Cedar Contamination?

[CGJ]

I have been grinding a few batches of a few bushels each year using a
purpose-bought sink grinder (garbage disposal). To make this work, I
have to keep pushing the fruit in using a sacrificial piece of wood. My
old piece of poplar had gotten too short, so I grabbed a piece of clear
cedar stock and started using that, noting that it was getting chewed up
much more quickly than the poplar ever did (an inch or two in one
bushel, rather than an inch or two per year).

My concern is, as I was loading the pomace  of Virginia Crab into the
press, I was getting a cedar odor. (A first load today of a local wild
crab did not have this issue.)

Have I ruined the VC juice (which does smell slightly of cedar)? Is this
going to present a toxicity issue of any sort, or just an aesthetic one?
I'm thinking to keep it as a pure juice and just see what comes of it
with fermentation if there is no safety issue.

Carl Johnson
West Barnstable
Massachusetts

[Courtney Meier]

Hi Carl - based on some anecdotal evidence, I can't imagine there would be a safety issue from the cedar. Some years ago when I visited Tofino on Vancouver Island in BC a restaurant there served a delightful cocktail made with cedar-infused rye. That said, there are a number of compounds in cedar wood that inhibit fungal growth, so it is possible that compounds from cedar wood could inhibit yeast growth as well, though again, I don't really know of any evidence one way or the other.

Cheers,

Courtney Meier

Boulder, CO

[Charles Claus]

Hi there,

I encourage you to think of some creative ways to move beyond your current grinding method utilizing a garburator. Could you possibly rent an apple grinder or team up with someone who has a grinder? Maybe you could take a look at Claude's book The Cider Digest and possibly build your own grinder.

Baring that you might need to bite the bullet and buy yourself a small grinder. 

Charles Claus

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[CGJ]

Hi Courtney,

Very interesting about the cedar-infused rye. I would think that the
ethanol would make a great extraction solvent, so if toxicity is not an
issue there, then my issue should be minor. (Of course, sometimes "the
dose is what makes the poison".)

Good point about the fungal inhibitors. I'm sure the cedar are generally
more concerned about fungus digesting them than primates chewing on
them, although I do have first hand experience with deer eating my new
cedar (virginia juniper) transplants during the winter.

I think at this point, I'll just go ahead and ferment it as an
independent batch, and see what happens. The CO2 escaping may also
sparge out some of the volatiles, so that could have an effect also.

Thanks!
Carl Johnson
West Barnstable,
Massachusetts

[CGJ]

Hi Charles,

Certainly it would be great to have a more appropriate grinder, but for
less than 10 bushels per year, divided over three or four runs, this
works well enough. I get a pomace that is fine enough (perhaps too
fine), and my weight yield is regularly greater than 75% and often
greater than 80%.

The grinder in Claude's book does indeed look great, but for my
quantities, I'd never break even on the build time.

Thanks for the response!