conic
WFO Team Player
Posts: 186
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Post by conic on Sept 19, 2012 20:15:57 GMT
Every year my family get together and we import 200 crates of Montepulciano grapes which we press the juice to make fantastic organic vino rosso. this is a great team effort with great reqards ready to drink forf christmas but the loneger you leave it the better, I just opened a bottle we made in 2009 and its just like a late bottled port We will be receiving this years delivery next weekend and believe me its hard work but well worth it and even better getting a few crates out for a pizza party when its cost about 70p a bottle. the bottles are free from local wine bar. Goofd thing is that you get no headahes or hangover but get a real goooooood nights sleep. This year we have been offered a load of free apples from Evesham which normally are left to rot in an old orchard so we will try our hand at cider for the first time. has anybody got any tips for cider making as I have a spare 50 gallon container so am trying to work out how mant pounds of apples will fill it to at least 30 gallons ? I also brought a bottle of cidre vinegar back from USA with thye mother and hoping to make my own .. Conic Attachments:
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Post by DuncanM on Sept 20, 2012 11:37:11 GMT
Hey Conic, I've very recently jsut started to get into home brewing. Exclusively Cider. As in a few months time I'll be taking delivery of 10 apple trees that will be trained in my garden. As I'm new to brewing in general I'm making Turbo Cider (TC) which is to buy cheap supermarket own brand value apple juice and make cider from that - which apparently can be pretty good if left to develop for a few months. I've also bought a kit and have 23L of that going alongside my 3x2L TC experiments (different flavours). I'd love to have a press like you've got above, but I think next year (when I start using real apples) I'll have to come up with some sort of home-made contraption to save on cost. One of my neighbours is Italian and he told me he used to do the same thing, but gave all his equipment away many years ago to family and friends. He said if he still had it I could have taken it all off his hands Lovely chap he is!!
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Post by spinal on Sept 20, 2012 18:19:36 GMT
I'd love to taste your wine I'm (or better, my family in Italy) is a member of a co-operative in Ruche. They hand over most of their grapes at the end of the season, and in return get money and a portion of the wine. Whenever I head down (I usually drive as my dog doesn't like flying) I come back with a demijohn or three of wine (52l each). Nothing beats it in my mind! M
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Post by h12rpo on Sept 21, 2012 11:52:51 GMT
"Turbo cider" ? Hehe that sounds like it gets you 'there' very quickly
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Post by faz on Sept 21, 2012 15:47:23 GMT
I think it is turbo due to the speed you can make it, but I am sure it revs pretty high too
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Post by DuncanM on Sept 21, 2012 16:50:02 GMT
Turbo cider just refers to the fact you skip a step - i.e. not crushing and pressing the apples to get the apple juice yourself. It uses supermarket own brand apple juice. But like all ciders it needs to condition for a few months to be a respectable cider, although it is drinkable immediately after fermentation (roughly 1 week).
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conic
WFO Team Player
Posts: 186
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Post by conic on Sept 21, 2012 17:08:12 GMT
is supermarket brand apple juice inferiort to one that one would get from an apple tree, afterall, is it not all from an apple if its sold as 100% apple juice ( not from concentrate)
would a mix of pure apple and pear juice be better.
PS, my grapes are arriving next sunday and are £6.30 a crate. A very good Montepulciano grape because of the extra hot italian summer but more expensive due to lack of rain producing less crops. still cheap at the price though
Conic
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Post by DuncanM on Sept 22, 2012 11:36:37 GMT
From what I understand it's in the following order (top of the list is best) Freshly juiced apples Supermarket 100% pure apple juice Supermarket 100% apple juice from concentrate Note that the 2 from the supermarket need to be without preservatives as these would kill/inhibit any yeast. Of course there is more variation than the above, it doesn't take into account the type of apples used, the corresponding pH or tannin levels. So making cider just from bramley (cooking) apples wouldn't result in a cider as nice as one from a selection of apples, or from a specific cider variety. As far as the supermarket juices go - I've read (not got enough experience for myself yet) that you can get a very good taste from the cheapest own brand juice from concentrate as long as you condition it, and add tannins (before fermentation). I'm using the cheapest stuff possible (again making sure no preservatives), and will let you know the results in a few months
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Post by scottme on Sept 23, 2012 19:05:41 GMT
Conic, how much is there in a crate of grapes (in Kg or whatever)? And how do they get shipped to you - overland, sea, air?
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Post by cannyfradock on Sept 24, 2012 7:09:39 GMT
......interesting thread.
I do work now and then for an Italian in my town (Newport). He makes his own wine. Once a year he goes to the fruit/veg wholesalers in Bessamer Road Cardiff and buys a job lot of grapes.
His wine is Tip Top.
Terry
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Post by reburner on Sept 25, 2012 9:59:57 GMT
I brew my own beer and made a couple of 25L batches of Turbo cider earlier in the year. Turned out fantastic.
I've also got some oak beams I'm going to make into a cider press as soon as I've finished my oven and patio.
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conic
WFO Team Player
Posts: 186
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Post by conic on Sept 25, 2012 23:02:44 GMT
i think there are about 8 kilo in a crate and you get about 7 x 75cl bottles out of it. There arte several importers which you place your order with then they are trucked over from Puglia region of italy and this place gets loooooong hot summers so better for the grapes. good thing about this wine is that its cheap, its easy to make and there is nothing at all added to the brew, everything you need is on the grape and it tastes great. We always dring the first bottle on bottling day with some nice salty salame, bread, and pecorino cheese. It simply cant be beat Conic Attachments:
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Post by jazzyjones786 on Sept 27, 2012 8:23:31 GMT
must really enjoy home made vino **********************************************************************************************************************************************
Edit from Admin.....Commercial companies are welcome on the forum to make comments or contribute to the theme of a thread. A blatant feet first LINK to a website is not wanted.....nor accepted.
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Post by Fat Bob on Sept 27, 2012 23:00:44 GMT
I have made wine and cider but am at heart lazy my neighbour has vinyards surrounding my place he uses a machine on the back of a tractor to juice the grapes and then just bungs them into a vast home built concrete reservoir.
Every year he gives me a few crates of grapes and in previous years I have annoyed the wife by creating a great mess making not too good wine.
The locals have pomegranite trees and do not like the fruit so they give it to me - I juice it - but beware it stains big time. I had to redecorate the kitchen after my first juicing effort.
I can buy hearty local wine for 80p a litre so it's hardly worth making it.
Today the wife reminded me we have to stay low or one of the neighbours will give us a few crates of Kiwi fruit I love them but trying to do justice to so many is difficult.
Drying is the best way to keep them.
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conic
WFO Team Player
Posts: 186
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Post by conic on Sept 28, 2012 16:31:07 GMT
that sounds great bob and so do your neighbours, but surely your not in the UK?.the only place i know in the uk where people give you free stuff is allotment holders, great for cabbages and leeks
Ive seen the grapes go into the big commercial concrete troughs but thry tip sacks of chemicals on them which is not needed but i can understand them having to please the supermarkets with this process..
I now have a fantasti powerful 7 ton log splitter which you can buy a fruit press attachment for but i aint spending £250 on a press. at least i have access to a proper big mechanical one
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