The electric apple mill

Last year, some readers may remember (could they ever forget?) that I had acquired a fruit mill and press from a friend’s parents, in a nearby village. They had been in a barn that was flooded badly in May 2016, when the region was badly hit with torrential rain. I cleaned up and restored what needed restoring, and put them to good use making cider.

But there was another mill in the barn, that was squatter-looking, had no hand crank, so needed a motor. I left it there. But earlier this year, they contacted me to say they had to empty the barn, as it was now sold, so anything that was still in it would be dumped. Needless to say, I went back and bought it for the princely sum of 20 Euro.

The remains of he floodwaters

It's red!

After an initial clean (my son got a chance to play with the pressure washer), to get the crusted mud off it, I left it over spring and summer, and only recently decided to pick up this little project, between building tasks. An added impetus to this, was the fact a neighbour, and fellow Stammtisch member, gave me an old electric motor, complete with cable and switches that he kindly mounted on a board for me (thanks Rüdiger!).

Although basically cleaned, the gears and axles were still pretty gummed up with a combination of crusted old oil, and silt from the flooding. It was time to take the whole thing apart and clean the individual pieces. 

No more mud, but very creaky.

Crusted old oil covered most of the moving parts.

The wooden stand got another clean with the pressure washer, and then some TLC with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The original colours seemed brighter, and with the layers of grime removed, any patches showing natural wood looked warmer.

I tried several methods to clean the gunk off the gears. I’d read hot citric acid was good, but it was not as effective as brake cleaner in getting the really bet-on crud off the parts.

No more old oil residue.

Lastly, any part that would be touching the fruit got a fresh coat of Kelterlack, the traditional resin-based paint for exactly that purpose. There were remains in the hopper and the milling parts and chute, so they got a light sanding and a new coat.

Reassembling was a piece of cake, and it was satisfying that everything could move with ease after the deep clean. Every moving part has a lubrication point, ranging from a simple hole or hollow on the smaller parts, through a mini cup with spring-loaded lid for one of the gear wheels, right through to oil baths, with a ring around the main axles, that would draw oil up and keep the axles lubed as they rotated. All very simple, all very effective.

The only thing missing was how to get it all moving. I had been asking around about motors the past year, and in the past couple of months, was given two. One from a chap who got a new circular saw, so didn’t need his anymore, and another ancient one from a neighbour, which I deemed more suitable, as it ran slower, and with a smaller drive wheel. Rüdiger, the neighbour, also happens to be an electrician (retired last month), so he mounted everything on a board, with switches and cables, and delivered it. In return, I brought 50 litres of cider to his retirement party, so I think we were both happy!

He also gave me some old leather drive belts, and a loan of a tool for fitting end a kind of catch at the end, such that a pin could be used to hold them together, and make a loop. No idea what they are called! But the photos should clarify. 

The belts were pretty dry and not so flexible, so they got a wash and an oil, so they were a bit more supple. They were ideal for the main drive belt, which needed 60mm, but another belt was needed to link the main drive axle to the axle the powers the pushing mechanism. This needed to be max 40mm, but due to the nature of the 60mm belts, and the fact they were shorter lengths stitched together, I couldn’t simply cut a centimetre off each side. I ended up buying a 2m length of 35mm belt, which cost 30 Euro, but it was worth it. I cut to length, fitted the clamps, and cut a section of a nail to use as a min to join the ends. It fitted perfectly.

First tests showed that it all worked very well, but to my mind, too fast. Normally, these would probably have been powered via a transmission, a bank of various-sized wheels on an axle, itself powered by a motor, so you could choose what wheel to attach the mill to, to get the right speed. We actually have one in the barn, fixed to the wall, but it is rusted fast. 

The alternative was to swap out the drive wheel on the mill for a larger one, and this is what we did. Good friend and brew-buddy Frank had one lying around, and his son milled a collar, to adapt it to the slightly smaller axle of the mill, so it fit like a glove. We gave it a test last night, and while it is definitely slower, I can't help thinking that the pushing mechanism is still a little too fast. We've a plan B, but we'll test the mill as it is first. Stand by for some video footage in the next week or two!

Insulating the last cellar

We moved into the house in February 2015, after about four years of heavy renovation work, but due to exhaustion, there was one cellar left uninsulated: the one under our living room. Our first winter in the house was relatively mild, so it wasn't so bad. But the winter of 2016/17 was bitterly cold, and we really noticed that the floor of the living room was much colder, and the cold crept in. Unfortunately, due to shoulder problems at the time, I could in no way do any overhead work, so we sealed up the cellar door to reduce the ingress of cold air, and lived with it.

This year, with the arm again movable, I decided enough was enough, and it needed to be done before the really cold weather comes again. After considering several options, from Rockwool to Styrofoam, I decided on a method that had relatively minimal effort, but also probably the most effective, using cellulose-based insulation, like our roof.

