[mushroom]

I
After pressing apples, I add a campden tablet (to sterilise) and 1 teaspoon of pectalase (to drop sediment/clear).

Why sterilize the juice? Have you tried not sterilizing it? Doesn't the yeast/alcohol produced & acidity take care of undesireable micro-organisms, or are you sterilizing to halt fermentation?

[Bodger]

We simply used the yeast from the apples to get great results.

Some of the big producers kill off the natural yeasts by sterilising the juice and then after this they add champagne yeast. They do this to obtain both uniformity of taste and to be able to better predict when the the cider is ready. They just remove some of the guess work out of the process.

[shaun]

well bodger if you want a independent verdict on the cider when its ready give us a shout and i will be on the next bus

[David.]

Why sterilize the juice? Have you tried not sterilizing it? Doesn't the yeast/alcohol produced & acidity take care of undesireable micro-organisms, or are you sterilizing to halt fermentation?

I sterilise because:

1) The apples are crawling with hundreds of fruit flies, etc.

2) I mainly use the juice for apple wine (+ some cider) and don't want the natural yeasts that produce a lesser amount of alcohol.

3) As I pasteurise juice for later use, and it takes me 1 hr/gall to press, I sterilise the juice so I can press enough for either a 6 gall batch to ferment right away, or have sufficient juice to warrant heating up the pasteuriser and bottling the juice.

4) I produce both cider & wine in 6 gall batches and don't want to risk losing the lot, bearing in mind that it takes me approx 1hr to press each gallon of juice + all the time spent pasteurising, freezing, then blending to get the flavour right, then all the effort in fermenting, racking, clearing, re-fermenting/disgorging (for sparkling wine/cider), etc.

4) As I also use the juice for apple wine, which will be around much, much longer than cider, I want the minimum of bugs in it. I remember buying farmhouse cider years ago that would come out the barrels clear & golden, then turn brown, then turn to vinegar.

I don't add any campden tablets to juice that I pasteurise & bottle to drink later just as an apple juice drink (although I still have the option to convert to cider/wine).

[mushroom]

hi, thanks for replying. As a fellow brewer, I'm always interested in different approaches to solving similar problems. I brew beer from scratch (i.e hops, water, yeast, malted barley). I use heat to sterilize the wort and I sterilize equipment with milton (sodium hypochlorite solution). My process differs from yours in that I require the mash to be steeped at 62-65C for a time, then rinsed at 70C to 85C depending on what i want the brew to be like, then decanted out, then it has to be boiled with hops for anything between 1 and 2 hrs. Also, the heated batch won't be sitting around.

Analogous to your process would be if I extracted the malt then stored it - I don't do this.

The people who i knew who made cider did it the old farmhouse way - letting the apples sit in a bucket until soft then pressing what remains, then adding yeast, so it wasn't just up to the wild yeasts to do the fermenting. It was a strong brew all right. They didn't have a fruit fly problem though. I think they rinsed their fruit and gave each fruit a cursory glance to make sure nothing was alive inside, but that's it. they would boil their extract for a short time before cooling it.

[Annie]

Quote David;I seem to recall hearing something like that myself over the last few days + about the juice running down the front of kitchen units/appliances when transfering pommace (in bucket on floor) to the press (on work top).

The really messy bit is when using a pulpmaster bucket + electric drill to chop the fruit, and lifting the top before the blade has stopped spinning!

Both of the above apply,except for mysterious  reasons press is in middle of kitchen floor,don`t talk to me about the pulpmaster.You also forgot to mention the fruit flies!I sympathise with whoever mentioned this to you :cry:  :roll:

[Bodger]

well bodger if you want a independent verdict on the cider when its ready give us a shout and i will be on the next bus

You're too late mate      Last years went down a treat but we will be making it again in the next month or two.

[David.]

You also forgot to mention the fruit flies!

Thanks for reminding me! Came back from a few days away last year to nearly 1,000 in the house (I counted them as I would swat up to 100 at a time). The waste goes into 5 gall buckets (with lids) off to the allotment composters. I place wine traps around the house made of jam jars with yellow carboard cone tops with a small hole and baited with cider vinegar or orange wine. Those plastic non-spill kids paint pots make ready made traps.

Using an electric fan blows them away from the cider/wine you are working on.

[soaplady]

Hi Bodger,

In your photos when you were making your cider, you had a little circular press which you said was about £70.00 to buy, could you tell me where you got if from please, and was it easy to use.

thanks

Chris & Fiona

[Bodger]

Hi Soaplady

For starters just put 'cider press' into E Bay and I think you'll be astonished at just how much there is out there and how reasonably priced it is.
The little one that we purchased is more than adequate for the job and its amazing just how much it wil produce in a short space of time.

Cider making really is a simple straigtforward process. Tomorrow is the actual day that we are going to make ours this year.

[muntjac]

and the cider tour starts when bodger  

[Aunt Sally]

I keep inviting myself to the party Munty, but Bodger's not accepted yer  

[muntjac]

  me 2 lol im gonna have a busmans holiday 2 weeks werking on someones farm smallholding etc and have me bed n board in return fer my labour lol.. offers in pm please    no selling on the site lmao

[Bodger]

and the cider tour starts when bodger  

The forum that I'm connected with has a cider tour starting on Friday the 3rd of November at Peterstow near Ross on Wye and everyone is welcome

[Bodger]

We made ten gallons of cider today using mainly eating apples with a few cookers thrown in for good measure. I think the cider will be considerably sweeter than last years and possibly a little stronger.

We also made two gallons of perry using conference pears.