveway across from the Burlington Menard's on Brown's Lake Drive. I know he uses UV to pasteurize his. Last name is Elsen. I've bought his as well. 534-5032. His was more sweet, missing the tannic varieties.

Nice! I'm originally from Racine! I know exactly where you're talking about. Thanks!

The good folks at Northern Brewer recommended Weston's Antique Apple orchard in New Berlin on National Ave. I went out there and got some really nice preservative-free cider. The guy at the orchard said if you show up on Wednesday afternoon with your own carboy, you can fill it right out of the press.

That's awesome. I think that's the place I took an apple grafting class with my son a couple years ago. That was in spring, and I never got back up there at harvest time. I love that they cater to the carboy crowd.

JonM said:

The good folks at Northern Brewer recommended Weston's Antique Apple orchard in New Berlin on National Ave. I went out there and got some really nice preservative-free cider. The guy at the orchard said if you show up on Wednesday afternoon with your own carboy, you can fill it right out of the press.

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Thanks for the heads up. The other one that I've found was a guy on craigslist in Jefferson, WI.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/fall-cider-prices-333522/index5.html#post4404539

I attempted to buy from Weston apples at the West Allis farmers market but they were out. They said to try the new Berlin location tomorrow.

Got some cider from Weston Apples. IMO this is the place to go for fresh cider. They don't use preservatives, and it's already been treated with pectic enzyme and filtered so it's crystal clear.

If you want to get cider from them while they're pressing, email them and give a week's notice

And the apples are pretty good too! They specialize in rare never-heard-of-em before varieties. Cool place.

What do they charge per gallon and per 5gal carboy?

When I bought frozen half gallons, it was $4/half gallon. It's close, but not quite a full half a gallon, so I'd say $8.5/gallon if buying frozen. Not sure if they'd make a deal for fresh.

Revisiting this now that I'm stateside again. Jon - Has Weston remained your go to place since then? I'm assuming they're a good month or two away from pressing yet. Most of the cider varieties are late harvest. As far as you know, do they still will cater to the carboy crowd?

I have 10 traditional cider trees just starting to produce, but nothing worth pressing yet. I successfully cloned 6 of those (of 9 attempted) this spring applying what I learned in Weston's grafting class a few years back. Between those and the perry pear trees planted this year, I'm in danger of cursing the amount of fruit to deal with in a few years, but I'm willing to risk that.

Sure has. The place is great, not just for the cider but the apples too.