Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
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- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I keep thinking I need to make a couple more stops at Cousin It and see if I can snag another 4 or 5 buckets before they all fall off the tree. I stopped picking because the neighbors come out and stare at me, or stop and want to talk Last week I pressed 3 of the 4 I had and got 4 or 5 gallons but gave up a gallon to the guys I work with. I've been working on freeze concentrating the rest. At the moment I'm down to about a gallon at around 23 Brix. That isn't a terrible place to make some iced apple but I'd like to concentrate it a bit more so I can keep residual sweetness without adding sugar but if I do any more concentrating I won't have a full gallon to ferment. Overall I'm pretty happy with these apples for this purpose, although the juice is a bit one dimensional I think they will make some very nice iced apple cider because even after concentrating 3 times the acidity isn't high.
I still have one half bottle of iced apple from back in 2015 I've been saving for a very special occasion...whenever one comes up. I'm currently thinking a lot of different things in that department but it would be nice to be able to finally make some more.
The Braeburns in my front yard are ready. I've been checking individual apples and when they fall off in my hand I keep them but I'm about ready to just pick them all. I figure I might get a bucket of them, maybe less but I want to add them to the apple pie filling if I ever get around to that.
The blacks should be ready in a few more weeks and that will be the end of the season. I will then take all the apple processing stuff out of my truck and start working on the redesigns for next year. I'm thinking about buying metal to make a new frame for the chopper and adding wheels to make it easier to move and maybe some stainless steel to make a new easier to handle chute.
I still have one half bottle of iced apple from back in 2015 I've been saving for a very special occasion...whenever one comes up. I'm currently thinking a lot of different things in that department but it would be nice to be able to finally make some more.
The Braeburns in my front yard are ready. I've been checking individual apples and when they fall off in my hand I keep them but I'm about ready to just pick them all. I figure I might get a bucket of them, maybe less but I want to add them to the apple pie filling if I ever get around to that.
The blacks should be ready in a few more weeks and that will be the end of the season. I will then take all the apple processing stuff out of my truck and start working on the redesigns for next year. I'm thinking about buying metal to make a new frame for the chopper and adding wheels to make it easier to move and maybe some stainless steel to make a new easier to handle chute.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
We bought another storage cabinet and put it in the garage as we canned most of what we pasteurized as I have limited freezer space. Started collecting two quart canning jars it’s the perfect size for filling a pitcher to put in the fridge. Because of the size of the jars I am canning in a larger pot. They do not suggest canning a lot of things in two quart jars but apple juice is one they do recommend.
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I drove by the black apple tree the other day and noticed it and the other tree in the yard have had all the lower and easily reachable ones have been picked. I figured the people who own the trees picked what they wanted so I left a note on the door asking if I could pick what was left. They told me that City Fruit had come by and picked the lower ones but I'm welcome to pick what's left. They also said I should come by sooner next year. So I guess I'll talk to them earlier next year. It's not like there aren't other trees but I know these particular trees well and the apples are massive.
So I stopped by Cousin It and quickly picked a bucket of apples Saturday to help make up what will be missed from the black and the other. I chose Cousin It because I only had a couple minutes to spare and I can pick a bucket full in under a minute and am trying to freeze concentrate the juice from it.
Then Yesterday I had 10 minutes to spare (It's crazy how little spare time I have these days) I stopped and picked what I could off the other tree in the yard as the black. This got me roughly a bucket and a half but they run around 50 to a bucket so it wasn't really all that many apples. There are still a few left on that one but not a lot. I hope to get those next time I stop.
At some point in the past week I also stopped and picked what the church tree had to give.
This all got me 2.5 buckets of apples The black should be good for at least 2 more buckets and my poor abused front yard tree Should be good for close to another bucket. That poor tree has been through hell since I planted it. It was run into by a mini front end loader and knocked sideways years ago and I've planned on working on straightening it but for one reason or another haven't. This year I was planning on working on that after apple season, which I still plan on but the tree decided to produce so many apples this year that it bent the entire thing into an arc and made the tree lean even more. So my plan now is to pick it this week and start staking it and bending it to my will to get it upright again.
