[TheForge] The hard cider is good... OT:

[peter fels & phoebe palmer]

On 10/19/2010 11:28 PM, Mike Spencer wrote:
>> Wonder if the freeze distillation method fails to separate out the
>> fusil oils and other nasty fractions, thus leading to ax murders?
> Fusel. Yes, it does fail in that particular way.  q.g. [1]
>
> There was a yarn told around the Sawmill River Valley, back in the 60s
> when I lived there and got my 50 gallon whiskey barrel filled at a
> water powered cider mill down in the Connecticut Valley flats.
>
> Four guys used to meet Saturday nights in a farm house not far from
> the cider mill to play poker through the night and drink apple
> jack. One night they got a batch that was way heavier to fusel oil
> that usual.  The next day, all four were found dead around the kitchen
> table.
>
> The trick with the whiskey barrel is to use a new one, fresh from the
> distillery, each time.  There's about a gallon of whiskey in the wood
> that equilibrates with the cider and makes it tasty, even before it
> goes hard, especially if you only put 20 or 30 gallons in the barrel.
Oooooh that sounds tasty!
> These days, we manage to drink most of what we press -- 25 gallons or
> more in a good year, maybe 15 this year when most of the trees slacked
> off -- before it goes hard.  And/or we freeze it sweet in quart pop
> bottles for winter and spring.
>
> We have an August apple tree so I got 5 gallons of cider in August
> this year.  Nice to have it in hot weather.  Has a beer-sparing
> effect. :-) It was one of only two trees that produced well.
Our little apple  trees had a hard time this year too..windstorm just 
after they set
followed by a very foggy summer.
> If you want something obsess about, you can worry about patulin (q.g),
> a mycotoxin found in cider made from "moldy" apples.  I toss any
> apples that have visible mold or large decayed spots but don't worry
> about bruises, scab, bird pecks or the like.
Something else to watch for..OK, thanks Mike.
> Just yarnin,
> - Mike
>
>
> [1] q.g.: quod google.  Like q.v, quod vide. More polite that GIFY.
>