Autumn means Apples!!!
The estimates of what we picked ranged from 1,300 to 1,600 in the early afternoon.
Once we hauled them all back in a truck to the house I am unpacking into the four of us got an assembly line that was more like a hypercolor zigzag around the kitchen in order to juice the apples. We had three juicers in the rotation, multiple chopping stations and an intimate understanding of why people invented the apple press.
I finally got a handle on the Beast of a juicer, a commercial juicer that has an engine so strong the entire thing waddles around the contertop and sometimes roars like a jet. Hence the ear and eye protection and why they had me outside on the porch.
So I finally got into a routine with the Beast, feeding it apple slices as fast as I could manage while the three folks in the kitchen are outchopping and over-supplying me with apple pieces. Finally the juicer's engine winds up to a loud scream and the shaking stresses the nuts holding the cover on, which cracks one of the support metal pieces.
I can tell something is wrong!
But it works out because we switch over to the other juicers that had a rest during that time and finish up 11 gallons, half of which we pasteurize and add yeast to and half of which we will ferment raw into ciders.
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4 comments:
the apple meditation picture is WONDERFUL
11 gallons! are you making any "hard" cider? is that the batch with the yeast?
Yeah, 11 gallons and yes we are tying to 'harden' the cider. In the raw batch there was no pasteruization, just raw juice from whole apples - it is our understanding that there are natural yeasts in or on the seeds so that batch we just put a lid on.
The second batch we pasteurized by bringing to a boil then letting it cool for a couple of hours, then adding a brewers yeast since we had killed everything, including the natural yeasts.
I love all of your pictures! -nekkole
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