Saturday 15 September 2012

This is what 60 kilos of apples look like!

I've been researching how many apples we'll need to get a decent quantity of juice to ferment. The figures I've found on Google vary quite a lot with 10 kilos of apples supposedly giving anything between 4.5 and 7.5 litres of juice. I'm guessing this is based on cultivated apples which are bigger and juicier than the little crab apples we'll be getting so it's probably wise to err on the side of caution.

Adam and I spent a pleasant 40 minutes on the Ling this afternoon picking apples from a large, very laden tree and this is what we've got. I've weighed a few bags using a luggage weight thingie (which isn't terribly accurate to be honest) and each bag is roughly 10 kilos of apples so we've got somewhere between 60 and 70 kilos.  I think 30 litres of juice is a reasonable estimate.

Whether this is enough depends on how many of us want to join in. It's another 2 weeks til I collect the fruit press but the apples are falling now so if we need more we should be getting them now(ish). Unblemished apples picked from the tree should keep easily until we need them. Windfalls can be used too but it's probably best to cut out the brown bits, freeze the good bits and defrost them when we need them. Hopefully they'll be easier to press when they're defrosted and soft.

I know of a few wild apple trees locally so if anyone wants to go and get some more apples, drop me a line and I'll let you know where.

Initially I also wondered whether we could ask Steve if we could use the pizza oven at Kadesh while we make the cider but I'm not sure it'll be a bit too much, trying to process this quantity of apples and make fresh pizza to order at the same time.

Any views?

2 comments:

  1. Depends on how many of us join in as to whether there are enough hands to man the pizza oven as well as do the pressing and bottling (or whatever needs doing). Flask of tea and sandwiches doesn't sound so inviting...but we could go down to the Cock for lunch or early supper perhaps, or fish & chips????
    Carol

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  2. Yes, The Cock or the Angel Cafe. I think the chippy on Fair Green has a sit down bit too doesn't it? We'll get fed somewhere - although Leeanne's offered to knock up a batch of pizza dough.

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