So I stopped by Cousin It and quickly picked a bucket of apples Saturday to help make up what will be missed from the black and the other. I chose Cousin It because I only had a couple minutes to spare and I can pick a bucket full in under a minute and am trying to freeze concentrate the juice from it.
Then Yesterday I had 10 minutes to spare (It's crazy how little spare time I have these days) I stopped and picked what I could off the other tree in the yard as the black. This got me roughly a bucket and a half but they run around 50 to a bucket so it wasn't really all that many apples. There are still a few left on that one but not a lot. I hope to get those next time I stop.
At some point in the past week I also stopped and picked what the church tree had to give.
This all got me 2.5 buckets of apples The black should be good for at least 2 more buckets and my poor abused front yard tree Should be good for close to another bucket. That poor tree has been through hell since I planted it. It was run into by a mini front end loader and knocked sideways years ago and I've planned on working on straightening it but for one reason or another haven't. This year I was planning on working on that after apple season, which I still plan on but the tree decided to produce so many apples this year that it bent the entire thing into an arc and made the tree lean even more. So my plan now is to pick it this week and start staking it and bending it to my will to get it upright again.
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Yesterday I stopped and picked a bucket of apples from the black apple tree. They are running 75 to a bucket and today I picked the little tree in my front yard and got another 3/4 bucket which brings the total on hand to just under 5 buckets.
In other fruity goodness news I found a coupe of Kousa Dogwood trees today with ripe berries Unlike the flowering dogwood the fruit of the kousa dogwood is not only edible but pretty sweet and tasty but they have a lot of seeds. They do test at 14 brix So there is some nice brandy potential there.
I'm thinking I will pick the rest of the blacks tomorrow or maybe over the next week or so and might make another stop at Cousin It Saturday. There are other trees I'm considering as well but we will see how that goes.
In other fruity goodness news I found a coupe of Kousa Dogwood trees today with ripe berries Unlike the flowering dogwood the fruit of the kousa dogwood is not only edible but pretty sweet and tasty but they have a lot of seeds. They do test at 14 brix So there is some nice brandy potential there.
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I got permission to pick another tree yesterday. It's a low pruned fairly easy to pick tree so it should be easy and fast to pick what is left on it. Most have already dropped but this is my last push this year to get enough for a brandy run and maybe try to make a batch of pie filling and apple butter. I think I'm up to 7 buckets of them on the porch. I should have all my buckets full and to the point I'm just dumping them in the back of the truck soon. I;m hoping to do the pressing next weekend.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Got our work cut out for us today. My partner in crime can't make it until the afternoon so it is just me and my wife to deal with this pile. Dayum she is one fine and understanding woman. The ESE-018 scratter is in Belgium, moving towards us but too late for this year. I hope the HF chipper/scratter has one more day in it or I am gonna be one tired pup after grinding this pile with Manuel Armstrong.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Your going to love that scratter especially if your struggling with your old setup. I got a lot of miles out of our converted wood chipper. But the cleanup was a mess and it splattered all over compared to the ESE-018. If I had a faster way to press the apples (working on it) I would try to find a auto feed for the scratter as I cannot load them as fast as it chips the apples.
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Ya'll are making me jealous with your fancy equipment and clean shop and stuff.
Stillanoob, that's sure a crap load of apples to deal with, hope your chipper holds out.
Bushman, I run into a similar problem when Mrs Cranky is helping me. She goes so fast I can't keep up washing the apples and refilling the hopper.
