In the last couple of years of brewing I've done one batch which has involved pressing the fruit myself, which was also my first batch. It was really satisfying but due to the 2012 crop being quite poor on the whole I didn't get to do it. I also borrowed the press from some friends which was really useful, however this year they too had a good crop to work with so I couldn't get it as they were (understandably) using it.
So, after a lot of looking around and pondering, i bought my own. Of the three sizes, i bought the largest, most because the price difference and capacity were less than linear. the smallest of this design were 2/3 the price and 1/4 of the capacity, the next size up, barely £10 less and half the size. Didn't really seem like a sensible choice to get anything less than the largest.
Another investment was a pack of plain cotton pillow cases, cheap and they'll help keep much of the pulp from entering the juice.
First up, the blackberries which the pillowcase prove invaluable for as there are SO many seeds and bits.
First press, starting gently.
A quick blast in a pan broke them down a little and they gave up quite a bit more. In the end I got nearly half a gallon of juice from them alone.
Sure enough after another press, the result was much drier.
The abundance of juice meant almost 1/8th of the batch was blackberries and the rest apple, more than i'd expected, but in retrospect 1/4 or even 1/3 would have given a slightly better colour.
No comments:
Post a Comment