Time to Decant

Step 1 in Clarifying

Two weeks have passed and rather than take daily photos of bubbling cider fermenting, I thought we would allow it a little privacy to mature and tell you about the next steps we took toward clarifying the cider.

Two days ago, Bernie & Elaine came over to decant the 5 gallon carboy into a different, freshly sterilized carboy.  This allowed us to throw away the sediment which could lend bitter notes and unpleasantness to the cider (left carboy). 

After decanting the original carboy, we added 1/2 teaspoon/gallon (2.5 teaspoons) of pectinase to help the sediment drop.  We also topped off the carboy with fresh pressed cider that had been treated with a campden tablet.

Step 2 in Clarifying

Today (October 4) we decanted the carboy for a second time.  This is the carboy before its second decanting.  While it is a lovely color, it is still very sediment-heavy.

 So, we siphoned the cider into a clean carboy.

And waited for the second carboy to fill.

After decanting the cider, we decided to sweeten it with honey from Bernie's own carefully tended beehives (Pete's Mountain Honey).  We're aiming for our cider to be 4% sweetened by natural honey.

As we were adding the honey, the fermentation process went wild and bubbling in the airlock resumed at an even faster pace.  You can see the process starting with white frothy bubbles in the carboy below.

In retrospect, I wish I had waited a couple of weeks to make the cider, because today's freshly picked apples had a sweeter, juicier quality than just two weeks ago.

Esopus Spitzenberg

I'm with Thomas Jefferson.  This is one of my favorite fresh off the tree eating apples.  It is deliciously sweet with a nice hard flesh that is beautiful golden yellow inside.  We harvested some from the tree top today and they were sun-warmed and very sweet.

In my orchard, the pollinators for this apple are the Winter Banana and the Calville Blanc.

 

 

 

 

Golden Russet

Even sweeter this week, the Golden Russet is probably the most flavorful apple in our orchard.

Cider Apples

The Esopus Spitzenberg (1700's)

 

Rumored to be Thomas Jefferson's favorite eating apple from Monticello.  Jefferson operated Monticello as a working farm, growing apples for commerce.  The Esopus Spitzenberg, introduced sometime in the 1700s by an early Dutch settler for whom it was named, was grown in a settlement on the Hudson River in New York, called Esopus.  This was the apple Jefferson supposedly kept for himself.

An excellent cider apple that has a very sharp flavor with enough acid to balance the sweetness, the Esopus Spitzenberg is susceptible to many diseases afflicting heirloom apples. 

I was fortunate that mine turned out only partially afflicted despite their relative neglect over the past few years.  Our tree was very bountiful this year.

The E. Spitzenberg is a lovely green with a red blush and a buttery yellow flesh.

This variety is exceptionally high in malic acid, although  mild, it is good for digestion.  A nice eating apple, but an even nicer cider apple.