First year utilizing a restored 100-year old apple press.
41 gallons of cider pressed from 1000 pounds of apples, including pounds of Dolgo crabapples. Next year I’d like to take some steps to improve yields, but it was fun to play around with new yeasts and crabapple blending this year.
Batches / blends:
- 17 gallons of cider with Nottingham yeast
- 8 gallons of Cotes de Blanc with 20% Dolgos
- 5 gallons of our "champagne replacement" cider - sugared up to 9% with Cotes de Blanc yeast
- 3 gallons of a blend that is 50% Dolgo - inspired by a local cidery that makes a single-varietal Dolgo ferment that's aged and back-sweetened to make the Dolgo tannins drinkable.
- A variety of other blends, including a natural ferment, some apple wine, and a few gallons of pasteurized sweet cider. We also boiled down some cider into apple syrup this year - and I'd recommend that to anyone!
Everything was pressed in Sept, and is still hanging out in bulk secondary.
837 + 41 = 878