2009 Notes
written 11/9/09
Went to Pine Hill on 11/7/09 (Ciderday this year). Arrived about 10am
and no trouble getting juice. The guy said that last year they hadn't
sold out and that things were off to a slow start this year...however,
they picked up as I was leaving so hopefully they're ok.
$3.75 per gallon if you buy five gallons.
The sugar in this year's crop is low, probably due to all the rain. At Lea's suggestion, we're sticking with just sugar this year rather than a mix of that and honey, in an attempt to get a better baseline. We're raising the SG by 20 points, more or less at Paul's book's suggestion, as lower than that and things may get funky if the cider is stored at higher than 60 degrees F, which is likely this next summer. There's also a hope that we may be able to retain some of the sugar, rather than fermenting dry, although I think this unlikely.
This is the first year working mostly down in the basement, thanks to the new slop sink. I'll be storing the cider behind the beer fridge, constructing some sort of heat shield to block the backdraft from the fridge and any light.
2/21/10: First time using the auto-siphon, racking into clean carboys yesterday. Process much improved with it.
10/15/11: I dumped both nearly full batches using the Lalvin 71B cider, as they were both bad. Batch #2, wild yeast, is nearly gone at this point and is very tasty. Best guess is that the 71B is the problem.