Woohoo... it's cider making time of year again !!

Just collected my first big tubs of apples from folks in the village virtually begging me to get them. Certainly will, folks.
So first 25 litres will be on the way tonight, all being well.
Happy days ahead.

 

Do you use a press? Noticed machine mart even sell one of them!
Is it an easy process?

 

weve got an apple tree that most of the apples go to waste so coudl have a bash! Are any tyoe of apple good for eat? Or any so long as eating apples (not cooking apples).

 

I used to but it is very time consuming so now I use an old upright spin drier. £15 off ebay. Does a far better job in a fraction of the time. I'll copy you what I put on my facebook page so you can read (roughly) how it's done.

"How to make your own cider.... and it's very good and strong. I can vouch for its potency !
At this time of year there are so many apples going spare, some have fallen, others are still ripening on the tree. best wait till October as they will ripen even more. The juicier they are the better. To check if they are ripe cut one in half and if the pips are brown then it's ok, if they're still green leave them for a while and keep checking.
It is best to try to get a mixture of sweet and sour apples, but I use what is there. But don't use just sour apples, cookers, like Bramleys, I think it wouldn't make very good cider. You need sweet apples in the mix for the sugar content, which is the thing that creates the alcohol later. You could try sweet eaters only.
Anyway, assuming you can get several pounds of fresh ones, cut off any rot, holes or creatures (bruised apples can be used) and cut them into smallish slices, small enough to fit down the tube of a food processor like a magimix type of thing. You don't have to peel them.
Slowly process the whole lot until you have a large quantity of pulp.
I then fill a muslin bag with the pulp and put it into my old but very clean upright spin drier, the sort with a round lid on the top and a spout or tube that lets out the liquid. I bought it locally for a few quid off ebay and keep it for this one purpose. It is not used for spinning my socks and pants.
Get a container to catch the juice and start to spin. After a few seconds the juice starts flowing, let it run for about 30 seconds or so until no more comes out. Take out the bag, discard the dry pulp and repeat the process as many times as it takes to fill, say, a demijohn, which is a gallon.
There is no need to add any sugar.
You can run the juice through a filter if you want to help remove any bits in the juice.
I have a 5 gallon bucket which I fill.
Then you need one Campden tablet, from a homebrew shop. Crush it and put it into the demijohn and LEAVE FOR 24 HOURS. This neutralises any natural yeasts in the juice.
After this time add a sachet of CIDER YEAST, let it sink down itself, no need to shake the demijohn, and put in the rubber bung and airlock, with water in it of course.
After a day or so the fermentation should have started with bubbles coming through the airlock. Then it's a case of waiting patiently..... for a few weeks.... until the fermentation stops, the liquid in the demijohn is clear, and NO MORE BUBBLES are forcing their way through the airlock. This is very important. If you're not sure then leave it a bit longer.
Without disturbing the sediment in the bottom of the demijohn syphon out the liquid into plastic pop bottles with the screw tops. They must be pressure type bottles, like fizzy lemonade ones. And they must be very clean.. sterilized if possible.
I put half a teaspoon of sugar into each bottle to give the eventual cider a bit of a fizz, a sparkle.
If you prefer the scrumpy type cider, flat without any sparkle do not put sugar into the bottle. As far as I know it is probably drinkable in this state but may improve if left for a while. I don't know cos I always do add sugar.
Anyway, fill the bottle nearly to the top, screw the top on tightly and shake it vigorously to dissolve the sugar.
Leave it for several days. To start with you will be able to press the sides of the bottles easily but as the sugar takes effect over time, depending on how long you want to wait, the pressure builds inside the bottle and it becomes very firm to press.
I have made five gallons worth each time in a large fermenting bucket, and doing a check before and after of the abv, alcohol content, it averages at about 8%, but I have experimented in demijohns by adding sugar before fermenting (you don't need to do this) and ended up with about 12%. Rocket fuel.
I can however vouch for my cider..... having demolished three half litre bottles one hot sunny afternoon I was totally out of my head, I lost the power of speech, I was all over the place and had that very bad spinning feeling when you know you just shouldn't have done it..... that "never again" feeling."