To do this effectively, the cellar ceiling had to be as airtight from underneath as possible, essentially creating a big bag, stuck to the walls, that would be later filled with isofloc. To start this, I plastered the top 15cm of the walls to ensure a smooth surface around the perimeter. An apron of breathable damp-proof membrane was glued around the perimeter, using a special sealant. This would form the sides of the "bag".

Once dried, a framework of 4x6cm timbers was then suspended from the oak beams, to a depth of about 12cm below the ceiling. This time, I used Justierschrauben (adjustment screws), which negated the need for planing blocks of wood to precise thicknesses to achieve the desired height, which is what I did in the other cellar, and under most of the floors, so I was glad to avoid that again!

The membrane was then attached to this frame, and the apron folded up and all seams taped closed, to form a single, sealed unit, and laths screwed to the initial framework, to provide support and something to attach the final ceiling finish to (not yet decided).

This alone already made a difference in the living room, as air couldn't move so easily up into the living room.

I'd taken a half day today, after agreeing with a local carpenter earlier this week that he'd come at one o'clock with a machine to blow the cellulose insulation into the void. He turned up at 1:30 to say he didn't have enough material, and asked if  we could do it in a week. This has pissed me off, as he said he had enough material, clearly didn't check, and could have gotten it even today from a nearby supplier. We reckon he's busy on another site, but I would prefer honesty. So much for German efficiency, again! I guess I got a long lunch break out of it.

Maybe next year we'll do something more with this room. The plan is to move my beer and cider cellar into here, as I need more room for barrels and fermenters, and maybe a table for when friends come around.

Anyway, let's see how it looks in a week's time.

2017 Catch-up

Apple harvest time is upon us again, but before I get to posting about a new apple mill renovation project, I thought I should give a brief update of what has happened with the house this year. Building had taken a bit of a back seat the first 8 months of the year, but things are picking up again, with projects that had been put on the long finger getting attention again.

But first, back to December 2016! One of the worst things about the house in winter was the old front door. An aluminium and safety glass monstrosity from the 70s or 80s that would not seal right, and had ice crusts on the inside during the coldest winter nights. Towards the end of 2016 we'd finally ordered a door, so in December I took an angle grinder to the door ope, to cut a space for a future sandstone frame. The original was dumped when they rebuilt this section of the wall, presumably when the existing door was installed, so we felt it would be nice to reinstate a frame.

With the dirty work done, the new door was installed. It immediately made a difference to the climate inthe hall, being well insulated and closing properly, not to mention to the look and feel of the front of the house. Certainly more in keeping withthe style of the house. The colour matches the outer frames around the windows, so despite not being initially too sure about ordering that colour, we're very happy with it.

In January, we had some lovely snow, but also severe storms.

A view of the back of house.

It wasn't till a couple of days after the biggest storm, while walking over to our local, that I noticed the barn roof looked different. Walking around the other side, I saw a large chunk of roof missing. Inside the extent didn't look too bad, but those are asbestos corrugated sheets, and i wasn't happy having to deal with that at this stage. Sometime soon, I want to re-roof the stall part of the barn, and prepare it for solar panels, but that's another story.

 

Luckily, a good friend is in the trade, with the right kind of equipment, so the following day we bought material and patched up the hole with new cement-based sheets. Ugly, but necessary, and a little dear for a temporary fix.

Nearly done

The next big thing was the second vaulted cellar. I had done the walls and ceiling in May 2016 (May!), but had not been able to continue the floor due to shoulder problems in the autumn. In March this year, I was able to kick this off again, with the removal of 4 tonnes of heavy clay, to bring the floor level down a bit. As with the beer cellar, the idea here was to build up a layer of pebbles to promote drainage (this cellar is considerably damper tan the other), topped with crushed stone and a final brick layer.

The stages can be seen in the photos below, including painting with a silicate paint, but that's as far as it got, as i have not been able to source reasonably-priced old bricks. We may do something else if I don't find any soon. This cellar is intended to be used as a food store, and should be ideal for storage of spuds, carrots and the like, once I build a new door.

In between all of this were some more hobby-related tasks, mostly relating to alcohol production.
I acquired a Cabernet Sauvignon Barrique early in the year, directly from the Schneider winery, so I made a stand for it then brewed 200 litres of Imperial Brown Ale to age in it. It's now serving, and was worth the effort!

In late summer I then had my first foray into making fruit wine, after a neighbour asked if I would like to use his father's redcurrants. Sadly, his dad is no longer able to do it, so I was only too happy to help continue the tradition with them. We used a berry mill and the cutest press I've ever seen, both built by his father and uncle. We now have 54 litres in the cellar, finished fermenting, so I'll have to bottle soon.

I forgot to mention the apple brandy I got distilled in January, but I may come back to that in another post. But as the Schnapps buzz has me, I mashed up 60kg of our cherry plums, so am hoping this will make a nice schnapps in January!

And that's a quick roundup of the positive highlights of the past 10 months. Stand by for the attic conversion, cellar insulation and another apple mill restoration.

