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Events/2019/5th Annual Cider Pressing

1,566 bytes added, 11:17, 9 October 2019
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== Cost ==
* Free for members and community, donations gratefully accepted
 
== Lessons Learned ==
* Wade's Orchard is excellent source of inexpensive apples
** Seconds ($8.50/bushel) were great quality
** Cider grade ($5.00/bushel) had some bruising/rot/leaves, but were very adequate
* Got way too many apples: purchased 8 bushels for Farmers Market demo, only used ~2-3
** Still left with 3.5 bushels after make-your-own event
* Mix of 4 parts Stamen Winesap, 2 parts Golden Delicious, 1 part McIntosh, and 1 part Granny Smith produced very good cider
* Grinder did not overheat (likely due to lower temperatures)
** Still a good idea to eventually replace motor
** Using surge strip as power switch worked okay, would still prefer a built in switch (maybe foot pedal or spring loaded normally open)
* Metal pressing plate worked great
* Bottleneck during make-your-own event was the press
** Tried to set up original wooden press, but did not have enough/properly sized pressing disks
** Wooden press also less user friendly, especially without metal pressing plate
** Possibly encourage using multiple smaller cheeses
*** Need more bags and pressing disks
*** Disks are preferably HDPE (food safe, resist breakage, chop up cutting boards) or metal (harder to work with, corrosion concerns)
* Fabric bags seemed to clog up eventually, wasn't squeezing out all the liquid
** Blew up three fabric bags due to using more pressure to get out juice
** Nylon bags worked well and resisted clogging, but let more "stuff" through into the cider. Press and then filter?
* Cleaning up concrete pad failed; put down tarp or plastic dropcloth first

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