 

The ideal ones are "bitter sweet", proper cider apples, but we don't have that type of thing up north as a rule, so best go for 50/50 eating apples/cookers.
Failing that just use eaters.... or whatever you can get. That's what I do. I experiment to see what happens and so long as it is drinkable then that's fine.
You'd need about 3 or 4 big carrier bags to make about a gallon, one demijohn, depending on how juicy the apples are. I'll copy my facebook instructions for you below.


"How to make your own cider.... and it's very good and strong. I can vouch for its potency !
At this time of year there are so many apples going spare, some have fallen, others are still ripening on the tree. best wait till October as they will ripen even more. The juicier they are the better. To check if they are ripe cut one in half and if the pips are brown then it's ok, if they're still green leave them for a while and keep checking.
It is best to try to get a mixture of sweet and sour apples, but I use what is there. But don't use just sour apples, cookers, like Bramleys, I think it wouldn't make very good cider. You need sweet apples in the mix for the sugar content, which is the thing that creates the alcohol later. You could try sweet eaters only.
Anyway, assuming you can get several pounds of fresh ones, cut off any rot, holes or creatures (bruised apples can be used) and cut them into smallish slices, small enough to fit down the tube of a food processor like a magimix type of thing. You don't have to peel them.
Slowly process the whole lot until you have a large quantity of pulp.
I then fill a muslin bag with the pulp and put it into my old but very clean upright spin drier, the sort with a round lid on the top and a spout or tube that lets out the liquid. I bought it locally for a few quid off ebay and keep it for this one purpose. It is not used for spinning my socks and pants.
Get a container to catch the juice and start to spin. After a few seconds the juice starts flowing, let it run for about 30 seconds or so until no more comes out. Take out the bag, discard the dry pulp and repeat the process as many times as it takes to fill, say, a demijohn, which is a gallon.
There is no need to add any sugar.
You can run the juice through a filter if you want to help remove any bits in the juice.
I have a 5 gallon bucket which I fill.
Then you need one Campden tablet, from a homebrew shop. Crush it and put it into the demijohn and LEAVE FOR 24 HOURS. This neutralises any natural yeasts in the juice.
After this time add a sachet of CIDER YEAST, let it sink down itself, no need to shake the demijohn, and put in the rubber bung and airlock, with water in it of course.
After a day or so the fermentation should have started with bubbles coming through the airlock. Then it's a case of waiting patiently..... for a few weeks.... until the fermentation stops, the liquid in the demijohn is clear, and NO MORE BUBBLES are forcing their way through the airlock. This is very important. If you're not sure then leave it a bit longer.
Without disturbing the sediment in the bottom of the demijohn syphon out the liquid into plastic pop bottles with the screw tops. They must be pressure type bottles, like fizzy lemonade ones. And they must be very clean.. sterilized if possible.
I put half a teaspoon of sugar into each bottle to give the eventual cider a bit of a fizz, a sparkle.
If you prefer the scrumpy type cider, flat without any sparkle do not put sugar into the bottle. As far as I know it is probably drinkable in this state but may improve if left for a while. I don't know cos I always do add sugar.
Anyway, fill the bottle nearly to the top, screw the top on tightly and shake it vigorously to dissolve the sugar.
Leave it for several days. To start with you will be able to press the sides of the bottles easily but as the sugar takes effect over time, depending on how long you want to wait, the pressure builds inside the bottle and it becomes very firm to press.
I have made five gallons worth each time in a large fermenting bucket, and doing a check before and after of the abv, alcohol content, it averages at about 8%, but I have experimented in demijohns by adding sugar before fermenting (you don't need to do this) and ended up with about 12%. Rocket fuel.
I can however vouch for my cider..... having demolished three half litre bottles one hot sunny afternoon I was totally out of my head, I lost the power of speech, I was all over the place and had that very bad spinning feeling when you know you just shouldn't have done it..... that "never again" feeling."

 

Cool thanks. I fancy having a bash but im not a cider drinker... But i've heard home made cider different to that you buy in that its nicer? Just be a good way to make use of spare apples rather then them go to waste!

 

I am a