Today we picked up our order of fresh cold pressed cider from Frank E’s in Vanessa. Four members of the True Grist Homebrew Club met at Frank E’s with vehicles full of buckets, carboys, and kegs.
We received a blend of 6 different apple varieties. From highest percentage to lowest, our blend had Northern Spy, Royal Gala, Red court, Honeycrisp, Spartan, and Ambrosia apples. Approximately 2 bins of apples total were used to fill our cider order.
The juice had been pressed the day previous for us, so we were not present for that part of the process. The employees at Frank E’s were busy pulling apart and cleaning the pressing equipment while were there.
Our cider had been UV filtered for us in order to prevent C. botulinum, E. coli, and other unwanted microbes. The cider was UV filtered and held in stainless steel tanks, which we filled from directly.
After about an hour’s work of filling and organizing, and another hour drive back to Waterloo and Guelph, the cider is ready for members to pick it up and ferment. We look forward to a meeting in the future where we can share the product of all of our different approaches to cider making.
