#ciderblr

I picked the rest of the astrakan apples today. A little late, I think. The apples have a very short "shelf life" once they're ripe. You only have a couple of weeks to pick them. Many of them cracked after a huge rainstorm a couple weeks ago too.

Pulped them today, resulting in 56 kg of pulp which should give about 25 litres of juice. Since all the fermenters are in use atm, I'll pour the must into 10l bottles, stabilize them and store them for later. I can only fit 19l into each batch, meaning I already have enough apples for 6 litres of Bjor! Anything after this is a bonus.

2nd batch!

This time about 85% astrakan from the easternmost tree and 15% åkerö apples. Pulped the apples yesterday so all I had to do was press them today. Picked apples for a third batch while I was working as well. I reckon I'll get to that next weekend. Looks like there's enough apples for a fourth batch as well, which I want to try to make Bjor with. A relatively strong slightly sweet cider sweetened with honey and flavoured with meadowsweet.

I'm thinking of stabilising the third batch with chemicals rather than pasteurisation. Supposedly the cider will taste fresher that way.

First tree demalumated. Fewer apples than last year. Makes sense since I've pruned the tree quite a lot and there were a lot of apples in general last year. Hopefully my new press will make up the difference? Estimated around 11L of must if I get a 70% yield.

I've asked around about what type of apples they are, but I can't get a good answer. They could be a hybrid grown from an apple seed.

I also noticed that they tasted better this year. last year, the tree was dropping a lot more of the apples and they were distinctly more sour than these are. They're also bigger this year. again, could be down to the pruning and increased ferilization.'

I was worried about the apple harvest as there were a lot fewer flowers this year. Also fewer bees. I think someone moved whatever beehive was active last year.

Finished building my new cider press this week. Using the barrel from the one I had and made gear to use it with my hydraulic press for maximum apple-de-juicing.