Snapshots from 2006

After great success last year, Ben and I had many plans for how to improve process, equipment, and volume for this year. We didn't get around to all the areas we contemplated, but were actually more ambitious in some respects. In particular, Ben is planting an apple orchard in Maine!!

Check out his orchard blog here:
http://fiveislandsorchard.wordpress.com/

This led us to contemplate a frame and tray type press and a human powered grinder.

Grinder

For the grinder, Ben suggested a two cylinder with blades bolted on approach. Here is a drawing I made in autocad while farting around with the idea:

I need to learn Solid Works...

There were a few ideas on how to build this including stacking up lasercut acrylic disks. I even bought a chunk of 6 inch round HDPE, some pillow blocks, shafting, and a flywheel, but thats as far as I got. Ben actually made something up involving flat head screws on wooden drums, but he said it loaded up too easily. Maybe next year.

In the name of expediency, Ben went with the garbage disposal solution, which turns out to kick so much ass that it will be difficult to go back to a less effective grinding method (which a drum grinder would certainly be). The disposal pulverizes the apples at top speed with very little effort:

Insinkerator mounted in a piece of countertop

Note compressed air for cooling

Apples are obliterated

Press

For the press, I was thinking of something built like furniture out of nice old wood:

Yeah... in my dreams!

However, it is lucky that Ben is more practical and doesn't get hung up on silly ideas like that. We mulled a few options for critical dimensions and parts and came out with a 1-1/2 diameter steel acme thread screw 3' long with two square brass nuts, and a food service stainless pan to catch juice. These were all bought from McMaster.

Here is Ben's design that he whipped up:

Simple and effective

He then actually built this, and it ended up looking nice and it works very well.

Later on, Ben, JD, and I used the machine shop at E Ink to mill a hex on the end of the screw to fit a 10 inch diameter cast aluminum handwheel. That didn't quite work out, so for this year we turned the screw with a hex socket with breaker bar and a piece of aluminum pipe.

Fun in the ol' machine shop

Ready to rip into it with Wilbah

A beautiful day, but a bit warm

Hope this goat doesn't go crazy and attack the pregnant lady...

Meanwhile, Ben and Alexis did their usual picking at Poverty Lane orchard in Lebanon, NH for the real cider apples.

Powerful heirloom cider apples

Loading pomace into the cheese mold

Four cheeses of pomace getting the squeeze

A few weeks later, Ben and I ran three carboys worth on my front porch in Somerville. Then a week later, JD, Ben, and I, did another two carboys on my front porch. Surprisingly none of the many passerbys on the sidewalk inquired as to what was going on.

JD and Ben at the grinding station

Squeeze it JD

Lots of juice

In general our yields were quite good, 70% and up. Last year we were at about 50%. Ben did another carboy in NH, as well as some apple-cranberry wine that was pretty good.

Ben used champagne yeast with a starter in the NH carboys, while I used White Labs English Cider Yeast for the four carboys we fermented in my cellar.

Washing and sanitizing the corny kegs

Ben works the counterpressure bottling rig

For labels, we wanted something themed around the new person in the mix (our daughter Ultraviolet). So we went with Ultraviolet Revolution for the blended batch, with a science-y themed label graphic and a reference to the peaceful revolutions in former soviet republics in recent years.

We also wanted to make some generic labels so we won't always feel pressured to design and print a custom letterpress label every time we do a new batch. So we made a generic label for 'Hard Times' cider, with a nice crimson apple that I drew last year and got turned into a plate.

Mostly we used plates from Owosso Graphics, and Lux textured cream colored cover weight paper from Paper Source.

The chase setup for the Ultraviolet Revolution label

Finished labels