How'd ya like THEM apples?

[kerny]

There was a woman in the news a few weeks back that had eaten the wrong mushroom and there was nothing they could do for her, no antidote or anything so the poor woman died.

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by kerny

There was a woman in the news a few weeks back that had eaten the wrong mushroom and there was nothing they could do for her, no antidote or anything so the poor woman died.

Aye.... In Scotland there were several lately I hate to tell you .. some posh nobs had a go at eating them and 'picked' the wrong 'uns'

What befuddles me .. is how some of them are so fatal ? sorry we are hyjaking mr willk's fine topic .... again ... with you .. Sir ..

[willk]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Aye.... In Scotland there were several lately I hate to tell you .. some posh nobs had a go at eating them and 'picked' the wrong 'uns'

What befuddles me .. is how some of them are so fatal ? sorry we are hyjaking mr willk's fine topic .... again ... with you .. Sir ..

Actually, I think I mentioned wild mushrooms first and anyway it's in keeping with the "Good Life" subject matter of the thread. Picking wild mushrooms is like any other ability, you need to be shown good from bad and pay attention to what you're doing. Certain species are impossible to mistake, unless you're a terwat. If you can tell a trout from a bass, you can learn how to classify mushrooms. Mycotoxins are very nasty, so it pays to be alert. Our pickin' motto was "If in doubt, chuck it out"

[Pikey Dave]

Of all the mushies out there, only about half a dozen found in the UK are REALLY good to eat, loads of others are edible, but are mediocre in flavour & texture. I stick to what I know. I have 3 books, If I get a positive ID in all 3, I let the missus try 'em.
Mushrooms of the UK & Europe by Roger Phillips is the acknowledged bible of all things fungi in Northern Europe& essential reading for anyone considering picking their own. Antonio Carluccios Quiet hunt is another.
Only 2 mushrooms are guaranteed to kill you, Death Cap & Destroying Angel, no known antidote for either. They basically turn your insides into blood soup which then runs out of various orifices. Thankfully both are very rare in the UK & are easy to identify.

[Maximus]

'' basically turn your insides into blood soup which then runs out of various orifices''........You've eaten at my Mother- Inlaws too then Pikey!!

[markg]

Originally Posted by willk

Annual problem. I live on the edge of woodland and they think I'm some sort of feckin' bird sanctuary. They and their thievin' cousin magpies have my heart broken. Traps and deportation for the Maggies, scare tactics for the Jays. I've seen up to six jays in there eating fruit off the branch. Mind you, when the local buzzard visits (and they do) they're nowhere to be seen...

our maggies and jays tend to to go if i knock one over and leave it for the others to see, tetleys extra strong tea bags will give you tannin without the bitterness of crabapples,
stick a bit of glucose in your brew and a lalvin champagne yeast you get a faster ferment and clears better

[willk]

Originally Posted by markg

our maggies and jays tend to to go if i knock one over and leave it for the others to see, tetleys extra strong tea bags will give you tannin without the bitterness of crabapples,
stick a bit of glucose in your brew and a lalvin champagne yeast you get a faster ferment and clears better

Curious, I was just about to post about this. I used to pop the odd one wiv me blunderbuss, but as time passes we get soft, so now I prefer to scare them or move them on to pastures greener. The owls and Peregrine weren't great at keeping the jays off. The maggies are quieter now (I think they aren't as territorial in the autumn) so I put a plastic maggie into one of the trees - no jays since! Good plan for next autumn then. The owls were good at keeping the finches away from the flower buds, so I'll deploy them in the early Spring.

I use either champagne or "cider" yeast - I suspect it's the same stuff. It arrived with other supplies today. My cider apples are high in soft tannins, so I don't use crab apples any more (just for a spicy pink crabapple jelly that goes well with cold meats and cider) A good day off next week and the first batch of dessert fruit go to a better place

[markg]

Originally Posted by willk

Curious, I was just about to post about this. I used to pop the odd one wiv me blunderbuss, but as time passes we get soft, so now I prefer to scare them or move them on to pastures greener. The owls and Peregrine weren't great at keeping the jays off. The maggies are quieter now (I think they aren't as territorial in the autumn) so I put a plastic maggie into one of the trees - no jays since! Good plan for next autumn then. The owls were good at keeping the finches away from the flower buds, so I'll deploy them in the early Spring.

