October climate summary

October appears to be an average month with a bit less rain than expected, but it didn't feel that way when we were living it. It felt warmer and wetter than it actually was. Interesting. October 2023 was mild everywhere, especially during the first third of the month with record October maximum temperatures in places. October was also very wet in the Midlands, South and East, especially during the second half of the month, with record-high October rainfall in places. The number of days with gales ranged from zero days at most stations to 6 days at Malin Head, Co Donegal. So less wind and rain for us overall. 

Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 03-nov-2023

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	183.2	91.6	188.4	121.1	48.5	77.9	206.8	139.8	142.4	144.7	18.5		1362.9
2022	98.8	260.4	67.8	84.0	107.0	148.0	59.2	104.1	97.3	233.9	187.5	154.6	1602.6
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	59.7	155.6	137.0	265.7	183.3	186.6	1725.4
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	54.7	164.5	187.9	137.9	153.4	228.0	206.6	232.7	2051.7
LTA	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	6.6	8.0	7.6	9.9	13.3	17.4	14.9	15.8	15.2	11.9	9.0		12.0
2022	7.2	7.1	8.0	9.9	12.6	13.8	15.9	16.2	n/a	12.2	9.4	5.2	10.7
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	17.5	16.4	15.2	11.9	9.3	7.6	10.9
2020	7.2	6.0	6.6	11.0	12.8	13.8	14.4	16.0	13.8	10.5	9.1	6.1	10.6
LTA	6.1	6.1	7.3	9.0	11.5	13.8	15.4	15.4	13.5	10.8	8.3	6.5	10.3

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	5.2	6.8	6.6	9.1	13.7	18.6	16.3	16.3	14.7	11.1	n/a		11.9
2022	6.2	6.2	6.3	9.3	13.2	14.8	16.8	16.6	n/a	11.5	8.4	4.4	10.4
2021	3.6	5.0	6.8	8.2	10.9	14.3	17.9	16.3	15.2	11.3	8.6	6.6	10.4
2020	5.7	4.7	5.4	9.7	13.0	14.8	14.9	16.3	13.7	9.5	8.0	5.1	10.1
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm2 for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	6245	10639	21429	37277	55732	58473	41797	36857	29338	16225	1048		315060
2022	6311	10756	33399	40555	51569	47246	48439	51169	n/a	15988	7869	6167	319468
2021	6620	13347	20370	45694	55690	45488	49455	40490	22413	16358	7235	3780	326940
2020	6263	10808	24545	46192	58476	43537	40215	40555	25558	18487	6319	5209	326164
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	14.3	20.9	33.0	56.4	83.3	100.6	70.1	64.4	50.1	26.1	1.6		520.8
2022	13.7	23.0	47.2	60.6	77.7	76.0	80.4	82.0	n/a	27.2	17.2	9.2	514.2
2021	7.6	22.9	30.7	62.9	76.3	70.7	87.8	67.5	38.3	25.1	14.1	14.6	518.5
2020	17.6	21.9	35.0	70.2	91.6	72.9	66.2	66.4	42.7	28.1	13.6	10.4	536.6
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	18.8	28.2	47.6	81.6	118.2	137.1	99.5	89.1	67.8	35.5	2.1		725.5
2022	17.9	32.4	66.5	86.8	114.5	109.2	111.1	113.2	n/a	37.0	22.0	11.4	722.0
2021	10.9	32.1	45.4	89.9	111.2	102.0	117.2	93.5	52.1	34.7	18.6	19.1	726.7
2020	22.4	31.9	51.8	98.9	130.8	104.8	94.3	92.7	59.1	38.8	18.1	13.6	757.2
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degree Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2023	275	210	246	171	85	18	39	26	53	118	N/A	N/A	N/A
2022	256	234	235	171	97	63	30	28	N/A	103	185	320	N/A
2021	325	247	236	200	167	79	20	23	40	114	187	245	1883
2020	257	276	275	143	111	73	55	31	71	156	193	291	1935

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Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1981-2010.