I stopped at a new tree on my way home today and picked 3 more buckets of apples. I think that brings the current total to 10 buckets. These apples are massive but most if not all that were still on it were badly wormy. I might still go back and pick and process everything regardless of the worms but I still need to pick what I can from the black which are better quality apples. I'm guessing the black has at least 3 or 4 buckets worth left on it maybe more. I might stop at Cousin It as well and grab one more bucket full just because I can't help myself and really want to make as much iced apple cider as I possibly can.
Stillanoob, that's sure a crap load of apples to deal with, hope your chipper holds out.
Bushman, I run into a similar problem when Mrs Cranky is helping me. She goes so fast I can't keep up washing the apples and refilling the hopper.
I stopped at a new tree on my way home today and picked 3 more buckets of apples. I think that brings the current total to 10 buckets. These apples are massive but most if not all that were still on it were badly wormy. I might still go back and pick and process everything regardless of the worms but I still need to pick what I can from the black which are better quality apples. I'm guessing the black has at least 3 or 4 buckets worth left on it maybe more. I might stop at Cousin It as well and grab one more bucket full just because I can't help myself and really want to make as much iced apple cider as I possibly can.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
What is your version of iced cider, Cranky?
Freeze jacking juice before a ferment, freeze jacking after a ferment, something else?
Freeze jacking juice before a ferment, freeze jacking after a ferment, something else?
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Freeze jacked before ferment. The problem with that is finding low acid apples but this year I have them with Cousin It. On the 3rd freezing it's at 23 brix and the flavor is intensely apple without the high acid bite of most apples so it should work well. Karen's Delights were perfect for it because they are such high sugar apples they only needed frozen and thawed once or twice to bring the sugar level too high for the yeast and when fermented taste pretty much like really good apple juice but has 11% alcohol.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Well, as it turns out my buddy did make it! And the HF chipper had one more day in it! Praise be to Our Blessed Lady of Spirits! The DIL helped out too. So we got it done and pressed around 55 gallons of juice. 30 gallons for brandy that we added a few pounds of our home grown honey to, 20 gallons for hard cider and 5 gallons for sweet.
We take off next week for a road trip to NV, AZ and UT. While we are gone I am trying to arrange minions to track down and pick some more apples. I really want a chance to try the new grinder before next year!
Oh, and Cranky it only looks neat in the picture, not in real life.
So, does the ESE-018 get jammed much? And if so, how hard is it to clear?Bushman wrote: ↑Sat Oct 30, 2021 6:55 am Your going to love that scratter especially if your struggling with your old setup. I got a lot of miles out of our converted wood chipper. But the cleanup was a mess and it splattered all over compared to the ESE-018. If I had a faster way to press the apples (working on it) I would try to find a auto feed for the scratter as I cannot load them as fast as it chips the apples.
We take off next week for a road trip to NV, AZ and UT. While we are gone I am trying to arrange minions to track down and pick some more apples. I really want a chance to try the new grinder before next year!
Oh, and Cranky it only looks neat in the picture, not in real life.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
So, does the ESE-018 get jammed much? And if so, how hard is it to clear? Never had it Jam and I have produced 173 gallons of cider thus far this year.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Man, is that awesome to hear! I can't wait to toss some apples through it. It looks like it produces nice shred. That is one thing I have to say for the HF chipper, perfect grind. But my pants this morning were stiff enough to stand on their own. The chipper was blowing aerosolized apple juice and grease out of the cooling fan vent on my pants from the thighs down. Mad respect for that thing though, it really wasn't intended to be used that way. But most apples have to be quartered to go through it and that is a LOT of work.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Have you added honey before? I didn't find I get much flavor from it adding before fermentation. I prefer to use the honey to back sweeten.stillanoob wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:09 am . 30 gallons for brandy that we added a few pounds of our home grown honey to, 20 gallons for hard cider and 5 gallons for sweet.
