Fall projects

[Gussy]

Apples, can't eat them all. I made about 2 gallons of sauce the other night and froze it. My place seems to be a dumping ground. The neighbors drop off their excess apples at my place.

Well, I walked my butt off elk hunting on Sat. Chased around a small herd only to find out there were no legal bulls in the herd. Since the place had been well worked over Sat, no need to go back up Sun (too tired anyway). It's time to finish up the apples.

I had quite a pile in the shop. Got out the tractor and went to the back shed and got the press in the loader. Dug out the crusher and trash cans I crush into. Finally got the whole mess in one location. Made much juice and deer food. My crusher needs some revamping as I'm not getting all the juice.

When the dust settled I had near 20 gallons of apple juice and 2 tractor loaders full of deer food. The deer were at the feeder when I left for work this morning. The juice is mostly given away or in the freezer.

That was about the last prewinter project. Only one left is more wood cutting. That will be this weekend if the weather is good.

[Buckshot]

..............Ah the life of someone not a 9 to fiver :-) Just puttering around is a gift from God.

..............Buckshot

[Ivantherussian03]

I always wanted to make hard cider. Anybody know how? Good luck with your apples.

[BD]

I made a bit of hard cider during my miss-spent youth. All you need is a good way of bottling any real cider that was pressed with the skins unwashed. Seal it up, hide it in the cellar and wait a few weeks. When the bottles explode in the middle of the night it means you've waited too long, (and if you're only thirteen and the noise wakes up the old man, it also means: BUSTED! ).

The real hard stuff was apple jack. To make this we'd take 10 gallons of hard cider and put it outside in a covered tub during really cold weather. If it is left absolutely still as it freezes the alcohol will wind up in a kind of central "pool" which can be drilled into and drained off. If you're in high school this can lead to trouble. Boy, it's been a while since I thought about this stuff.
BD

[felix]

I was into this thing a little when I lived in CT. Got to be friends with some apple folks mostly by default of location. The apple variety of choice was Russet because of the type of yeast that the apple attracted (so it is said). That is why BD said to leave the skins alone before and during pressing. However, being the "chemist" that I am, I decided to kill all the yeast with sodium meta-bi-sulfite, the stinky smelly gas from catalytic converters, but in food grade form. You see it listed on wine bottles all the time. Guaranteed headache. However, the benefit is that a good wine yeast will live in a fairly strong concentration because that is what the yeast has been designed to do by the labs making them for the wine industry. Provides a guaranteed finished wine. I got the fresh apple juice straight from the press into the 5 gallon Mexican bottles, with already there a pint of freshly squeezed orange juice carrying a teaspoon worth of "sulfite", a vitamin B1 pill all crushed up (yeast energy pill), and a teaspoon of yeast, all stirred with vigor to implant as much air as is possible in the liquid. Cover the jug with a valve of sorts, called a fermentation lock from any hobby store. Now, here is another important aspect. The stuff, called "must" must be kept cool, and that can be done by placing the jug in the bathtub with water. The intention is to keep the contents as close as to 60 degrees as is possible. If the heat generated goes too high, the yeast will be killed. The bubbles within the fermentation lock will go to zero in about 3-7 days because all of the sugar will be gone and the yeast will pile up on the bottom of the jug. If you want the final liquid to be absolutely clean, cook a banana (only one per 5 gallons) in water on the stove and strain that gray (make it cold first) liquid into the orange juice mix up front. ... felix

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Boy this thread is bringing back memories. Up in New York, This time of the year, as a boy, we used to "steal" pumpkins from the field, and cut open the top like a Jack O Lantern, but without the eyes and mouth. We'd clean out the seeds and stuff, and fill them with water, a cup of sugar, and a piece of yeast. Put the lid back on, and put them under the porch for a few weeks. Made some good "Punkin Wine". Took a lot of will power not to keep testing them every day.
Morgan