I use either champagne or "cider" yeast - I suspect it's the same stuff. It arrived with other supplies today. My cider apples are high in soft tannins, so I don't use crab apples any more (just for a spicy pink crabapple jelly that goes well with cold meats and cider) A good day off next week and the first batch of dessert fruit go to a better place

birds soon get the message if they see a relative lying about looking as if a perigrine or a sparrowhawk has eaten it, i pluck a pigeon in the veg garden once a year to simulate a hawk kill and the pigeons avoid it like the plague, lalvin e1118 has always been good for me if you are feeling tight you can kick off with 1 packet and transfer the live culture between brews as you go on,my wifes family grow a few apples on your side of the water just south of moy, they dont brew though they just pulp em and flog them to duerrs

[hank]

I have a 500 gallon stainless steel milk tank and add 4 wheelbarrow load of apple mash after we press the juice out . We put 300 gallons fresh water, 2 bags of corn sugar and
champagne yeast. We do this while the weather is still warm.
We tape plastic sheet over the opening and watch it puff up as it works.

During the winter we get a cold east wind and everything is frozen for about 2 weeks

looking in the tank's hatch we see a big block of apple mash ice.

To drain the tank we open the 4 inch SS valve at the bottom.
out pours about 40 gallons of a mildly alcoholic liquid .
We call it "Bella Cooler"

ice cider- it tastes flat compared to the bottled cider but has a bit of kick

hank

[willk]

oooooooh - sounds dangerously like "applejack" there Hank.

You're a braver man than me!

[tonymac]

Just let me know when you think its ready Willk and I'll drop past and test it for you!

[willk]

Originally Posted by tonymac

Just let me know when you think its ready Willk and I'll drop past and test it for you!

Aye, you can drop in that photo when you're here!

[hank]

we are still picking and pressing
tomorrow we have 3 places to pick the apples then our weather is to get real wet and windy.

I was hoping to harvest the potatoes and garlic before the wet weather gets here.
best made plans and all that..

we are also drying hops for beer making and for a great winter tea( I have the best dreams after drinking that stuff)


willk what do you do with all the left over mash?
most of ours goes into the composter
hank

[willk]

Originally Posted by hank

willk what do you do with all the left over mash?
most of ours goes into the composter
hank

We call it "press cake" here. My neighbour feeds it to his cattle. He cuts timber on his land so a few bags of hardwood firing might come my way later in the winter

Today is Press Day #1. A lad from my boat launch locality is arriving with his apples for a demo and I have 165kg of my own on hand. The "vintage cider" apples are still ripening on the trees (along with a few culinary apples) so they'll be for another day. Autumn has really set in here over the last week, you can see and smell it. Still, we got a late Indian summer and the winds have settled too, so that's all good.

I spent last night cleaning the shed for today - oh boy did that need doing! One winter project is to floor out the upstairs and create more space to fill with crap

Couple of pics of my OLD equipment below. The hand scratter (mill) was a lot of work for big quantities of fruit. I made the press from scrap and a 5 ton jack. My mistake was that I made it too small. That and the steel was bending under the force. There were a few scary "jack escapes" too where bits passed my head and thumped into walls. Pics of new setup later

[willk]

Originally Posted by willk

Pics of new setup later

Well that worked out OK. A quick tally showed 197kg of fruit and we finished with ~120L of juice - so around a 62% recovery - pretty good for the kit in question.

Just a bit of dosing of sugar and some E numbers left to do now

Roll on the cider apple crop in a few weeks...

[willk]

My apprentice loading the mill:

[willk]

Originally Posted by willk

we finished with ~120L of juice - so around a 62% recovery

Free run juice. Excuse the audio, a couple of empty bottles were carelessly left lying around

[hank]

I like your shredder--is it a commercial unit?
I have to push our apples on to our rotating shredder with a big wooden "masher"

We harvested two different apples from one tree yesterday...Wolf River and Spartan. the original owner of the place grafted a few different apples on many trees, he even grafted on a mountain ash tree.

As of today we are up to 300 gallons and most of our 4 freezers are full.
We split the juice 2 ways and my partner's family process theirs and seal them in glass canning jars. They have a very impressive shelves in their basement covered in juice jars.


hank

[willk]

Originally Posted by hank

I like your shredder--is it a commercial unit?

It's top end hobby kit - a Speidel Electric 2.2kW Apple Mill. It can handle fruit as quickly as you can turf it in. The smaller 1.5kw units you see around need to be fed in a slow steady stream. 2.5 crates of apples can be fed through in as many minutes. That's around 40-44kg and is a full load for the rack and cloth press.

I'm sitting in my kitchen watching the first 120L starting to bubble - it's hugely satisfying

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by willk

My apprentice loading the mill:

Crikey! DonegalDan's aged a bit since July, go easy on the lad