But if you are getting honey flavors doing your way I would like to know the proportions?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Not a whole lot of honey flavor comes through but there is some. Since the honey is free I add it because it boosts the alcohol. I put in enough to boost 3% ABV. That gives me a little more brandy to age.subbrew wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 11:07 amHave you added honey before? I didn't find I get much flavor from it adding before fermentation. I prefer to use the honey to back sweeten.stillanoob wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:09 am . 30 gallons for brandy that we added a few pounds of our home grown honey to, 20 gallons for hard cider and 5 gallons for sweet.
But if you are getting honey flavors doing your way I would like to know the proportions?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
stillanoob said, 'But most apples have to be quartered to go through it and that is a LOT of work.'
Have you seen pumpkins being cut in the vegie shop?
They have a very heavy knife, mounted at the back (two steel uprights and the knife set between them at the top by a bolt and holes....)
and the whole thing on a baseboard.
Lift the handle, CHOP.
Repeat.
Sorry I can't find a picture, on the web it is all about halloween carving...
Would be simple to make. Doesn't need a motor!
Geoff
Have you seen pumpkins being cut in the vegie shop?
They have a very heavy knife, mounted at the back (two steel uprights and the knife set between them at the top by a bolt and holes....)
and the whole thing on a baseboard.
Lift the handle, CHOP.
Repeat.
Sorry I can't find a picture, on the web it is all about halloween carving...
Would be simple to make. Doesn't need a motor!
Geoff
The Baker
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Today I took the 3 buckets from the new tree, one of the blacks and a partial bucket from my front yard tree (Braeburns and something else) to work to wash and sort. Of the 4.75 buckets I got a little over one with no worms. Mrs Cranky is expressing interest in putting up pie filling, apple butter and stuff so she is planning on stealing them from me but that's ok she can have whatever she wants.
Surprisingly the blacks are mostly worm free which is good and makes it much more worth the effort to pick them. I stopped once again today and picked one more bucket full. I won't be able to pick any tomorrow but I expect I'll have some free time to deal with apples on Friday. I might even bring my extension ladder so I can get up where City Fruit didn't pick where the best apple live. Then I can get set up at work and process them over the weekend.
I have only 16 days before my winter vacation which will be 30 days this year but I still won't get much done I'll be lucky if I get all the hard cider for my Christmas giveaway bottled but my hope is to to get all of that bottled, decorate the house for Christmas and get the little pot set up and do the spirit run on the pear brandy. Those are my only goals provided I get the apples pressed before vacation.
Surprisingly the blacks are mostly worm free which is good and makes it much more worth the effort to pick them. I stopped once again today and picked one more bucket full. I won't be able to pick any tomorrow but I expect I'll have some free time to deal with apples on Friday. I might even bring my extension ladder so I can get up where City Fruit didn't pick where the best apple live. Then I can get set up at work and process them over the weekend.
I have only 16 days before my winter vacation which will be 30 days this year but I still won't get much done I'll be lucky if I get all the hard cider for my Christmas giveaway bottled but my hope is to to get all of that bottled, decorate the house for Christmas and get the little pot set up and do the spirit run on the pear brandy. Those are my only goals provided I get the apples pressed before vacation.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I think I know what you're talking about, it's a big knife mounted on a pivot like a paper cutterThe Baker wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 5:41 pm stillanoob said, 'But most apples have to be quartered to go through it and that is a LOT of work.'
Have you seen pumpkins being cut in the vegie shop?
They have a very heavy knife, mounted at the back (two steel uprights and the knife set between them at the top by a bolt and holes....)
and the whole thing on a baseboard.
Lift the handle, CHOP.
Repeat.
Sorry I can't find a picture, on the web it is all about halloween carving...
Would be simple to make. Doesn't need a motor!
Geoff
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
cranky said (so much more elegantly than I)
'I think I know what you're talking about, it's a big knife mounted on a pivot like a paper cutter.
That's it.
Much easier.
Geoff
'I think I know what you're talking about, it's a big knife mounted on a pivot like a paper cutter.
That's it.
Much easier.
