Cider and my West Koots Trip

[markathome]

Hey Guys - heading over to the Lower Arrow lakes for the long weekend. I've been hunting the area for 10 years and most of the hard work is done for me - honey holes are fruitful and pretty much sure things.

I'm a bit of a foodie (but not an obnoxious dick about it) and make the most of my hunting rewards - I butcher in my garage, make sausages and smoked meats... long story short I'm into it.

So with all those tasty bits doing their thing on the big green egg smoker, I may from time to time enjoy a carbonated beverage or two. I'm a all-grain home brewer and I've been fumbling my way through a few IPAs, Wits and a few others.

I'm not a selfish man and I thought hmmm... perhaps the wife may enjoy a little home made cider. I've fermented two batches so far and the first was pretty good - super dry and crisp. Second batch I hit it out of the park - just the right amount of back sweetener and it was like we were drinking Angry Orchard out of my beer fridge (kegging is the only way to go). American ale yeast was the key ingredient in case you were wondering.

Now to my question: any of you Okanagan folks point me in the right direction for organic cider - I'm looking for about 30-40 gallons. We're coming from Squampton so ideally Kelowna, Vernon area.

Thanks in advance and good luck to everyone this long weekend.

Thanks

[markathome]

Oh and another little note: loooonng time lurker - love reading the stories and seeing the pics. I'll start carrying my weight and put up some pics from this year's hunt when we get back.

[604redneck]

function junction fruit stand up hwy 33
http://www.function-junction.ca/double_cross_cidery.html
dunno if its what u want but its good

[boxhitch]

may be late for these guys , but worth dropping by
thebxpress.com/

[Everett]

Ok I am also a brewer and very curious about your cider making any chance of break down of your recipe/process. I make pretty good beer I do partial mash/extract no room for the full grain set up. But my Cider has always sucked.

[Redneck Rocket]

Hey Guys - heading over to the Lower Arrow lakes for the long weekend. I've been hunting the area for 10 years and most of the hard work is done for me - honey holes are fruitful and pretty much sure things.

I'm a bit of a foodie (but not an obnoxious dick about it) and make the most of my hunting rewards - I butcher in my garage, make sausages and smoked meats... long story short I'm into it.

So with all those tasty bits doing their thing on the big green egg smoker, I may from time to time enjoy a carbonated beverage or two. I'm a all-grain home brewer and I've been fumbling my way through a few IPAs, Wits and a few others.

I'm not a selfish man and I thought hmmm... perhaps the wife may enjoy a little home made cider. I've fermented two batches so far and the first was pretty good - super dry and crisp. Second batch I hit it out of the park - just the right amount of back sweetener and it was like we were drinking Angry Orchard out of my beer fridge (kegging is the only way to go). American ale yeast was the key ingredient in case you were wondering.

Now to my question: any of you Okanagan folks point me in the right direction for organic cider - I'm looking for about 30-40 gallons. We're coming from Squampton so ideally Kelowna, Vernon area.

Thanks in advance and good luck to everyone this long weekend.

Thanks

http://www.howlingmoon.ca/about-us/

Owners live North End of Penticton so you could pick up on your way through. Great stuff, pretty low-inputs. Great people too!

[Redneck Rocket]

Ok I am also a brewer and very curious about your cider making any chance of break down of your recipe/process. I make pretty good beer I do partial mash/extract no room for the full grain set up. But my Cider has always sucked.

I made my own last year, 3 carboys. This year have 2 carboys of Perry on the go, and 290L of apple. What sort of processes are you using?

[markathome]

Thanks 604Redneck - just got an email back from Greg at Function and he's pressing apples the day I'm heading back to Squamish. Looking forward to a few buckets of fresh cider - should be good for a few play tickets from the dear wife.

Everett - my last cider batch was fermented with the yeast cake out of a primary. The beer in the primary was a very mild cream ale. Malty not hoppy.

I sanitized a carboy, filled it with organic apple juice from the super market. I made sure it had very little head space (my brother advised this - no science just a gut feeling that cider doesn't like/need the big head space of a primary bucket).

Once I transferred the cream ale into their kegs, I poured the yeast cake from the primary's into a couple of large mason jars and put it in the fridge over night. Once the cake had separated, I poured the top thin portion into the cider carboy and left the thick junk in the jar.

Left it in the downstairs bathroom shower pan for three months and then kegged it. Once the cider was transferred into the kegs I back sweetened each keg with one can of frozen concentrated organic apple juice.

I cranked the CO2 quite high to increase the crispness (high CO2 on my system is 15psi - most of my beers pour at 8psi).

End result was delicious hard. Only comment is that is was bit high on the ABV (6.5).

[markathome]

Redneck Rocket - missed your posts while walking the kids to school... thanks for the heads up - we take the Coq so Pentiction is a bit out of our way. I'm going to try Perry next year - got a recipe?

[Everett]

Thanks Mark might try that this week, what yeast were you using? I currently have Notingham Ale and a Wyeast Belgian Wheat in the fridge.

[unclevarda]

I make cider all the time. Actually more than I homebrew, which I've been doing for fifteen or so years. I go sunrype apple and cut in like 30% wildberry or cranberry. The addition of wine tannins gives character, and I always use ale yeast. Wine yeast has the possibility of producing sulfur tones. I ferment one week, through it in my kegerator for 2 days at 0c with gelatin finings to crash clear, and keg it! About 10 days juice to cider, and it tastes really nice fresh!

[markathome]

That's super fast from carboy to glass - nice work. I use 1056 and am pretty happy with the results for sure.

[unclevarda]

I'm using safale s-05. I think it's the same strain. Good stuff.