Harvest is here!

September is here and the apples in the orchard are finally ready! It was a hot and sunny growing season with plenty of rain except for August which was a little dry. Pests were practically a non-issue since last year the apple crop was a total bust due to a spring heat wave and bloom killing frost.

Yesterday with the help of a friend I picked Ellis Bitters, Majors, Tremletts Bitters, and Somerset Redstreaks. The Majors were very heavily laden this year. Tomorrow I'm gonna tackle the Dabbinetts which also have a lot of fruit. The trees, all dwarfs, are averaging just under a bushel each. I was originally thinking of fermenting everything separately, but there's so much fruit that It'll be too hard to process individually (Pressing will be done by a local orchard) so it'll probably just be a big blend of bittersharps and bittersweets which can then be blended with Northern Spys for some acid if needed.

Forgot to bring my refractometer so I didn't get any sugar readings, but I'll get some tomorrow and post the results along with some tasting notes eventually.

This'll be my first ever cider made from trees I've cared for and fruit I raised since they were buds. Had to share my excitement!

I can totally share your excitement. It's impressive and they look absolutely delicious. I can't grow anything. I'm lucky if I can keep fake flowers alive.

Congratulations!!! I'm probably a few years away from my trees bearing fruit and seeing these posts give me hope. Granted, I can only grow dessert apples here in Phoenix, but still. I love seeing cider growers get their first bushels.

Excellent! I love using produce right off the land, and when it was your own hand that helped it grow, it's all the better!

Nice crop o' apples ya got there!
Regards, GF.

great looking apples! How old are your trees?

The trees are about ten years old, 11 varieties on various dwarfing rootstock.

Sugar content is pretty typical for this area:
Ellis Bitter - 13.5 Brix
Somerset Redstreak - 15 Brix
Tremlett's Bitter -13.5 Brix
Major - 16 Brix

And since we all love pictures, here's how the Tremlett's turned out:

This is great! How much cider are you expecting to yield? I think I once read that it takes 25 of those 5 gallon buckets full of fruit (apples / pears) to yield 5 gallons of cider.

WarrantedFED said:

This is great! How much cider are you expecting to yield? I think I once read that it takes 25 of those 5 gallon buckets full of fruit (apples / pears) to yield 5 gallons of cider.

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Harvest is ongoing for the next 3-4 weeks, if the first trees were a good indicator, I should be getting just shy of two tons of apples. Depending on the extraction yield of the equipment it should result in 200-300 gallons of fresh juice this year!

Two tons of nice ripe cider fruit is pretty awesome. I can see why you send it to be pressed, but I would want to press it myself. For me that is a big part of the fun - when you are tired and filthy from a long day crushing and pressing apples. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

gregbathurst said:

Two tons of nice ripe cider fruit is pretty awesome. I can see why you send it to be pressed, but I would want to press it myself. For me that is a big part of the fun - when you are tired and filthy from a long day crushing and pressing apples. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

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I'm lacking both a scratter and a press right now. Next year though I hope to do it all in house, but the equipment wish list is a long one and new toys (even used) are expensive!

Looking at the Zambelli multimix right now. The press is a more complicated decision as it would ideally handle both apples and grapes.

LeBreton said:

Harvest is ongoing for the next 3-4 weeks, if the first trees were a good indicator, I should be getting just shy of two tons of apples. Depending on the extraction yield of the equipment it should result in 200-300 gallons of fresh juice this year!

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That is truly th most awesome thing I've heard, or rather read, all day! Man, you are living my dream!
Regards, GF.

LeBreton said:

Harvest is ongoing for the next 3-4 weeks, if the first trees were a good indicator, I should be getting just shy of two tons of apples. Depending on the extraction yield of the equipment it should result in 200-300 gallons of fresh juice this year!

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Wow, do you sell it locally? You couldn't possible try to drink it all yourself. Although I suppose you could ferment it...

It's all getting fermented, and the finished cider will be sold . . . to buy more trees!

LeBreton said:

It's all getting fermented, and the finished cider will be sold . . . to buy more trees!

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you have kicked so much a$$ right here and now, you have left none available for anyone else to kick

think I'm doing cider this year & this makes me wish I lived near the Finger Lakes