saniac
New Member
Just finished bottling a batch of cider that has been sitting in a carboy since May (I'm in the Southern hemisphere). It is already smooth (it was quite tart when I first racked it into the carboy), has golden colour and apple flavours, and a distinct spicy, floral aroma. I have high hopes that after a few months in the bottle it will be pretty good. It was a wild ferment and am guessing that something has been eating the malic acid to my advantage.
So this is worth noting because the apples that went into it were a mix of Red Delicious and Granny Smith from some old trees at my in-laws, something that I guess is Braeburn from a neighbour, and about 25% crab apples from an ornamental tree on my property that happens to produce ping-pong sized red and gold crabs of great sweetness, aroma and absolute tongue-sanding tannin. I am fairly convinced that without the crab apples it would be pretty flavourless, pale and just the plain tart boring cider you often get from dessert and culinary apples.
This is the second-to-last carboy I have bottled of half a dozen from this year, and all of them had crab apples in some proportion, and what I've noticed is the more there were, the better the result. My goal is something like old school UK farmhouse cider, but until the cider apple trees I have planted start fruiting in quantity, the best I can do is local dessert and cooking apples and these crabs. This coming season, I plan to try a batch of pure crab apple just to see what happens. I'm optimistic.
So this is worth noting because the apples that went into it were a mix of Red Delicious and Granny Smith from some old trees at my in-laws, something that I guess is Braeburn from a neighbour, and about 25% crab apples from an ornamental tree on my property that happens to produce ping-pong sized red and gold crabs of great sweetness, aroma and absolute tongue-sanding tannin. I am fairly convinced that without the crab apples it would be pretty flavourless, pale and just the plain tart boring cider you often get from dessert and culinary apples.
This is the second-to-last carboy I have bottled of half a dozen from this year, and all of them had crab apples in some proportion, and what I've noticed is the more there were, the better the result. My goal is something like old school UK farmhouse cider, but until the cider apple trees I have planted start fruiting in quantity, the best I can do is local dessert and cooking apples and these crabs. This coming season, I plan to try a batch of pure crab apple just to see what happens. I'm optimistic.
