cider making

[S70JPS]

I have loads of apple and pear trees and every year the fruit goes to waste. This year I've decided to make cider and told the wife she could have some perry! I have made plenty of kit home brew in the past but never from fruit. Does anyone have any recipies and what kit over and above the normal brewing stuff will i need?

[Simpo Two]

Cider is made from cider apples (quite horrible to eat raw) so one made from dessert apples might come out rather different. But I expect it will still be quite quaffable!

[S70JPS]

I think i have bramley (cookers?) and braburn? not sure about the spelling and maybe two or three others. Just thought i could put them to good use.

[ClassicMercs]

Apple pie and cream.
Apple sauce with every meal (in our house anyway).

I think for the effort involved - and the varieties - 'food' rather than 'drink' is your best option. Extracting the juice is a task in itself. If you see how dry the pulp is with commercial cider making - impressive.

The best thing about freezers is being able to fill them them with fruit and use it over several months.

It won't be long until the main cider making season - book a holiday down in Somerset / Herefordshire and go and see how the experts do it. Keep plenty of free boot space for the journey home.

[Simpo Two]

Bramleys (as you say, cooking apples) might be the better starting point. I have a very prolific crab apple tree if you want to come round and fill your boots!

[Toyowner]

Ive made drinkable Cider from decent apple juice and a yeast/nutrient only.

Get enough juice from your apples and put into fermenting bin. Add yeast and sit back for 7/10 days.

Bottle with small teaspoon of sugar and leave for two weeks.

Home made rocket fuel - Done !

[Toyowner]

Google Turbo cider recipes for inspiration,

[otolith]

We have a big bramley and three smaller coxes. I've juiced them in the past for cider. Straight cider with a high proportion of bramley is problematic - it tends to be a bit thin and sour. I believe you can make a passable cider with a blend of dessert apples and bramleys, but you need the right blend. The thing you will always miss without proper cider apples is tannin. You may be able to improve the blend with some crab apple juice.

I am probably not going to bother with straight cider again, getting the right blend is troublesome, but what was very successful was a range of different cysers. A cyser is a mead made with apple juice or a cider with honey added depending which way you look at it. I tried a few different strengths and styles, the best one was a dry, sparkling on of about 12% alcohol with a little grape concentrate added. I also added a malolactic culture to knock the acidity back a bit - you might want to consider using this if you make straight cider with a high proportion of bramleys - a malolactic fermentation is typical of traditional scrumpy, though it is spontaneous.

I just used a domestic juicer to do my apples, though you can buy, build or hire a scratter and press to chop and juice the apples. I think our local brew shop was charging about £30/day for theirs.

I think you need perry pears for perry, I think you will find dessert pears too bland.

[Simpo Two]

otolith said:

I also added a malolactic culture to knock the acidity back a bit

That's a new word to me - presume it (they) ferment malic acid and lactic acid to... something? Fermentations usually convert sugar to alcochol (but not on to acid) - can you fill in the chemistry for a tecchie?

[otolith]

Fermentation of malic acid to lactic acid by bacteria. This results in a smoother and less tart taste. Diacetyl produced as a byproduct is responsible for the buttery flavour of some chardonnays.

I ordered the culture from a Belgian homebrew company, can dig out their URL if you want it.

[bobr]

How does everyone juice theirs? I tried to make a press last year bit it wasn't brilliant (quite a big understatement)

[Simpo Two]

otolith said:

Fermentation of malic acid to lactic acid by bacteria. This results in a smoother and less tart taste. Diacetyl produced as a byproduct is responsible for the buttery flavour of some chardonnays.

Thanks, that's interesting. I didn't realise you could ferment an acid to another acid. Seems like a good way to turn apples into milk

[otolith]

They're just another organic compound as far as bacteria are concerned - just another thing to chow down on! Same fermentation process you get in sauerkraut, dill pickle, etc.

Eta linky:

http://www.brouwland.com/setframes/?l=&to=http...

Edited by otolith on Saturday 9th July 00:45

[Hoover.]

If using a plastic bin to ferement in, make sure it is of food grade, a mate of mine on the cheap used a plastic dustbin and ended up with a very odd tasting cider which we put down to a pasticy/chemically taste.