Once the sun comes out everything starts moving fast. Tons of projects that are put on hold all winter suddenly come roaring back. Extend the cidery cement pad? Build a roof over the press area? New siding on all the sheds?
This is also the time when we try to get a lot of production done before the weather warms up. We run our own tiny canning line, but the cider needs to be very cold. Our glycol system for cooling the tanks is built out of a hacked air conditioner sitting in a cooler of glycol. It looks like something out of mad max, but it was cheap and works. The downside is it struggles to chill the cider when it's really hot. Therefore, we try to get as much done in the spring rather than in 35+ days in July. Call it working with the seasons.
So Jules and Alyssa have been canning hard while I’ve been finishing the pruning. We have new batches of 2025 Magic Hour, First Principles and Ginger all hitting the shelves now, as well as kegs of Ginger for the first time. With luck we’ll have most of the cider in cans before the beach weather hits. Here's hoping!
Till next time,
Mike