Cidery or winery

 

Our new branding and labels

As this was our first time making hard cider, I was wondering if there was a word for the place where cider is made, like a winery or brewery. I was surprised to learn the following:

Cider is a kind of wine. It is not a kind of beer. Just like wine is made from fermenting grape juice, cider is made from fermenting apple juice. 

A place for making cider is a “cidery” or a “winery” and it is not a “brewery.” 

Beer is brewed. Brewing involves boiling or cooking. To make beer the “brewer” steeps barley or wheat grains to convert the starches to sugar. The liquid is then known as “wort.” Brewers then boil the wort with hops before fermenting it into beer. 

A cider maker does not steep or boil the juice before fermenting it. A cider maker puts the fresh apple juice in a fermenter and adds yeast to create a liquid known as “must.” Once the must is fermented it is cider.

Bottling the cider

First draft of cider branding. I love it!

The cider had stopped fermenting about a week ago. Today, we bottled what was in the SS vat. The Brix read 3.5 and S.G. was 1.015 which would yield 2.5% ABV.  It's sour but pleasant tasting. As we used only cooking apples which have less sugar, that was to be expected. Anyway, we are pleased with the result. We have 30 bottles (750ml) and racked two 5 gal demijohns with the remains. We'll wait a couple of weeks and bottle those as well. 

Alex designed a label and branded it Red Boar Cider. The red boar is an element of the Ó Máille (O'Malley) crest. The crest on Clare Island where Grainne Uaile (Grace O'Malley) is purportedly buried. It also bears a horse, a ship, a knight, and three bows. We have lots of symbols to choose from. 

O Maille - Terra Mariq Potens (Powerful on Land and Sea) 

Modern version adopted by the O'Malley Clan

The white wine will be White Seahorse. This is a first draft of a label. Needs work. 

We were very pleased with the bottle filler and corker today. They are very cleverly designed. The filler is preset to a certain level for the bottle you have and it automatically stops when it reaches that level, clearing foam before it does. It was very easy to use and I filled 30 bottles in under an hour on my first trial run. 

The corker takes a bit more strength and I found it awkward but it is ingenious. You insert your wine bottle and it holds it in place. You then insert your cork into the top and the machine squeezes it around the circumference until it pops right in. It takes just one sweep of the arm. Brilliant. 

I filled, Alex corked. It worked great and was actually fun!

Automatic bottler

Hand corker

30 bottles of cider

2 demijohns remaining -- need clarifying

Wines and ciders in pleasing hues

Cider racked in the shed

The Brix of the Rondo and the Solaris was 6 for both, SG 1.025,  about 3.5% ABV which is not enough for the wine to be properly preserved. We'll wait a couple of weeks longer and check again. Then we'll have to figure it out. I thought we'd have a better result. I found it perplexing that they both read exactly the same. 

We got lucky today and Storm Ciarán passed to our south with devastating effects on Jersey and Brittany in particular, as well as Galicia. 

Preparing for bottling

I ordered bottles through amazon because all the people I tried to buy from in the vicinity were out of stock. Alex had the manufacturer throw in the bottle washer and dryer with the shipment from Italy when they got stuck due to the strikes there. So Alex spent the morning washing bottles and they are now drying. 

We plan to bottle the cider and the red wine first. 

Pressure and foot operated

The white bottles look smaller than the red? 

Packaging is hard to unwrap

Rondo, Solaris and Cider (l to r)

More bottles

Storm Ciarán is on the way, the third cyclonic low-pressure system already this year. The jet stream has apparently done a wobbly again and we are in for a procession of lows. We can expect hurricane-force winds and torrential rains with this one, worst in the south and east. And they have already experienced severe flooding. 

We were in Galway for the Macnas parade and the full moon caused flooding on the high tide even with the flood-defence barriers in place. We had a lovely time in a house right on the river. The Corrib has a mighty current and it is mesmerizing to the point of being frightening. I much prefer the gentle rhythm of the sea. The parade, by the way, was phenomenal. Today is All Hallows Eve but it won;t be a pleasant Halloween Trick or Treat for the kiddies across most of the country. The rains should be moving in by this evening. 

