We’ve befriended the local pastor. They’re not all neo-prohibitionists, after all.
For some time now, we’ve been plotting a cider making day, as this good fellow has an apple orchard. Today was the day. He was the apple guy. I was the yeast guy. Jake and Tom supplied the muscle.
Using a cider press that’s over 70 years old on a beautiful fall day, the four of us put out about seven gallons of our own special blend of cider (50% Jonathan, 30% Wainwright Gold, 15% red delicious and 5% Granny Smith). Lemme tell you, fresh stuff right out of the press is heavenly.
Five gallons went toward a batch of hard cider (fortified with 4# of sugar brought the OG to 1.083), about a half a gallon went toward a gallon batch of cyser (added it to 2.5 # of honey, then topped up with water–OG was 1.092), and the rest was made for drinking. Best hot cider I ever had was this evening.
And now we wait for the yeast to do its magic…
