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Cider and Wine Making Workshop
August 16, 2014 @ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
$1 – $145
This course is fully booked. You may like to try our Sunday Workshop. Click Here.
For those who appreciate the finer things in life a cider, perry or natural fruit wine.
About the workshop
Wine and cider are some of the world’s most popular and versatile foods. This workshop will help you to transform fruit into delicious wines and ciders. It will enable you to become a traditional home brewer; save money reduce waste and food miles; become more self-reliant and energy efficient; and have an impressive display of wines and ciders at your fingertips to be proud of or even perhaps to sell for income.
This will be a fun packed, hands-on day thinking about, making and tasting wine and cider. You will leave the course with the knowledge, skills and confidence to make your own. Your home will never be the same again with tempting cider and wine that will warm every heart when guests drop in.
About the Trainers
Peter and Silvia Allen
Pete the Permie & Silvia Allen began planting their personal collection of fruit trees in Monbulk 17 years ago. With their heritage collection of around 1000 varieties there was soon far more fruit than could be eaten fresh, so they continued the 2000 year old tradition of preserving fruit as wine. Then came cider & perry (pear cider). After running the popular “Sly Grog” club monthly for a couple of years and following many requests, they decided to sell their cider to the public and Snake Gully Cider began.
Their fruit is now certified organic & biodynamic and using those methods and the ethics & principles of permaculture means that no chemicals are used in growing.
During the workshop they make a batch of fruit wine with fruit available fresh that week; past classes have made plum, cherry & even mango wine. During the workshop we will taste cider & perry from Pete and Silvia’s place and from the UK, Ireland, France & Spain. (Strictly for the over 18 year olds)
Even with buying the fruit, the wine works out @ $1.30 a bottle. If fruit is not suitable to eat or use in jams, it will make good wine, and so you use all your crop and waste almost nothing. You can also glean fruit to use. If you own a beer brewing kit you already have more equipment than you need to make cider & wines at home.
Peter the Permie & Silvia Allen have run Telopea Mountain Permaculture Farm for 16 years. They have been conveners and leaders of Mountain Districts permaculture Group and owners of the Telopea Mountain Nursery. They have also been leading figures in the Heritage Fruits Society for over 10 years (Silvia is president of the Society), have run the Petty’s Apple Festival tasting tent for the last 10 years and have an unsurpassed knowledge of apple varieties and flavours.
Workshop Program
- What is real cider
- Oveview of cider in Australia
- The basics of fermentation
- How to make a must (starter)
- How to work out alcohol percentages
- Making a 5% cider in only 5 days
- Discuss what can go wrong
- Varieties of apples and pears for cider
- How you can use what you have on your trees at home.
- Different methods of making Apple cider and the very popular Perry- Pear cider also apple cider vinegar.
- Ways to turn any kind of excess fruit into a dessert wine.
On the day we will make wine from seasonal fruits and will be tasting cider & home made wines. (The day is strictly for over 18yr olds).
This is a great one-day workshop. Pete and Silvia will show you how easy it is to produce cider and wine by making up a batch.
This workshop is great fun with good food, drinks and company and you will learn lots more beyond fermentation and wine making.
