Keeving?

I'm just wondering if anyone has had any success in keeving some juice... I've been reading about it and I am thinking of giving it a try... So I guess a few questions...

1. How did you go about doing it? From what I understand, you throw in some calcium chloride and some PME but I have no idea how much to add... Does the amount of calcium and PME vary per batch depending on the SG? Is there some rule of thumb of how much to add?

3. How did it work out for you? Did you get good results? Do you think it is worth the hassle in the end?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Read this: http://www.cider.org.uk/keeving.html

I'm on the Cider Workshop, in which the author is on himself and a lot of other Brits. Last December, there was keeving flurry going on. It must be worth the hassle.

I have read that. From what I've gathered, keeving is more of an art than science... It just leaves me confused as to where to start... :-/

That's understandable - there are a lot of details.

Admittedly, I've never keeved before, but if I was to attempt this, I would start by crushing some apples, but don't press them right away. Let the pulp sit for 24 hours, then press. Then I would try to ferment it in a controlled environment of 40 degrees F.

Yeah, there is more to it than that, like apple selection, but you got to figure that for centuries keeving was done in a really simple way and it has probably only been in the last 100-150 years that things got technical like calcium, etc. Therefore, if our ancestors could do it that simple, then so can you.

Also, if you still feel lost, Andrew Lea's email is at the bottom of this page: http://www.cider.org.uk/content2.htm He is a really nice guy who will answer your questions and is usually prompt. Make sure if you contact him that you tell him you are in California and that 5 degrees C (40 F) doesn't exist and that you plan to use a controlled environment, or at least I'm assuming you are.