Looking to Try New Yeasts other than Nottingham

[andy383]

Sashurlow, I meant to ask if you have had any concerns regarding contamination in the apples? I know I probably sound like a chicken but thats the first thing that comes to mind when I see apples here close to the city. I'm over in Medford and along the Mystic there are a lot of great apple trees that gush with fruit in the fall but I've been afraid of lead and other toxins. Any thoughts on that? Maybe I need to stop being a chicken and go for it.

 

[CidahMastah]

roxbury russets are kinda tangy and a little tart. Still an eating apple (barely for my taste) but they make absolutely incredible cooking apples. The tangy-ness is offset by all the sugar you add to any cooking and makes them absolutely incredible. Of course I am assuming they were roxbury russets. The apples fit the description and the location very fit the description. My golden and roxbury russets will probably produce this year and will probably go into an apple cake.
Grafting was easier than I thought but the final word will be if my grafts grow. I used this place. http://www.maplevalleyorchards.com/Pages/Home.aspx Tony was incredible. He might respond to an email but if you get him on the phone, its like talking to an encyclopedia of grafting. I grafted cox orange pippens and yarlington mill on one crab on my property and both varieties on a crab down the road I have adopted. Hopefully they work.

Thanks for the tip - much appreciated. This year I bought and put in 2 Yarlingtons, 4 kingston blacks, 2 rox, 2 orange pippin, 2 frequin rouge for the english varieties (now I have 35 ish trees growing, 5 mature). My plan is, see how they fair and try grafting for some more Kingston blacks and Yarlington Mill, and any others I like and are doing well on my mini orchard.

Wish I could fast forward 5 years.

 

[CidahMastah]

Sashurlow, I meant to ask if you have had any concerns regarding contamination in the apples? I know I probably sound like a chicken but thats the first thing that comes to mind when I see apples here close to the city. I'm over in Medford and along the Mystic there are a lot of great apple trees that gush with fruit in the fall but I've been afraid of lead and other toxins. Any thoughts on that? Maybe I need to stop being a chicken and go for it.

Why would there be lead in the apples?

 

[andy383]

Well, I dunno. I hear its not good practice to plan vegetables in the ground here in cities because of both lead paint contamination but also lead contamination left over from the days of leaded gas.

 

[CidahMastah]

Well, I dunno. I hear its not good practice to plan vegetables in the ground here in cities because of both lead paint contamination but also lead contamination left over from the days of leaded gas.

Interesting, I never heard that - not saying it isn't a valid concern. I would guess though, the lead would be long gone deep into the soil by now. But I am just some dude on the internet

 

[wildman]

As a contractor I had to take epa approved lead safety course so I can speak with some authority on this subject. Lead in fruit bodies such as apples is very rare. It's main concern is in root and leaf crops. Lead from automobile exhaust and paint chips falls pretty much straight down and stays there pretty much forever so as long as its not within a couple of feet of a road or a pre 1978 building your generally safe. Also if your well nourished adult lead is not readily absorbed until you reach high concentrations. Your body won't try to use lead unless your body is depleted of essential minerals. Children under 6 are at the highest risk and they usually get it from chewing on window sills or crawling through construction debris then putting their hands in their mouths.

I have a son that is nearly 2 and if I get dirty ripping into an old house ill remove my clothes before I go inside my house but wouldn't hesitate to give him my fresh pressed juice and all the trees I pick from are within city limits.

 

[andy383]

Wildman, great info! I should have taken that lead class but never did. No longer contracting so just as well. This opens a world of opportunity

 

[ThunderPanda]

So, I am thinking of using safale s-04 for my next batch. Where do people usually get this? i don't have a brew store nearby, and I can't find it on the midwest supplies site. I found it other places but it seems to be fairly highly priced... Is there somewhere where it's cheaper?

 

[CidahMastah]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/safale-ale-s-04-whitbread-strain-11-5-grams.html


4766 - I had good results with this one too
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/cider-activator-wyeast-act4766-4-25-oz.html

 

[dr_al]

i was looking around it took me a bit but here it is.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/safale-ale-s-04-whitbread-strain-11-5-grams.html

 

[ThunderPanda]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/safale-ale-s-04-whitbread-strain-11-5-grams.html

Thanks!! You would think that typing in "safale s-04" on midwest's site would give me than on the first page at the VERY LEAST.. but it didn't, you have to go the second page, past a bunch of seemingly unrelated stuff.

Bad search algorithms ftw!

 

[ThunderPanda]

oh and if you type in "safale s-04 yeast" it doesnt show up on any of the three pages.. go figure

 

[CidahMastah]

Yeah their search sucks. I broke my sight glass and couldn't find one for the life of me. The online support couldn't either... finally they did, but I never would have found it on my own.

Good luck with the cider!