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Cider bulk pricing?

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Meriadoc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Jul 6, 2005
206
0
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Just curious what ya'll think of this...

The other day, I found a local farmer's market that sold produce it grows itself. They have an apple orchard, and they send out their apples to be pressed, and get back cider (no chemicals, no pasteurization (AFAIK)) in half-gallon and gallon jugs.

I stopped by yesterday, and asked about getting a 5-gallon batch or two, for use in making hard cider (and cyser, but I figured I wouldn't cloud the issue by mentioning that to them). I asked if there was the possibility of a bulk-pricing break, especially if I used my own container. They informed me that the owner would likely cut me a break, and they'd get back to me in a day or so.

Just got a call back. I was told that they'd be willing to sell me the cider that they "hadn't sold in time, and might already be fermenting" for half-price, but other than that, they wouldn't be able to offer me any other deals.

I thought the prospects of taking on cider that was already "going" (or was on the verge of it) to be a dicey proposition, and politely declined their offer.

Is it unrealistic to hope for a discount beyond the retail one-gallon price?

Would you think that their offer of "cider going bad" is as odd as it struck me as being?

Just curious...

Merry
 

intothefray

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 11, 2005
101
0
0
Not a bad deal for either of you with the offer they gave you. Just put out signs in front of their business that their Cider is made from inorganic apples.
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 23, 2004
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Cedar Rapids, IA
The fresh raw apple juice I get from my friend starts to ferment on it's own, even with constant refrigeration, after a week or two. So it's not surprising that they would have some juice that is starting to "go bad" after a week or so since it is being trucked around and handled a lot...

If you are going to use something like EC-1118, which is our household standard for cysers, the presence of the natural yeasts fermenting may not be an issue since the EC-1118 will clobber them. On the other hand, if you already have something producing vinegar in the juice, the flavor may never recover. So exercise caution...

The final comment would be that you can likely get a better deal on the juice if you find someone that squeezes their own. The farmer that ships to someone else to squeeze and then gets juice back already has two sets of transportation costs as well as whatever he was charged for the squeezing invested in the juice and probably can't discount it as much as you'd like. If you find someone that squeezes their own, you might even be able to trade labor for juice and get some for free...
 
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