Apple Juice?

[bernardsmith]

I love English ciders and am looking for an inexpensive and available source of apple juice (clear or unfiltered) that will enable me to mimic that flavor (bitterness, tannin and complexity of apple flavors). Is there anything available?

 

[rickbuddy]

I have not seen any, which is why I grow my own. Takes 3-5 years to start. The problem is scarcity. There is a lot of commercial demand for traditional cider apples, so juice is difficult to locate. There are orchards in the area that grow traditional cider apples, but the local wineries are contracting the crops so there is little left for the rest of us.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Rickbuddy, Sadly that was my suspicion, but growing your own almost certainly means grafting scions and that is a tricky skill. We have one apple tree but so far its harvest has been tiny and most of the fruit has been eaten by - I am not sure what - squirrels? - before they are fully ripened.

 

[wasully]

U-Pick places and roadside-stand-scale farmers might have cider apples. They do in the PNW as of this fall at least. I couldn't find anything on farm specific websites or u-pick lists or anything. But facebook marketplace and craigslist were good to me. As was cold calling various places. On the cider workshop google group, there is a guy that says there are plenty of cider apples in michigan, they don't all get bought up commercially. Allegedly.

You'll probably want your own trees anyway though.

 

[madscientist451]

Bernard, you can get cider apples in your area, just look on craigslist starting in September.
If you find a source of inexpensive and available juice for an English cider let us know.
If you want to drive over to New Hampshire, Poverty Lane Orchard has juice at the end of the season, but its probably gone by now.
A home brew store here in PA sells it every year, they get a truckload sent down and charge $13/gallon.
If you go to the Annual Cider days festival in Western Mass, (I think its first weekend in Novemeber?) You could probably find juice for English Style cider, but I doubt it will be inexpensive.

 

[Maylar]

I love English ciders and am looking for an inexpensive and available source of apple juice (clear or unfiltered) that will enable me to mimic that flavor (bitterness, tannin and complexity of apple flavors). Is there anything available?

It won't be inexpensive. Upper NY is loaded with orchards and cider mills, some of which are now catering to hard cider production. I saw an article on the web somewhere about that but can't seem to find it now. Google is your friend here. Sometime late September make it a road trip to visit some of them, and bring a bucket.

I have a local mill here that does a special pressing once a year just for hard cider makers.

 

[bernardsmith]

We certainly have orchards locally and they press apples for home cider makers but they tend not to press heirloom cider apples. The apples that they press tend to be the same apples that you buy to eat. You really cannot eat cider apples. I will see if I can get any on Craigslist in the fall (have never thought to do that). But those who make real cider (I mean REAL cider) can sell their bottles for the same price as quality wines, so I find it a little hard to imagine that anyone who grows these apples will happily sell them or juice them for $10 a gallon as opposed to about $50 for that quantity.

 

[bmd2k1]

Hit up Rev Nat on the West Coast! My goal is to get out west and check out his place and maybe depending on time of year - snag some of his fresh pressed juices!

Cheers & Merry Christmas

 

[rickbuddy]

Hi Rickbuddy, Sadly that was my suspicion, but growing your own almost certainly means grafting scions and that is a tricky skill. We have one apple tree but so far its harvest has been tiny and most of the fruit has been eaten by - I am not sure what - squirrels? - before they are fully ripened.

Hi Bernard!

I love these kind of forums because I can learn from people making their own cider. For example I just finished reading your five-year old post on overflowing foam out my airlock. Boy, did that happen fast! Thank you for your long-ago post on that.

However, as for growing apples, that I know something about.

Raccoons much more likely than squirrels. We have squirrels; they like the walnuts and acorns. Could be deer, or birds.

Regarding your current tree, production depends on a variety of factors, with the lack of a cross-pollinator the primary suspect: you need more trees.

Grafting on your current tree wouldn't give you enough production to make it worth your while. You do have enough room. If you don't think so, I can suggest some techniques.

I order my trees from nurseries on line. Most of my orchard has come from Grandpa's Orchard, up the road in Coloma, Michigan. It's the consumer-facing side of a large commercial nursery. Excellent quality trees, guaranteed. Good selection of traditional cider apples (order early, good cider varieties are in demand). Great site for learning the basics. Be sure to check out this page on cross pollination.

Another place with a great rep is Orange Pippen. They have an excellent database of trees, rootstocks and orchards. A must visit.

One more on my list is Albemarle CiderWorks.

Order early. Great apples go fast.

After a lot of research I went for the Tramlett's Geneva and the GoldRush.

This is my 3-year old Tramlett's Geneva. The apples were the size of softballs. I'd have like to had them smaller.View media item 70665View media item 70664
An here are the shots from my two 3-year old GoldRush Apples. It's a highly recommended base apple juice that produces early and with gusto.

View media item 70662View media item 70661
Rick