Skyborry Cider & Perry

In 2010 me and my brother began making cider and perry just outside the Welsh border town of Knighton (Tref Y Clawdd). With Shropshire and Herefordshire as our neighbouring counties there is no shortage of quality fruit. To begin we cycled round the local villages putting up notices in the entrances to Churches and Church halls requesting fruit, and within days we were turning fruit down due to the number of offers. We have had some pleasing results but are excited about embarking on this years harvest and learning about more of the skills involved in Cider & Perry making. Our email is skyborrycider@hotmail.co.uk

Jan 25

Adam’s Cider

Adam makes good cider,
But if all you want is booze
You can buy a pretty bottle
Of the stuff that Bulmer brews

To every ton of apples
There’s a ton of sugar beet
Which he presses and he mashes
At a regulated heat

The resultant is conducted
To a stainless steel retort
Where it’s rapidly fermented
To the strength of British Port

Then it’s pasteurised and sterilized
And fined and watered down
And clarified and saccharined
And tinted golden brown

Then it’s flavoured and its seasoned
And it’s fizzed with CO2
And put on supermarket shelves
For Mugs like me and you

This chemical decoction
Is as close to Adam’s cider
As the Radnor District Council
To the Mullahs of Al Qaida

Dec 8

Bottle Conditioned!

We were lucky enough to use somebody’s equipment to bottle up a load of Kingston Black single variety. The fermentation will finish off in the bottle creating a champagne style sparkling cider.

Nov 3

Been busy on collecting an pressing Kingston Black and Yarlington Mill apples this week

Oct 16

Hereford Times Article

http://www.herefordtimes.com/archive/2011/09/30/Farming/9276305.Hereford_brothers_toasting_success_of_free_fruit_cider_venture/

Oct 3

Collecting up some early windfalls. People are saying that fruit is falling early and unripe this year, the heavy winds a couple of weeks ago is probably the reason. the tail end of hurricane What’shername from over America.

The orchard is very old, the owner believes them to be some rare varieties. Apples of all colours. Got a few bags of each with help from Skyborry Cider friend Owen.

It was a bloody lovely day, 26 degrees at the end of September.

Here is our first pressing of the year! Some Katy apples given to us by a friend, Only able to get 38kg which we got just over 25 litres of juice from.

Katy is an early variety of dessert apple that can also be used for cider.

As it will we feremnting away in one of our small fermenters i thought it would be a good opportunity to finish it off in Bottles as we have a manageable amount.

A waiting game

Some of the orchards in the run up too harvest. (not ours tho)

Aug 4

All of the trees we planted seem to be doing well, the Yarlington Mill are doin particurly well. They are known to be a strong tree

I’m having a go at bottle conditioned cider. I have done it the easy way by adding sugar to a dry cider and a dry perry getting them fermenting again then bottling them up. Gonna wait six weeks before trying one.

Putley cider trials.

First year, no prizes. Had a lovely day there, met some nice people, then our lift fell through and we had too walk a several miles before getting a lift. Thanks Stefan

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