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Could anyone be kind enough to spell out how to make cider. quite like the flat scrumpy type myself but will try anything.

Many Thanks

Yes, I'd like some advice too as the Bramley apple tree is heavily laden (or don't bramley apples make good cider?).

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

I thought you basically just squashed the apples and saved the juice. There will be natural yeast in/on the skins but you can add more plus sugar for potency. I thought cider is the most basic of all "brewing"?

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Ok, looked this up and you are right, pick fruit, let it mature for a few weeks, then pulp it and press it to extract the juice, place in sterile demijohns and allow to ferment, decant and drink.

Method

It seems that it may be worth investing in a good mill and press.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

ooh I do love a bit o' real cider! I've seen people advertise on Freecycle for the loan of a press in exchange for some o' the finished product, that might be worth a try?

I will be attempting cider for the first time this year, this is my recipe - not sure how good it is though, having never done it before

you can use any apples, ripest are best - they have the highest sugar content, a good balance of sharp/sweet is good. apples should be pulped and pressed. the juice put into demi-johns, you can wait to see if it ferments naturally or add wine yeast with added nutrients(a couple of teaspoons to each gallon demi-john) swirl around and put in a loose sterile cotton wool plug for the first few days.leave in a warmish place. within a day or two the fermentation should be under way. when the fermentation settles down (a couple of days or so) clean the inside neck of the demi-john and fit a fermentation lock. top up with cold water to within 2-3 cm of the base of the bung. leave somewhere with temp of about 60 degrees F(no higher than 70). the fermentation is coming to an end when there is very few buubles passing through the lock, the cider is slightly murky and the yeast is on the bottom. you could use a hydrometer, this should show a reading of about 1005 or below.
Syphon off the cider and bottle.

Think there are various other things you can do to make it stronger, sweeter etc but i'm going for the basic version first
If anybody spots any problems/mistakes please let me know before I try it!!!!

Try your local homebrew shop for hire of a fruit press.

I made cider last year but was advised to kill the wild yeast before using a proper cider yeast. Can't say the result was worth the effort but someone else may have better success. Good luck folks.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

If you've only got a few apples try using a workbench to create a press. I saw a version on the net where they used two plates attached to the sides of the bench. As you wind the handles the plates close and you have small but decent press.

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Can you use a juicer for the apples? If you peel and pip them first?

janeyo

Yeah, that's what I want to know.

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I'm watching this thread with interest as I've only made Turbo Cider before (4 litres of cheap apple juice and a teaspoon of wine yeast - ready in 2-3 weeks)

Now I have apple trees... mwahahahaha

twinkle what does turbo cider taste like?

nice... flat, cloudy, scrumpy-ish.
You could make it sparkling by priming the bottles with a teaspoon or two of sugar... I did half like that and left the others flat.
Made it with Lidl apple juice in the 1.5 litre cartons so it was ultra-cheap.

Originally found the recipe here Home Winemaking and Home Beermaking Forum - Turbo Cider! at the bottom of the page

I'm not certain but I think the yeast is found on the peel so probably no good unless you add a "proper" yeast for the fermentation.

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

The yeast on the peel should get washed through and anyway it would be no different in principle to a cider press where the peel/pulp is retained too. The problem with a juicer is one of size, it may take quite a while to juice enough apples.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

I fancy having a go as well. I have read a good mixture of apples, very sweet and sour, to provide tannin, acid and sugar.

I will dig out my wine book and see if there is any advice and let you all know.

Liz

You always get some good advice on this site !!
I agree that you should either press or juice the apples and pour the juice into a container that can be kept air free/under airlock. As you cannot be sure of the type of yeast that is on the apples, especialy if you source them from different gardens and store them to soften. It would be best to add a cambden tablet to the juice to kill of wild yeasts. then introduce a white wine yeast by making up a starter then adding portions of the apple juice to it untill it all starts fermenting.

I am going to advertise 'wanted apples' at work so that I can build up a stock.

This is also a very good stock white wine to have If you add sugar. You can use it to add to other wines. You can improve pea pod, broad bean and lighten blackberry.

I haven't tried this, but I just found a recipe for cider on the self sufficientish website that doesn't involve use of a press. Might be worth a try for all of us without presses or juicers?

Here's the link: Home Brew

I'm going to have a go and make this simple press.

The Rose Hill Cider Press

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

I made my first gallon of cider last year and the result is (gaggingly), err, sharp! My boyfriend thinks it still has potential (behind the cheek sucking "tang" is a good apple flavour) so we're leaving it a bit longer in the bottles. I used a cider yeast after rinsing the apples (mixture of eaters and crab) in a light campden solution.

Warning for those using a juicer: the quantity of apples needed for a gallon of cider is not what domestic juicers were designed to cope with in one session! Mine managed but it got very hot and I got very worried that it was on the point of exploding. I will try again this year with maybe a bit more sugar (or different apple proportions or something - another method perhaps?). The cider was an amazing pinky colour at one point; I was quite disappointed when it cleared to a normal golden cider colour...

hi,everyone
for very simple cider making try Downsizer: for a sustainable & ethical future
worked well for me
laurie

For classic scrumpy you need a fair bit of tannin, a few crab apples in the mix will help ('proper' cider apples are pretty sweet, but also rich in tannin). True afficionados (such as my husband) like the 'paint-stripper' flavour, condemning anything gentler as 'too sweet', so Nelly, don't rely on your brew 'maturing' into anything softer (unless you get a flukey malo-lactic ferment).

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1, Hello all,
I have made cider for years, the scratting, and pressing is the hard part, the rest I will say to you is just like making wine, only you don't add water.
I have made 45 gallon at a time and the way I work is to put your juice into the barrel, or what ever you are using, fit an airlock, and let it go. When the fermentation has slowed right down, taste it.

2, I have had friends who have just waited untill this time, and when they have come to try it, have found that it was so sharp, they could not drink it.

3, So now you have tasted it, and it is to sharp, draw some of the cider to be off, put it into a pan to warm up and add some sugar. When the sugar has disolved and the liquid as coold down, pour it back into your barrel, and you will see the fermentation start up again. This is called feeding, but you can only go as far as the yeast will allow you to go. When you feed like this the strength ow the cider increases. I have made cider to 10%....not to be taken liteley......
4, Bramleys are not a good apple to make cider from alone, cox works well with them. So what you are looking for is a sweet apple, and a sharp apple, but like I say if you taste it when it slowes down, you can ajust the flavour, like any good cook will tell you.......I hope this helps.....

Thanks for the advice finefencer. I've read conflicting views on using cooking apples. I think I have Bramley apples and have picked around 40 big ones to soften up over the next few weeks. I can eat them raw and have a reasonable sweetness, they aren't sharp/sour at all, so I'm hopeful they may make a reasonable cider. I can always use the feeding trick.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

Hi, we juiced enough for 2 demi-johns full, waited a couple of days till it had all settled, then decanted it to clean demi-johns. Added wine yeast, poped it in the airing cupboard and fermentation took 5 days. We were astonished that it was so quick. The apples were pink sweet ones from the garden so nothing lost really if it fails. We measured the gravity before and after and reckon it will be about 6 1/2%. It's palatable now, def tastes like cider but a bit tangy (i've had worse lol) but we will rack it again and then bottle it and leave for a few months.

It's our first go so we shall see, but so far so good!

janeyo