Cider time

It’s been a funny year. After a relatively warm Winter with very little snow came Spring which never seemed to get going properly. By mid-May, our apple tree finally opened-up all of its’ flowers so the local bee population could feast on nectar. The photo taken on 21 May shows the flowers in their most intensive phase. We were a bit worried that a late frost could greatly decrease the potential harvest, but we were lucky.

By early September, after some careful, and some not so careful, pruning the apples were ready for harvest. Reports from around the region were that the harvest was affected by various insect larvae, but we were again spared from any negative effects.

On September 7 we harvested about 100 kg apples and took them to Granum Musteri for juice extraction. In all we got about 70 litres of juice, half of which we pasteurised for Autumn consumption and the rest was used for cider making.

We did two batches, the first using the juice without dilution, which will produce a strong cider with 5,6 % alcohol content, and the rest we diluted to give a light cider with an alcohol content of 3,5 %.

Fermentation was, more or less, complete after one week and the cider should have been bottled towards the end of September. However, plans got changed slightly and bottling took place a month later.

The cider should be at its’ best by April next year, although it is already ready for a first tasting. Unfortunately, the current situation does not allow for consumption of alcohol, so there will be a long wait until the Spring. Hopefully the whole corona situation will be under control and some of you will be able to join us for some cider and maybe some bubble in our spa!