Making cider

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gusto

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Making cider
« on: September 19, 2010, 20:03 »
Hi all just spent must of day pressing a load of apples and got loads of juice, just wondering best way of making cider with all the juice , has been long time since done any home brewing abd was mainly wine , any help would be most grateful .

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rachelr

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2010, 07:57 »
check out the link on the web site for home brews. Loads of recipes its brill

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V8ACCobra

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2010, 22:13 »
Try Googling Cider Recipes and you will find loads there.  :)

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gusto

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2010, 12:03 »
Cheers all got some on the go now still bit cloudy will it clear or will i need to clear it .

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jonewer

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2010, 17:45 »
Cheers all got some on the go now still bit cloudy will it clear or will i need to clear it .

You'll probably need to clear it if that what you want to do. Some pectolase might help but I'd leave it a good long while first.

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jimbeekeeper

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2010, 21:35 »
Cheers all got some on the go now still bit cloudy will it clear or will i need to clear it .

It will clear on its own!

I assume you have in under and air-lock?

Cider does not need a recipie, just make sure you start off right witht he apples!

A good mix of cookers, eaters and crabs, only use wind fall aples (i.e dont pick them) let them sit for a few days until you can just push your thumb through them.

Crush then press then put in demijohn or other vessel with airlock on.

Simples!

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JohnB

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2010, 16:55 »
I hope I can keep this short? Firstly I have 29 gallons of cider on the go so far this year.
1st how to make the apples suitable for pressing:- DO NOT USE the bucket and 4 inch square wood bit. Use a garden shredder it will give you the perfect size of apple for pressing and I mean perfect. Cut to whatever size will go through the slot at the top with a bucket underneath to catch the shredded apples AND THE JUICE. Makes sure that you leave a bucket underneath at all times as juice will drip out for a while.
2ND The press:- A/ Get an Ebay cheapo.....don't bother they break in no time, plus they are to small.
B/ Again Ebay search and save the search for a Walker Desmond wine press. I have also seen it called a Boots wine press so maybe still available new. Weird design but very well built not huge but adequate for most people.
C/ make your own if you have the ability tons of designs available on the Internet.
D/ buy a new or used one of Ebay or even a home made one of Ebay BUT do a local search and save as postage maybe expensive.
3 The apples. There are 2 types of cider apples one is called a multi purpose (very fashionable now a days) Thatchers (the company) ciders are an obvious example. Or vintage varieties. these are single purpose and taste manure and are unsuitable for cooking they are only suitable for for making cider. Gwatkins a small cider maker on the Herefordshire border are the best example of this (very very cheap if you buy bag in a box will deliver 20 liters for £47 about £1.20 a pint for prize winning cider IE best in Britain)
Odds are you are not going to have either available to you and your cider will NOT taste great. This is what experienced amateur suggest to do.
A/ Blend the apples before you make the cider this assume you have more than 1 variety of apple.
B/ blend the juice before turning into cider. Both the latter need more than 1 variety and the variety have to be available at the same time.
C/ Blend the finished single variety ciders before bottling. The latter is supposed to be the hardest and is used by professionals. As I never have all my apples available at the same time I am going to give this a go but doubt I am skilled enough.
THE LATTER ALL SUGGEST THAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE A GOOD cider NO MATTER WHAT APPLES YOU USE as long as you blend them right. I say that  2 lots of manure apples or ciders will not make a good cider. Therefore the following is what I have done up to now. I have taken my iffy ciders (to say the least) and mixed them with bog standard cheapo apple juice (pasteurised) just before I drink them. Its is not necessary to have more than 25% juice to 75% cider to get very nice cider.
This is what I am trying this year Mix the shop bought pasteurized juice with the pressed apple juice at the start. Also trying mixing it after the first the first and second racking. Also trying adding it just before bottling at what ever proportions I think is right after tasting it. I am doing all the latter this year or put another way experimenting. You can also add sugar but yeast turns all sugar to alcohol (pasteurised apple juice is only water and sugar) so you need to stop the fermentation after you bottle so the sugar does not turn into alcohol. Also it is said that the bottles may exploded if there is to much fermentation going on the bottle. So bottle leave in the house for 2 days then put in the garage (somewhere cold in other words). Take it out when you want to drink it leave at room temperature for 2 days then refrigerate. This will result in a nice fizzy cider and minimal loss of added sugar.
4/ Where to get apples from. This relates only to people living in rural areas, in fact only to people living on the Lincolnshire Wolds. There is a huge amount of apples trees that have been planted in hedge rows quite a lot in road side hedges. I found 3 on 1 road almost immediately I started looking. You need to walk to find them and like mushrooming picking you need to get your eye in. You will soon spot some. Ask people with apple trees in there garden nearly all have loads spare. Back roads are best as they will not be able to sell them outside there house. Now it is important to remember it cost nothing to ask. A farmer drove me up to his field the other day as I had spotted some on his permissive path. Left me to collect them while he did a little bit of ploughing and then drove me home. Result 5 gallons of cider all I did was ask. Also got 60 concrete post for terracing and fencing my garden for free. He is even going to deliver them (I only have bicycles and bicycle trailers) ASK! IT IS FREE AND YOU MAKE NEW FRIENDS. All though they expect a few bottles of your cider.....*.
This has taken me ages to wright so I am going for a rest.....Well I may have some Gwatkins cider first as I have run out of my last years cider and for that matter my Sloe gin and furthermore my mates Elderberry wine, although most of that exploded in my daughters car redecorating the roof and mine and both daughters clothes.  JB
PS REAL CIDER MAKING ON A SMALL SCALE  by Michael Pooley & John Lomax........Excelent book maybe available in Library
PPS I made one particularly fine cider last year. It was a mix of 2 variety from someones garden. I had to mix as they did not have enough of each to make a demijohn BUT I FORGOT TO RIGHT WHICH TREES THEY WERE. They have 6 trees all are different varieties. NOTE EVERYTHING DOWN IN A BOOK AND ON YOUR COMPUTER. It will take me years to work out the right blend again.
« Last Edit: November 09, 2010, 17:27 by JohnB »

