After a good meal with good company (Everlovin’ Indiana Bill) I headed to Garwood’s Orchard in LaPorte, IN.

Their farm was much like the one I visited in Goshen though there were less apple varieties on show. At least right now there is.

I came away with two gallons of cider which at 4.75 a gallon was not any cheaper than the cider at Martins. Oh and 4 excellent “ambrosia” variety apples. I ate one on the trip home. It was pretty nice.

I also came away with the belief that I’m just getting started too late. If I’d been able to come to ‘Octoberfest’ or even arrived at the idea of making cider a couple weeks sooner, I might have been able to get some fresh pressed. (Don’t ask for squeezed apples. You squeeze Oranges and Press Apples…so I’m told.)

As they say in that link I posted about the demise in “hard” cider production, its pretty much frowned upon to sell unpasteurized cider let along maybe even illegal. Sooo I’m guessing what you have to do is “Buy” a bushell of apples and then ask to have them pressed just as if you were buying meat at the butcher and asked to have the fat trimmed off. You’re still buying the whole product. You’re just having them delivered in a different form.

AT LEAST that’s how it looks from week TWO. I’m betting I’ll get a kick out of reading these further down the line and realize how little I know about the process. And even how little the websites I read knew.

Now on to the alchemical bit.

I have a 3 gallon water bottle from Martin’s that I sterlized with the Sodium Metasulfite powder purchased from homebrewit.com supply in Elkart. I also got the yeast and an airlock from them.
I forgot to ask while at Garwoods, which variety of apple their cider was made from. But considering the timing my guess is “pretty much all of them.” I had a taste before adding it to the fermentation jug, and it was very nice just as an apple presse. If I can get that taste, plus alcohol I’ll be doing well.
The yeast is a variety listed for the purpose of cider making, among other things, though looking on the website now I can’t place my finger on it. I’ll look at the label and log it later. It arrived on Friday and a test in some apple juice for 48 hours produced a huge head of yeast “must” after two days. I think it’ll work just fine.

I drilled a snug fitting hole in the lid and inserted the airlock–also cleansed with solution–and then took some water and yeast mixed it together and sat it in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes. I think this was to activate it, the 2 gallons of cider weren’t quite room temperature yet even after the hour drive home in my back seat. When I added it to the two together it was warm but not as warm as the temperature my yogurt maker usually ask for.
Note to self, check temp with the yogurt thermometer next time.

The official birth of this batch is set for 4:00 pm, on October 24th. 2010.

I will now go back to “howtomakecider” .com for further inspiration.

I should mention “the cheap stuff.”
Up there where I tested the yeast I had about 4 ounces of apple juice already on its way to become cider, so I didn’t pour it out. I had another few ounces of apple juice I’d gotten really cheap and added to it a gallon of apple juice from Big Lots. All three were marked “100% apple juice from concentrate.” This is just to see how cheap stuff tastes made from apple juice instead of apple cider. During the winter months I might have to use this method to keep cider coming, assuming I get anything drinkable from either batch.

Noticed the price of cider at Martins had dropped to 3.99 a gallon, so I’ll have to redo the math:
Let’s see if I can remember it all now:
10 bucks for supplies,including cider and empty water bottle.
10 bucks for 2 gallons cider

If I get 2.5 gallons of cider, that’s 320 ounces.

I spent 20.00 on supplies. That’s 6.25 cents an ounce.

A 6-pack of Woodchuck costs 9.00 for 72 ounces. That’s 12.5 cents an ounce.

So roughly speaking, home made cider is half the cost of store bought.

If you can wait ….

OF Course cost isn’t the only measure for this project, I’m learning and will have serious bragging rights afterwards.

Hey , where’s Doyle?