Today is the third annual apple pressing day here at RSchmidtBrewing. What a day we have planned, 12-15 gallons of cider, apple crisp, brats, mac’n’cheese and a fire. I’m not sure how the day could be better. Read below how the day’s events went and how much cider we pressed.
After road tripping up to Utica, Ohio to buy seven bushels of apple seconds and (maybe a few fry pies) 13 gallons of delicious, fresh apple cider were pressed. The usual suspects from Frank Barley Brewing Company were there, along with my mom and dad, and my buddy John with his son. Mother Nature almost ended our day early with showers, but it never got too much more than a spit rain, so we decided to keep on going. Honestly us brewers were mostly concerned with the water diluting our cider… Numerous varieties were pressed including, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Rome, Cortland and Stayman Winesap. As we pressed we enjoyed a few homebrews and some cider from last year’s effort which continues to please my pallet. Not to mention the bratwurst, apple crisp, macaroni and cheese and numerous chips and dip. All in all in was a great time and I enjoy every year more and more. I decided to add two pounds of brown sugar to my five and a half gallon batch and I’m fermenting with White Labs 720 Sweet Mead/Cider yeast. For the past three years I’ve used different yeast every year and can’t complain. The versatility of apples is remarkable, no wonder why the colonists made so many drinks with cider. A few pictures from the day’s shenanigans below.
Prost!
Apuhihi View 
You didn’t mention that I kept the fire going so as to keep you guys dried out and “fired up”?
Porky