Geoff
The Baker
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I'm playing with the idea of removing acid in jacked juice by experimenting using lemon juice and slaked lime. No results yet, but it's a fun game.
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
- cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I stopped Tuesday on my way home and picked another bucket of apples from Cousin It. I am now hoping to pick one or two more buckets from It before I process but I'm running out of buckets.
I also stopped at the black and picked another bucket and a half. It's getting difficult to pick what's still on the black without a ladder. I'm thinking Friday I'll load up my extension ladder and see if I can get to some of the higher ones, then probably resort to Jimbo's method of shaking the hell out of the tree and picking up the drops. I think that will get me a crap load of apples and since the ground is very soft they tend not to get too damaged. I figure as long as I process the bruised ones within a day or two the bruising shouldn't be a problem.
I've been trying to work out the math on just what the minimum I need to make a proper brandy for the year and Ideally I need 3-4 stripping runs at 12 gallons per run, which means ideally I would have 36 gallons of juice to ferment. I already pressed 11 gallons so I still need 25 gallons, that isn't bad With the setup I've currently been using I have been getting a gallon per 14 lbs of apples. so I really only need 350 lbs of apples or so. A bucket of apples weighs about 24 lbs so that's only 14 buckets. I've actually lost count but I think I'm actually very close to that number right now so I might actually get a proper brandy run in this year...well next spring anyway
I also stopped at the black and picked another bucket and a half. It's getting difficult to pick what's still on the black without a ladder. I'm thinking Friday I'll load up my extension ladder and see if I can get to some of the higher ones, then probably resort to Jimbo's method of shaking the hell out of the tree and picking up the drops. I think that will get me a crap load of apples and since the ground is very soft they tend not to get too damaged. I figure as long as I process the bruised ones within a day or two the bruising shouldn't be a problem.
I've been trying to work out the math on just what the minimum I need to make a proper brandy for the year and Ideally I need 3-4 stripping runs at 12 gallons per run, which means ideally I would have 36 gallons of juice to ferment. I already pressed 11 gallons so I still need 25 gallons, that isn't bad With the setup I've currently been using I have been getting a gallon per 14 lbs of apples. so I really only need 350 lbs of apples or so. A bucket of apples weighs about 24 lbs so that's only 14 buckets. I've actually lost count but I think I'm actually very close to that number right now so I might actually get a proper brandy run in this year...well next spring anyway
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
NZ Chris said, 'I'm playing with the idea of removing acid in jacked juice by experimenting using lemon juice'...
Lemon juice would ADD (citric) acid...
Geoff
Lemon juice would ADD (citric) acid...
Geoff
The Baker
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I said in "jacked juice", not in jacked apple juice. Any acidic fruit juice will suffice for my first experiments.
What does the rest of the sentence you partially quoted say?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Not sure what it MEANS but have fun anyway.
Geoff
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
When I first read Chris's post I thought he was saying he was adding lemon juice to the apple juice as well but I now see what he meant was he was using lemon juice instead of apple juice and slaked lime to try to bring the acidity down.The Baker wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 4:17 amNot sure what it MEANS but have fun anyway.
Geoff
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I got one more bucket of blacks today. I also managed to round up 3 more empty buckets and a turkey fryer basket so I can continue picking and not have to just dump them in the back of the truck. My plan for tomorrow is to bring the ladder with me and see if I can get a few more buckets of the blacks and probably also make a stop at Cousin It and snag another bucket or two, then set up my stuff at work over the weekend and hope I can find the time to process everything.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
At my end of the planet we don't have apples at the moment, but my lemons are falling far faster than I can squeeze them into G&Ts.
The object of my game is to be able to concentrate the sugars and flavors from acidic fruit without concentrating the acids.
I've had to abandon the first experiment. All it did was make a heap of calcium citrate without raising the pH to a suitable level, then I knocked the jar over trying to invent a way of filtering it , so I have to rethink the experiment and start off with a much smaller amount of juice.
