I thought I had room in the mini fridge for a third 2-gallon container of cider because one sits on the bottom just fine turned sideways. Problem is I didn’t try closing the door! I’ll have to remove the wire rack in the door in order to fit it in and close the door but I don’t want to damage the fridge by strong-arming it out. I’ll wait till this batch of cider has moved to bottles and then I’ll get the tin snips out.

I also noticed the temp wasn’t particularly cold inside so I twitched the knob just a bit. I wish I’d discovered that sooner, it might mean a drier cider than I want. I’ll bottle some when I get back from England and that will be…two months since it was started (this is the Autumnal Amber batch I’m referring to, btw.) Long enough to test SG and decide how much honey to add to it.

So now I have this small batch started on Labor Day that I had planned to add some tart apple juice to but with Lehman’s not selling any juice this year due to the spring drought I’ll just let it go for now. I will go to an orchard in late September and get enough to press. (Almost said squeeze there 😉 It might benefit the flavor of the final product if I add the real apple pressings just before bottling instead of during primary fermentation. Also, I don’t have a press, but for a 2 gallon batch I can make due with a blender and some cheesecloth.

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This past week I tried Woodchuck’s “Fall” special release which has the taste of Nutmeg and Cinnamon in it. I think maybe they were going for a ‘mulled’ cider effect. I’m not keen on it. I will give away the rest of the 6 pack. I imagine this is what it tastes like to drink potpourri. They had a winter cider last year or a dark…I forget now what it was called, and that tasted excellent. Better than their amber or granny smith. I will watch for that to appear after this…aberration has cleared the shelves.

score – 2.5 out of 6.