Cider

We've had a break from wine making this year. Our grapes were completely ruined by the weather -- the cool humid spring led to mildew, then there wasn't any really hot weather to ripen any that might have survived the mildew. Other people managed to salvage some, but in our case the harvest was zero. So instead of wine, we thought we'd have a go at cider...

Well, we only have one apple tree. So we pooled our apples and muscles (quite hard work chopping up the apples then pressing them) and ended up with around 100 litres altogether...

That's Megumi hiding behind the esmagadeira (crusher). Friend Glynis is doing the initial cutting with a shovel. The emsagadeira proved almost useless; we ended up cutting the apples with the shovel until the pieces were small enough to put into the press (which is the round unit below the esmagadeira).

The results of all this effort are now sitting in a barrel and a couple of plastic containers. Fermentation seems to have stopped. There should be a secondary fermentation next year, I suppose when the weather warms a little. And the cider should be ready for drinking in the spring. Until then, it's a waiting (and worrying) game. Will we have cider or vinegar when we crack the barrel?