What effect all this rain will have on the vineyard I can't predict, but it all is very strange. The orchard trees are blooming again and the leaves have not yet dropped from the trees and vines. But Alex lost all but one of his hives. There had been too much rain since July for them to forage and he didn't know to feed them. 

Some highlights from the Macnas Parade in Galway on Sunday evening, the day the clocks turned back...

Last batch

 

We had one last fish box full of beautiful apples to process. So we got into the winery in the morning and chopped and churned and crushed and pressed until all the juice had been forced out of the fruits. 

When Alex opened the vat with the juice from yesterday, it was fermenting heavily. It looked alien but smelled divine. We added the juice from today without adding yeast, figuring that the yeast from yesterday had multiplied and would be fed by the new apple juice. Alex stirred and covered it over. 

We estimated that we have about 40 litres of juice fermenting. We have about 25 litres of juice frozen or refrigerated and ready to drink. And it is delicious. We were worried about these being Bramley cooking apples and perhaps not sweet enough, but we like it just fine the way it is. 

Curiously, although the remains of the apples looked like they were still quite plump, they feel dry to the touch. It will make awesome compost next year. And now I don't have to feel guilty about apples going bad over the winter like last year. We did save two trays which Alex wrapped individually in newspaper to preserve. We'll see if that helps. 

Hard cider

 

Today, we decided to make apple cider. I chopped apples while Alex ground and pressed. I worked through two fish boxes full of apples, some of which were nicely ripe and soft to cut, others were hard.

I then prepared the yeast. I was advised that champagne yeast is the thing to use, but I had all-purpose wine yeast and lots of it. I mixed 200 ml of juice with 200 ml of warm water with some yeast nutrient - enough to cover 25 liters of juice which Alex forecast would be our take. As the rule of hand recipe calls for one tsp yeast per gallon of juice, equivalent to 25l = 6.6 gal, I mixed in 7 tsp yeast. Better to go more than less with yeast. 

The Brix measured 10.05%. The room is now a steady 22C. I poured the yeast mixture in after it was bubbling nicely. We'll come back to finish the final fish box of apples tomorrow and we'll add the juice to the rest that is fermenting in the SS tank. 

As today was awful weather, with Storm Babet coming through, it was a great day for an indoor project. I  LOVE having the shed. We faired okay in this, but down south they got a month's worth of rain in 24 hours. Post-Biblical they called it. Heaven help us. At least we'll be able to drown our sorrows. 

Apple Juice

The old apple press takes hard hand-cranking

We braved the elements of Storm Babet, which is drowning Cork and southern England, to process the first batch of apples - the equivalent of two fish boxes. We cut the apples, put them through the masher of the old apple press, then chunked them into smaller pieces in the destemmer/crusher, and finally pressed them in the Hydropress before storing them in plastic bottles in the new fridge freezer. (Good timing)

It was hard work but satisfying and the juice is very tasty. We got two five-gallon buckets full - eight 2l bottles and plenty of small bottles. We gave two to the Tinsleys last night.

Today we will continue as we have three more fish boxes full of apples. But this time. we are going to make hard cider. It's essentially the same process as making wine so we'll just use one of the steel fermentation vats. A rule of thumb is to add a teaspoon of yeast per gallon of juice. I happen to have a lot of yeast. 

We've tested much of the equipment now and we love the hydropress but we are not enamoured by the destemmer/crusher. Granted we used it on apples not grapes, but it made such a mess, flinging bits of apple across the room in all directions. It's also quite loud and scary. I'll reserve final judgment until next year's grape harvest. 

On the weather front, parts of the country recorded a temperature of 0C yesterday and today parts of Cork have already measured 115 mm rain - more than a month's worth and it's still raining. 

What a mess!