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JohnB

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2010, 14:04 »
Up date now have 34 litres of cider first bottling was excellent just like cider should taste Bramley/Blenhem orange blend .........did it again never noted down the proportions. Never mind shouldn't be that hard to work it out next year. There are 5 brameys and 1  Blenhem but the trees are prodigious so should get about 20+ gallons next year.   SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

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jimbeekeeper

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2010, 13:19 »
mine is still bubbling away nicely, dont expect to be bottleing it until March, and then drinking Late Summer.


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Edski675

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2011, 23:59 »
Hi I'm new here :D

All the above sounds like hard work TBH.  It's really easy to make perfectly acceptable cider from supermarket juice.  Yes I know it's not the same etc and don't hate me for it but it's so quick and easy...

Simply take:

4 litres of apple juice from concentrate
250g white sugar
teaspoon and a bit of general brewer's yeast or if you're posh use champagne yeast
can add a dob of honey for an interesting flavour

Sterilise everything as usual
Tip the lot into a demijohn, give it a stir, and it will bubble away nicely.

I bottle it in lemonade bottles, much easier than faffing about with champagne bottles.  When the fermentation has stopped and the cider has cleared, add half a spoon of sugar to the bottle, and then siphon in your brew.  You can drink it straight away if you want to but it improves with age and gets nicely fizzy.

Cheap as you like, and even better if the juice is on buy one get one free!  And you can do all sorts of variations, like substitute one litre of cherry juice for a litre of apple, yum.

Quick and easy for winos like me :D

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lwescott

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2011, 12:08 »
I've made some "Turbo Cider" like Edski has posted. Bottled it last week - its great!  :tongue2:

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jimbeekeeper

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2011, 20:39 »
Now't wrong with making it with super market juice.

When I was a student at uni I used to make a lot of home brew from just about anything going.

One of my best was cheap supermarket own brand coke, just added yeast to it and let it ferment.

Enough sugar in the coke allready, made quite  nice voka and coke ready mixed type drink



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Silkworm

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Re: Making cider
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2011, 20:48 »
Hi all just spent must of day pressing a load of apples and got loads of juice, just wondering best way of making cider with all the juice , has been long time since done any home brewing abd was mainly wine , any help would be most grateful .

Hi gusto,

l made 183 litres this year :), simply collected bramleys and jonagolds about 50/50 crushed and pressed them, to the juice in five gallon vats added one champagne yeast sachet
and let it ferment for two weeks, stirring twice aday for the first week, when the bubbles had stopped rising and final gravity was 0 syphoned into PET bottles (lemonade/coke) added two teaspoons of sugar, tightened
the tops and left in a warm place for  five days to a week, put into very cool place(that helps with clearing) and leave for nine months, result easy drinking crystal clear sparkling cider.  ::) ::) ::)

Best of luck & happy dringing.

Silky  :D :D :D

« Last Edit: January 17, 2011, 20:52 by Silkworm »
Talking to yourself maybe MAD, but at least I know what I mean.
You never stop learning.



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