Apple is malic acid and the salt is calcium malate, but my trees won't have fruit for me to play with for six months, hence the lemon experiment.
In the past, I have made a hard cider that included crab apples that were inedible because of their intense acidity. Because they were only about 15% of the bill I got away with it and everyone who tried it liked it. I love the flavor of crab apple and would like to include more of it into a hard cider, but I would have to get rid of some of their acid to be able to do that.
The object of my game is to be able to concentrate the sugars and flavors from acidic fruit without concentrating the acids.
I've had to abandon the first experiment. All it did was make a heap of calcium citrate without raising the pH to a suitable level, then I knocked the jar over trying to invent a way of filtering it , so I have to rethink the experiment and start off with a much smaller amount of juice.
Apple is malic acid and the salt is calcium malate, but my trees won't have fruit for me to play with for six months, hence the lemon experiment.
In the past, I have made a hard cider that included crab apples that were inedible because of their intense acidity. Because they were only about 15% of the bill I got away with it and everyone who tried it liked it. I love the flavor of crab apple and would like to include more of it into a hard cider, but I would have to get rid of some of their acid to be able to do that.
Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
Random thought NZChris, I was watching Rick Stein on an episode about Mexico and I saw they add lime, not juice, but the mineral, to their corn before they grind it for tortilla meal.
This surprised me as I thought it would not be edible but then isn't lime made from heating shells etc, isn't lime just calcium carbonate?
I don't suppose that would be a solution to your problem, a bit like adding oyster shells to a sugar wash, maybe that would work also.
Anyway, just today's random thought.
This surprised me as I thought it would not be edible but then isn't lime made from heating shells etc, isn't lime just calcium carbonate?
I don't suppose that would be a solution to your problem, a bit like adding oyster shells to a sugar wash, maybe that would work also.
Anyway, just today's random thought.
Taking a break while I get a new still completed....
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness
I began processing my final apple push for the year. I got about 13 buckets in total
I then ran the non wormy half of everything else, which I'm guessing was a little over 100 lbs but it didn't completely fill the hopper so maybe only around 100 but I used 3 press bags when I collected and pressed. Pressing of course took the most time but I got 8 gallons from them. I know I'm going to fall short of enough to make a good brandy run so maybe I'll just bottle it all as cider this year...then again maybe not. Maybe I'll figure out a way to make it brandy, I do like my brandy.
I am hoping to get the other half pressed tomorrow but I'm going to have to find something to put it in because I only have 3 bucket lids and now they are being used. I might bring some carboys to work with me tomorrow and put the juice in them but I hate transporting glass around in the back of the truck so don't really know what I'm going to do but I'll figure it out I'm sure.
I washed and separated the wormy from the not wormy and tossed the few bad ones yesterday and got the equipment cleaned and ready today. I put aside 2 buckets of the greens for Mrs Cranky then during the one hour of free time I had set to work. I pressed the greens first since I want to freeze condense it. I got somewhere between 3.5 and 4 gallons from them, which should condense down to 2 which when added to the will give me 3 gallons of iced apple. I'm thinking I might just try to hit Cousin It one or two more times to see if somehow I can manage 5 full gallons of iced cider.
I then ran the non wormy half of everything else, which I'm guessing was a little over 100 lbs but it didn't completely fill the hopper so maybe only around 100 but I used 3 press bags when I collected and pressed. Pressing of course took the most time but I got 8 gallons from them. I know I'm going to fall short of enough to make a good brandy run so maybe I'll just bottle it all as cider this year...then again maybe not. Maybe I'll figure out a way to make it brandy, I do like my brandy.
I am hoping to get the other half pressed tomorrow but I'm going to have to find something to put it in because I only have 3 bucket lids and now they are being used. I might bring some carboys to work with me tomorrow and put the juice in them but I hate transporting glass around in the back of the truck so don't really know what I'm going to do but I'll figure it out I'm sure.