Season2019

<<<Back to the main page>>>

Campaign status

• Total amount desired: € 6 000.00
• Number of donations: 0
• Total amount received/pledged: € 00.00
• Updated 25/2/2020

Summary

The target of this crowdfunding or rather "friendfunding" campaign is to help me to complete my first commercial cider season, 2019. I've been fermenting for over a decade but this is a first time when I can actually make real money from my beloved activity. I've a bit over 90 hl (9 000 l) of cider fermenting, results of my hard work last autumn. All apples were manually harvested, organic (no certification but no treatments), fermentated with natural yeast on the apples, nothing added during the fermentation, later on the cider will be fermented naturally in the bottle. I put already over 5 000€, some money of my own some I have borrowed. I estimate that the costs of finishing up the season properly will be around €6 000. This includes bottles, corks, capsules and muselets for bottling. But also importantly costs of distillation because not all the cider will be good enough for bottling. I also need to have ready a special "deposit" for the French government, worth of 10% of value of my products. The list could go on and on. I highly appreciate any support here, it is the 2019 and upcoming 2020 seasons which I will need help with. After that I can start to sell my products and things will get better. Of course I'm offering some cider perks. Please be aware that the cider needs time to finish it's fermentation in the bottle, so it will be not ready before August, after than it needs to be stored if possible below 10°C definitely not above 15°C. Many thanks for your support and if you have any further questions and suggestions, please have a look on "details" below or get in touch. Merci!

Donating

You can donate in the following ways:

• Bank transfer to Frantisek Apfelbeck's (Algoldor's) bank account:
  • IBAN : FR76 1660 6100 1084 8435 1462 511
  • BIC: AGRIFRPP866
  • Please add the description "cidre2019" plus "perk name" if you claim one
• Bitcoin donation receiving address (Algoldor's bitcoin wallet): 1AxX8BMNs4fnZXyCpZURqtMDiP1yGY3YMS
  • Please add the description "cidre2019" plus "perk name" if you claim one
• PayPal Send money to: algoldor@yahoo.com - please use the "Send money to a friend" function and include your Name, Nickname and "cidre2019" plus "perk name" if you claim one. Thanks!

Contact: algoldor@foodhackingbase.org

Perks

Here you can soon find list of perks. Please be aware. it is expensive to ship cider. It is possible but the price for one carton (6xbottles) delivered around Europe is around 40€. I'm regularly coming to some events where I bring my cider and I can do some deliveries in France, Germany, Czech Republic and possibly other countries but it needs to be agreed on! Of course you can come and pick it up either in France or Czech Republic.

Details

I've been fermenting variety of things since 2007. I started with cider since I came back to Europe in 2016. This is my fourth season and first commercial one. I aim to do a best product and here I will simply describe how I am accomplishing that. After that we will talk about business model which I'm after and prices. Last but not least I will go through a long term vision.

Production

I do manual harvest only. That allows me to select just the best apples, plus they are much cleaner than when harvested by machine so I can minimize washing and therefore waste of water. I can do between 500 to 900 kg per day by myself depending on the orchard, weather, my condition and also if I harvest directly to a trailer or into the bags. I transport my apples next to my workshop and in general I allow them to sit for few weeks so they can mature a bit more. After that I crash and press the apples with help of local prestataire de service M. Benoit, who comes with his mobile press. Here a big thanks to my friends who help me with this! If we do well, we can transform around three to four tonnes per four hours. With around 70% efficiency it gives 700 l of fresh apple juice from 1000 kg of apples give or take. I try to select which apples are pressed when during the pressing which results in a juice/moût with flavour profile corresponding as much as possible with the final cider flavour which I'm after. It is called assemblage. I transfer the resulting juice into the fermentation vessels taking the samples. If all goes well, there is a process called défécation "high clearing" where the pectins clarify the juice. I let the young cider ferment at ambient temperature over the winter. During this period I'm transferring the cider (racking/soutirage) from vessel to vessel to slow down the fermentation, disposing the sediment therefore getting rid of impurities. I check how is the specific density going slowly down, smelling and tasting if the cider doesn't have any off fragrances or off flavours. If it does I try to work with it or destine it for distillation. I also try to check the pH. Around February I do the final fragrance and flavour tests and check by microscope what is the yeast cell count. Based on that I may do a filtration through cardboard filters but I'm trying to avoid that to keep it as natural as possible. When I decide that the cider is ready for bottling I buy bottles, corks, muselets and capsules, get the bottling equipment ready (which I'm borrowing currently) and with help of my friends I start to bottle. Well synchronized group of four people can bottle between 3 000 to 5 000x of 750 ml bottles depending if they are capsuling (faster) or corking. The cider continues to ferment in the bottle (just natural yeast which were already present), so called prise de mousse naturelle, which takes between two to five months. This process should occur at temperatures below 10°C resulting in pressure of 2-3 bars. If all goes well by the end of the summer or beginning of the autumn the cider is ready to be drunk. However any shipment on long distance and especially at higher temperature just after end of the season is risky. If I do the delivery it's OK on shorter distances because I do it properly. If transported by agency it is better to wait for some months more or for intercontinental shipping sending after another summer season is best. Of course keeping the delivery at cold is the best but that is generally too expensive.

Business model

My aim is to keep making a high quality product in a manner described above at smaller quantities because I believe there is a limit how big you can go and do it well. Based on my experience I can imagine something up to 100 tonnes but that would be max and "long term future" maybe, which will be discussed later. This season I've transformed bit below 15 tonnes of apples resulting in over 90 hl (9 000 l) of juice. In the next few years, so 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons lets say I plan to gradualy increase it to thirty tonnes if I manage to get money for it. For most of the batches (lots) I plan to ask for around €6-7 for 750 ml bottle before tax (tax is 20% in general) and for €7-9 for 750 ml for special small batches (micro-cuve), again 750 ml bottles and tax 20%. I would like to make one batch for lower price for people who help me during the season financially or by their activity, plus people who would pre-buy. In this particular case I would like stay stay around 5€ per bottle, not sure still if before or after tax. These prices seems to me reasonable concerning the type and size of production which I do. Also compared to other professional producers who do cider in a similar manner and quality, the price corresponds, or in cases is actually lower. For me the prices are simply reflecting economic reality, they give me a chance to compete, get into and stay on the market. My main aim for sale is export, especially countries where I've been living before like USA, Japan, Korea and other. When I move back to Czech Republic I hope to build clientele in this and neighbouring countries. I also plan to sell in restaurants and caves/wine shops. I do not plan in foreseeable future to sell on local markets.