Cider Making

Following the success of our home made perry last autumn we're now going to try our hand at cider making! We've found the source of our apples; an organic orchard just outside of Hastings. The apple harvest is at the beginning of October, so full coverage coming soon... Can't wait!

When to a pummy ground
You squeeze out all the juice Sir,
Then fill a cask well bound
And set it by for use Sir,
Oh, let the cider flow
In Ploughing and in sowing - 
The healthiest drink I know,
In reaping and in mowing.

Old Devonshire ballad

Bottling the Perry!

After 2 months of being in the demijohn, the Perry was ready for bottling! We managed to fill 5 bottles! We will now leave them to condition until Spring 2012 when we'll crack them open... Can't wait!!

The perry goes into the demijohn...

So after a week of the perry fermenting in the bin, it was time for it to be transferred into the demijohn where it will remain for the next month whilst it goes through it's second and final fermentation before bottling.

Perry Making

My parents have a Conference pear tree in their garden and this year was a very good year for the pears, so I took a trip up the ladder and collected all that I could reach and I've decided to make perry from them!

This is the first time I've made any kind of fruit cider so it's really exciting! Lacking a pulp an press (used for traditional cider making, where the fruit is crushed and then pressed through cloths to extract the juice) we decided to just go with what equipment we had and juiced the pears in a juicer, so we'll see how it goes! A pulper and press is now definitely on the wish list!

HERE is a useful guide on the process of perry making.

And here's how we prepared our perry:

First of all we washed the pears in water and cut out any hard or brown bits on the skins.


The next step was to put them through the juicer.


Then we poured the juice into a sterilised fermentation bin though a sieve to catch any lumps of pear.


Once all the pears were juiced we added wine yeast and a teaspoon of sugar to the juice to aid the fermentation. Just mix the yeast in some boiled-and-cooled-to-room-temperature water and leave for a few hours for it to activate before pouring and stirring into the juice. Put the lid on to the bin and leave it to do it's thing for about 5 days to a week.


There are two stages of fermentation when making perry; the first fermentation is carried out by the yeasts (in our case, the wine yeasts) and the second converts L(-)-malic acid to L(+)-lactic acid and carbon dioxide. (You can read the scientific part HERE).

The second stage of fermentation will be carried out in a demi john, which we will be transferring it into next week...

Brew and Pie

Last weekend our home brew was finally ready for tasting - and it was good!!! It had a lovely golden colour (and very clear) and had a delicious full bitter flavour! I'm very happy with the outcome of our first attempt and can't wait to start on another batch whilst having fun getting through this one!!

We decided to rustle up a mushroom and ale pie using a bottle of our brew and it was so delicious - the flavour of the ale really came through.

You can use any of your favourite ales in a pie - although I'd say ones with stronger flavours are better.

Here's how to make...

You will need...

1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
Quite a lot of mushrooms (we used 2 boxes - 1 white / 1 chestnut), sliced
2 bay leaves
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
A good dash of dried rosemary / mixed herbs
1 tbsp Vegemite / yeast extract
A few glugs of mushroom ketchup / Worcestershire sauce
300ml of your favourite ale (or stout, for a heavier flavour)
A few sprinklings of plain flour to thicken
Sheet of puff pastry (we used ready made)
Salt/pepper
Milk for brushing on top

Method

Preheat oven to 200. In a large pan, saute onions in oil for about 5 minutes until soft, add garlic and all the herbs and fry for a few more minutes. Add mushrooms and saute until their juices get going, about 10/15 minutes...

Stir in Vegemite / yeast extract and mushroom ketchup. Add ale and simmer for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle in enough flour until the mixture starts to thicken.

We kept it going for about 30 minutes after that until it was really think and rich...

Remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Transfer the mixture into a pie dish and lay the rolled out puff pastry on top. Brush with milk and cut a few holes in the surface for the air to escape. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden...

Enjoy!

Bottling the brew!

The ale was finally ready to bottle! Yay! We're going to leave it a few weeks at least to condition in the bottles before cracking them open, although I did have a little sip whilst siphoning it in and it tasted real good!! Really excited!

Some pictures of the process... oh, and thank you to Magnus for lending us your crown corker!

The Ale

The ale has been coming along well, although it has been a bit slow fermenting - apparently after some research, it's common with this particular kit as it's an all malt brew, but nevertheless it's looking and smelling delicious!

We were hoping to bottle it last weekend, but as it wasn't quite ready (the gravity was still too high), we've tucked it up in a sleeping bag and left it to reside by the radiator for a few more days to finish off. And we think tomorrow it will be good to go!

Pictures of the bottling process to follow....!

Brew

One of the things on my to do list was to brew my own ale, and as lazy/busy as I was last year, I didn't actually get round to doing it, so I've decided to kick off this New Year by being much more productive (and frugal!) and I've finally bought my first kit! Yay!

Simon claims to have made his own brew many times but as this is our first attempt together, I've decided to make a kit so we can see and understand how it all works - perhaps then we can get into making up our own recipes. We've chosen this kit, Woodforde's Wherry Best Bitter -

It's a no sugar kit which should turn out at a pleasant 4.5%, but we've added a little honey to the fermenting container to make it a little sweeter / stronger, it's just an experiment so we'll see how it turns out!

I haven't got my camera to hand today, so no photos I'm afraid, but I'll be keeping the blog updated over the next week or so to show how it's coming along!

Exciting!!