Cider 2016 update (and a bit of 2015)

Winter has seemed very long this year, and with my shoulder still not quite right, I've been doing very little around the house and garden. I begin physio next week, but it will still take some months before I'm back to normal, or so I've been told.

With that slight handicap, there was still plenty I could do cider-wise, and I guess there's been a lot going on since the last blog post, where the pressing process was shown.

I didn't get to try out keeving, but I somehow ended up with a few different variations on a basic cider, which makes things fun. The basic dry cider, like I made last year, was fermented in two 60 litre barrels, and I recently split that up into 30L barrels, which makes it handier for experimenting with dry hopping and such. Three of the barrels on the board in the photo below contain dry cider. Another portion has been put into a carboy, mixed with cherry plum juice (also from our own trees), and is now having a second fermentation, so lets hope the plum flavour remains!

The large barrel on the left now contains about 50L of what I am calling Grapple Cider, which sounds rather unappetising, but simply refers to the fact it is made with 50% apples and 50% grapes. Our neighbour had a lot and gave them all to us, so we put them to good use. On taking a sample when racking it into this barrel, I was very pleased indeed. Tasting notes will follow later in the year, but suffice to say, I want to make his one again!

The 30L barrel on the right contains a kind of accident, or at least, a cider that was not planned. On Halloween, we held a small harvest festival, of sorts, with plenty of food, beer and cider, but also pressed 100kg of apples for fun. We had intended to pasteurize it there and then, but I ended up sulphiting it, and leaving it sitting for a while. 30L I used to top up the oak barrel (more in a moment), and the rest I left sitting in the cellar, ignored till it started blubbering a few weeks later. Happily, it was a nice, clean fermentation, as wild yeasts took over, and it tastes pretty good. The gravity is a little higher than the others, but I expect it's not quite finished, as that part of the cellar got down to 6°C a few weeks ago.

And finally, my pride and joy, one of the oak cider casks I picked up in Spring last year. This is filled with between 125 and 130 litres of dry cider.

Compared to the others, this looks quite soupy (this could really be on trend with an iceman pour, looking like a NEIPA!), but I imagine, given the shape and volume of the cask, there's quite a layer of sediment near the tap, but let's see how it looks in a couple months.

So far, that means harvest 2016 has yielded the following (and we only used about half the apples!)

• 130L oak-aged dry cider
• 80L dry cider
• 10L cherry plum and apple cider
• 50L grape and apple cider
• 25L spontaneously-fermented cider

But harvest 2015 is the harvest that is still giving!

I still have a couple kegs dry cider, and half a keg of dry-hopped cider from 2015, but that's not the best thing...

In 2015 I made 120 litres of "Maische", or wash, to make schnapps. I mixed 60 litres of pressed juice with 60 litres of pulped apples and set it fermenting. I then spoke to the local distiller in March 2016, but I had missed the window of opportunity, meaning I had these two barrels, full of pulp, sitting in the cellar for a year. I hadn't opened them once, and when they were finally opened, and Mr. Thomaier stuck his finger in for a taste, I was relieved that he proclaimed it good. A couple of weeks later, the paperwork for taxation was done, and I received 21 litres of my own apple schnapps. I like to imagine that having the wash mature for a year makes it a superior spirit, as it certainly tastes very good!

Of course, making your own stuff gives plenty of scope to experiment, and the first one was one I had planned for a year: ageing on apple wood. I had kept some branches from pruning the trees in early 2015 (one is on the cellar ceiling, you may have noticed), and these were duly cut into short lengths, split, stripped of bark and toasted in the over fora couple of hours, before cooling and placing in 5.5 litres of schnapps. Within a day the colour had changed, and after a week, it was tested, with approval. I'll leave it a few more weeks before deciding whether to continue or bottle it.

Plans are afoot for some apple-based liqueurs, but the spirit straight is a fairly smooth-sipping, enjoyable experience. No downing shots with this!

The vinegar-making I will come back to another time, but so far, it's been a success.

Cider time: the press in action

I'm falling behind in updates, but that's simply down to being too busy. But my son and I both made videos of the press in action over the past few weeks.

I now have 310 litres of cider fermenting. 120 of which are in one of the oak casks, and 50 litres which were made with a mix of apples and grapes, which were given to me by a neighbour. I have one more pressing session to do, to try out keeving with 60 litres, and maybe some more milling, to make 100L mash for making schnapps. However, I think I'll need help, as my shoulder is in a bad state, so hand-cranking that mill will not be good for it.

But on to the videos!

First, from my 11-year-old son, his second effort at making a video, which I tink he did a really good job on. I must post the one he made of the harvesting!

And then my slightly dryer version, a week later.

People love stopping to watch this going on, and I've heard so many tales now from old people, about how there used to be a giant hydraulic press in our barn, which was used by the community. I'd be happy to reinstate such a tradition, once I get a motor for the mill!