Making your own Cider
Discussion
Just returned from a weekend in Herefordshire where we visited the Westons brewery.
It got me thinking, how difficult would it be to make your own cider? OK it might be a bit dark and scrumpyish, but its worth a go.
Has anyone tried it, or can they offer any tips?
I am wondering what type of yeast to add, and what sort of apples to use.
It got me thinking, how difficult would it be to make your own cider? OK it might be a bit dark and scrumpyish, but its worth a go.
Has anyone tried it, or can they offer any tips?
I am wondering what type of yeast to add, and what sort of apples to use.
It isn't difficult, and you can get appropriate yeasts. If you google you should be able to find plenty of information. You need to pulp the apples and put them though a press (you can hire the equipment for this) or use a domestic juicer (this is a lot of work).
The difficulty you will have is that proper cider needs proper cider apples. You can blend dessert and cooking apples to get the right acidity, but you won't have the bitter (tannin) flavour you get from proper cider apples. You can make a nice drink, but it won't be traditional cider in the west country style.
The difficulty you will have is that proper cider needs proper cider apples. You can blend dessert and cooking apples to get the right acidity, but you won't have the bitter (tannin) flavour you get from proper cider apples. You can make a nice drink, but it won't be traditional cider in the west country style.
Just to add, we have bramley and cox. I added some crab apple and quince to add tannin, but the cider was still a bit bland. What did work well was some cysers - apple juice and honey. I made different strengths, still and sparkling, from about 8% alcohol and dry to about 15% and sweet. The strong, sweet and dry, sparkling were very nice, though they needed some time in the bottle to mature.
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