Apple cider

[gazza1960]

As we have inherited an eater and cooker tree I was thinking about making some cider but I don't know the apple varieties......
But wanted to keep it simple do we have any cider makers in the house?and if so can you make it
On a budget without buying all manner of presses etc.

Gazza

[gazza1960]

[Paulines7]

John started making cider last year.  We didn't buy a press but bought a large juicer from John Lewis. 

http://www.johnlewis.com/sage-by-heston-blumenthal-the-nutri-juicer-silver/p489100?kpid=232164313&s_kenid=24968ed0-4c3a-a848-8250-0000297fe7f8&s_kwcid=128x50679&tmad=c&tmcampid=73 

If you want to send us your telephone number in a pm, John can give you a ring and fill you in with details of everything. 

[gazza1960]

Jeeez Pauline,if I suggested to Jude I wanted to waste £150 squids on a cider contraption she'd have a fit,I can here it now.....your better driving the 5 mins to Burley Gazza and buying their scrumpy.

That said,each year Burley have a Pressing Day ,maybe if I offer my few hundred windfalls they might trade it for  the odd flagon of falling over water....HIC.

Yer,thank you Pauline,I'll do that with the number as I'm interested as to what other components
You need to make some.

[pumkinlover]

www.lovebrewing.co.uk/wine-presses-fruit-crushers/wine-fruit-presses/

I bought this one for OH for Crimble. We made a gallon of cider.....................................................vinegar
Never mind it will come in useful in the kitchen

[galina]

You can stick washed, cored, quartered apples into a cheapie juicer.  Comes out greenish and foamy.  Let it run through a sieve lined with double muslin cloth.  Decant into plastic pop bottles and off into the fridge.  Release the stopper every few days initially.  Keeps for a long time.  I still have a bottle from last year, which fizzes very slightly when I open it now.  Cider is quite dry by now and tastes good. 

I mainly use it to deglaze the pan after frying pork chops for an extra special sauce with a good dollop of thick Greek yoghurt added right at the end. 

[Gordonmull]

As another option, you can get "scratters" (apple shredders) that are a bucket with a hole and a double blade attachment for an electric drill to chop up your apples. A car jack and some carpentry can make a press. You could put something together pretty cheap. Have a google of DIY scratters and presses. If you're making a lot, I wouldn't go down the pop-bottle-brewery route.

I used a food processor to do 20-odd kg of apples and it was a flaming nightmare. If you forget to release the pressure on the bottles it can be really messy, even plastic bottles can explode. You can get 5l bottles of mineral water for £1. Drill or melt a hole in the cap and use a grommit to make a place to put an airlock. Can also just stuff with cotton wool. Either that or go to Wilcos and get some demijohns. If you do go down the pop bottle route, just use cotton wool instead of the lid until fermentation is over.

All-in-all, though, I'd make jam and stick to turbo cider, using cheapo juice from Lidl. No mess, no fuss and a decent tasting south-east-type cider. Think it comes out at about 30p a pint. Taste-wise it kicks Strongbow's and Magners' arse up and down the field and leaves them weeping. With a straight cast of the yeast onto the juice it comes out at 5% ABV, so needs a little sugar added to the mix for proper "falling over water", although I don't bother with that. 

[galina]

. If you forget to release the pressure on the bottles it can be really messy, even plastic bottles can explode. You can get 5l bottles of mineral water for £1. Drill or melt a hole in the cap and use a grommit to make a place to put an airlock. Can also just stuff with cotton wool. Either that or go to Wilcos and get some demijohns. If you do go down the pop bottle route, just use cotton wool instead of the lid until fermentation is over. 

Cotton wool sounds a good idea, but it is equally simple (like when going away for a few days) to leave the stopper half open.  There is a lot of expansion room in the corrugated base of plastic bottles, never had a problem with exploding here.  Never had one bulge at the bottom either.  And being in a cold fridge also slows the fermentation.

I agree, demijohns with proper airlocks are the right way to go for producing any quantity.  And they are not that expensive.  Our local Wilko's also stocks a decent homebrewing collection.

[gazza1960]

Yer,thank you all some food for thought,I've seen cheap Demi john bottles at Wimborne market
So will look into it.

[hartshay]

I wonder how many are still making cider on here.

Using my own and any spare allotment apples we can acquire we make about 100 litres a year.  It is a pain crushing and pressing the apples but the results are amazing.  I have a queue of people waiting for they annual bottle or two ...  very different to the wine I make!