Monday, September 28, 2009

Kartchner Caverns

We took a trip to the Katchner carverns over the weekend. OK, really it started as a trip to Willcox to get some real apple cider - Stouts Cider Mill has the unpasteurized stuff I like to use in making my yearly batch of hard cider. We headed down on at 8:00 aM Saturday morning for our scheduled tour at the carverns for 1:00 PM. That gave us just enough time to stop for lunch in Benson before we got there.

The tour starts with a ride up the hill to the entrance of the cave. The state put in an airlock system to preserve the integrity of the cave. They even have you walk through a light mist to weigh down any lint, hair, etc. so that anything that falls off you goes straight to the floor. The guide on the tour was very knowledgable about the history of the cave and the formation found inside. We walked through for about 50 minutes getting to see various formations and learning about how the cave was found, what steps have been taken to preserve it, and how the state works to preserve the caverns for future generations.

When we got to the throne room there was a nice area where everyone could sit down and enjoy a lightshow time to some music. They lit up the various formations in the room from different angles so that you could fully enjoys the beauty of the formations. The show lasted about 10 minutes then they lit the whole room up so you could get the whole picture at once and ask any questions. The trip back out took about 5 minutes - make sure you take sunglasses with you into the cave - you'll want them when you come back out into the sunlight. I highly recommend this outing for any family - just make sure you get your reservations ahead of time. We will be going back in the spring to take the Big Room tour - they close it during the summer to allow the bats to do their thing.

We then continued our journey over to Willcox, stayed the night at the Holiday inn Express. A word of warning - we had a hard time finding a local (non-chain) restaurant to eat at, so we ended up at the Pizza Hut for dinner.

In the morning we visited the local winery where we sampled some very nice wines and bought a couple bottle to bring back home. We visited Aplle Annies's Orchards to do a little shopping, buy some fudge, and grab a bite to eat. As there didn't have the unpasteurized apple cider, we made a quick stop at Stouts on the way out of town - picked up 10 gallons of the good stuff, put it in the cooler and iced it down for the 4 hour trip back home. That cider is now starting the fermentation process and should be bottled up in about 3 more weeks!

That's all for now...

John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Maxpedition gear

For a while now I have been buying various pieces of the Maxpedition gear to test them out. I have to say that everything I have heard about their quality has been spot on. My first purchase was a small one - a simple cell phone holder. That this will probably go to the grave with me it's built so well!

I have tried several of their products out now and have decided to become an authorized dealer, just got OK'd today and will be adding products to the site in short order. Expect to see some of the more popular stuff on the site this week, but if there is anything you are interested in that is not there, drop me a line and we'll get you taken care of!

John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/

Monday, September 7, 2009

It's (hard) cider time!

I look forward to this time of year, when I can get my hands on some fresh apple cider to make my yearly batch of hard cider. This year I have not been able to find any real fresh stuff and I don't have the time to drive to Wilcox to visit the cider mills, so I had to improvise. I chose to use the Simply Apple pure pressed juice for a trial batch, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
3 Gallons Simply Apple Pure Pressed
6 lbs Desert Wildflower honey
6 Cinnamon Sticks
10 Whole Cloves
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
5 Tbsp Acid Blend
1/2 Oz Irish Moss
Yeast Energizer
Lalvin D47 Yeast

Place all ingredients except the yeast and the yeast energizer in a pot and bring to a boil, continue boil for 15 minutes, skim off the scum. Remove 2 cups of the mix and place in a wine bottle and cool to 80 degrees - this will be used for the yeast starter. Pour remaining mixture into plastic primary fermenter and allow to cool - I do this with a bathtub of cool water.

Once the yeast starter mix is properly cooled, add 1 Tbsp of yeast energizer to mix, disssolve the yeast in 2 oz of water for 15 minutes and add mix in wine bottle. Install airlock and place in dark location for 4 hours. Once the starter in well established, aerate the cider mixture (this is called a "must") and add the yeast starter. Place lid on fermenting bucket and install an airlock.

Allow the cider to ferment for approximately 1 week, rack (siphon transfer) to glass carboy, straining out any remaining cinnamon, cloves, etc. and once again install an airlock. Allow to ferment until there is 1 bubble about every 3 minutes coming from the airlock. At this point you will rack the mixture again and prime with 1/2 cup of corn sugar and water mixture (dissovle the sugar and bring to boil to sterilize). I like to put the sugar water mix in a clean carboy and siphon the cider into that container to get a good mix with the primer. Next fill your bottles and cap. Allow to carbonate / settle for at least 2 weeks before drinking. Best served very cold.

I should point out that it is VERY IMPORTANT that you don't over prime, or bottle before the cider has fully fermented. When I started making hard cider 15 years ago I made that mistake and ended up with glass grenades. I literally had chucks of glass embedded in the drywall where I stored the bottles - very dangerous indeed!

Enjoy!



John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/