[Sca-cooks] Stefan finally succeeds in making cider

[Craig Jones]

> 
> Drakey, Drakey, Drakey... thank you! The time element is something
> many SCAdians fail to take into account. Of course it is their hobby,
> and it's supposed to be fun, and educationally process-oriented, so
> how can you blame them, but I do sometimes get weird looks when I
> tell people that filtered, clear apple juice in the gallon glass jugs
> really is sometimes better for fermenting purposes... my occasionally
> weird fixation on serving boneless meats even though they're more
> expensive (of course both the prep time, the waste, and the serving
> size is cut in half, not to mention the fact that few SCAdians carve
> really well and would spend as much time and effort sheepishly
> wondering why the darned chicken or ham won't just magically leap
> onto their plates as they would wishing their food looked more like
> period meat with real skin and bones, so making informed choices and
> tradeoffs is one of the big things this game is about). But we were
> speaking of brewing and such, and I'm not here to rant (not at the
> moment).

No, no... Good point. I'm all for saving time at feasts.  When I was in
Polit there was a chicken shop who; if I bought his ducks, geese,
chickens; who roast them for me (to my specifications) for free and
deliver them to me!  I just picked them up, garnished with lemon slices
and poured a thick honey and lemon sauce over the top.  Voila... There's
half the feast, done...
 
> Sounds loverly! Giulielma Penn (Mrs. William Penn) has, in her 1694
> receipt book, a recipe for apple ale which is pretty darned
> unbeatable, too. It's a pretty basic infusion-mash ale (as I recall
> it is lightly hopped), but calls for apple juice instead of water.
> The couple of times I made it, the filtered, pasteurized apple juice
> worked beautifully. I suspect one'd have to watch out for chemicals
> designed to prevent yeast growth, if such a thing were added, but
> I've been lucky every time so far.

The first time I did this, it was nasty and incipid.  The next version I
did rocked... Great mouthfeel.  Yes, this is a good recipe.  The trick
is a decent amount of malt and to use a good quality noble hop
(Hallertau is good)...

I always buy the pasteurized, preservative free apple juice... All you
have to do is pop the seal and pour... Nice and sterile...  It's
simplicity itself.

Drakey.