A small but important piece of memorabilia. I have a first day cover letter and mugs but this is the first poster of the ‘73 Hereford Cider festival I have found. In great condition thankfully. #cider #history #Hereford
Copied graphic from my friend and fellow cider maker Tim Whale of Tutts Clump Cider in England, as I is an excellent summary of the differences between Real Cider and Commercial Cider. Sadly the latter tends to copy the image of the former for advertising. Please seek out the ‘real deal’ of harvest driven cider. I could go on and mention orchard management pesticides herbicides behind the apples. I could mention concentrates. There are a lot of small cider makers here in Aotearoa/NZ and are the world making a glorious range of ciders for you to enjoy. #cider
Yarlington Mill cider apples being washed and processed. Lovely dark juice after scratting and pressing. pH 4.2 and SG 1.042. Not bad considering the summer. Given the high pH we mixed in some Royal Wilding and Bramley Seeking juice and achieved a pH of 3.5 It was great this year to be working in our new poundhouse as it rained all day. #cider #apples #poundhouse
In the Wairarapa I note several of my cider cultivars are less acidic than in the UK so I need to add malic acid. I prefer to do this with nature acid from Bramleys. The Bramley's Seedling is a cooker renowned for its large size, acidity tangy flavour, and light, fluffy texture when cooked. Originally a Nottinghamshire seedling planted from a pip by Mary Ann Brailsford in Nottinghamshire around 1809–1810 but named after a subsequent owner of the house, Mr. Bramley, who permitted a local nurseryman to sell it in the 1850s. In the shops it is always green but leave it on the tree it turns quite red. These 3 pictures are from harvesting them yesterday from a large tree to add acid to my Yarlington Mill juice. #apple #cider #acidity #Bramley
Cider making is a broad church. I enjoy engaging with fellow cider makers both local and on social media’s global outreach. I have always believed in cool fermentation to preserve the volatile aromas of apple. Before having a cooled room for fermentation, I used these cooling snakes that circulated chilled water. In the back is a temperature probe. They were effective especially when using a cultured yeast such as AWRI 350 which tended to heat up the barrel as went to work fast. #cider #fermentation
We grow our apples on M793 for standard trees so we can graze Shropshire sheep underneath. ( they are excluded for 8 weeks before harvest)
This season is late but about a third of apples have fallen now. These are picked on the sward and then tarps placed.
The rest are brought down by hand and a panking pole from a tripod apple picking ladder. (invest in one, they save accidents!) The SG Is a little low at 1.045 and the pH high at 4.2 so we will add in some Royal Wilding to bring the acid to around 3.5 #cider #apples
Collecting in the last of the perry pears now, these are one I call 'Alex' and the last of the apples in the foreground basket. These are Yarlington Mill. It's not been the best year for apple growing but patience has paid off with wait for these two. They have built up good sugars and aromas with extra tree time in the autumn which has been good after the dismal summer. Luckily cyclone Vaianu was gentle on the Wairarapa. #cider #perry #apples #pears #YarlingtonMill
Crabbapples are beautiful and sometimes used to add tannins to cider made with apples of low tannins. Crab apple tannins can be harsh so I don’t use them for that as I have a good range of tannic cider apples from The West Country. However we do grow them on the edges of the orchard for a couple of reasons. The main one is to attract pollinators to the area in Spring as the crab apples blossom a little earlier than the cider apples and the blossom is more colourful. The bumblebees we introduced into the area love them. And secondly the fruits last longer into autumn and are appreciated by birds as food gets shorter. The bright colours of the fruit are a delight for us too. #apples #fruit #blossom #crabapples