Sir Belchalot
arenicola marina
Beware of blisters when making cider without a press. You have to chop up a lot of apples to make a decent amount of scrumpy.
Home made cider experiment
- Thread starter votisit
- Start date
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
Also:
I reckon a good proportion of 'crisp' apples such as bramleys (you might need to add more sugar if its only bramleys your using) or even Granny Smiths if you can get them make for sharper brew.
I reckon a good proportion of 'crisp' apples such as bramleys (you might need to add more sugar if its only bramleys your using) or even Granny Smiths if you can get them make for sharper brew.
Some excellent advice on this thread, thank you very much, especially Funky Monks for that recipe. I think I will be trying it out next month.
OK, Update;
The G clamp idea for pressing the apples didn't quite go to plan so we bought a cheap press made of metal.
After picking 4 full to the brim carrier bags we carefully washed them and I cut them into 8ths discarding any mouldy, overly bruised ones. A lovely blister formed on my index finger at which point I got out the "fuckoff" sized chopper knife and discovered that pleasure which comes from whacking down a large knife over a chopping board. Had to pick up a few apples off the floor as my technique was a little haphazard.
All the small apple pieces were put into a food processor and then transferred into our lovely little press where we realised that the apples are a lot tougher than expected. Back to the food processor, gave them another whizz till the chunks were a little smaller. Good result. Lots of smiles all round as the juice flowed from the little tube. Only one demi John full though
Bearing in mind so many different ways of making cider and the possibilities of things going tits up, we decided to use a campden tablet to neutralize the bad bacteria and then added a small amount of yeast together with a couple of large tablespoons of sugar which I made into a sugar syrup.
The demi John was fitted with an airlock and placed on the kitchen windowsill so that the sun would warm it up and kick it into fermentation mode. It started bubbling nicely and buggar it, I forgot to take it off the windowsill this morning before going to work, which means I will have a lot of mess to clean up when I get home.
I will be posting photos of the progress as soon as I can. Apparently the cider should be ready for Christmas as long as its kept in a reasonably warm place.
We will be attempting to make this cider Fizzy and have the cider makers handbook which shows just how this is acheived. I'm a little dubious, but Ken tells me it shouldn't be a problem.
OK, Update;
The G clamp idea for pressing the apples didn't quite go to plan so we bought a cheap press made of metal.
After picking 4 full to the brim carrier bags we carefully washed them and I cut them into 8ths discarding any mouldy, overly bruised ones. A lovely blister formed on my index finger at which point I got out the "fuckoff" sized chopper knife and discovered that pleasure which comes from whacking down a large knife over a chopping board. Had to pick up a few apples off the floor as my technique was a little haphazard.
All the small apple pieces were put into a food processor and then transferred into our lovely little press where we realised that the apples are a lot tougher than expected. Back to the food processor, gave them another whizz till the chunks were a little smaller. Good result. Lots of smiles all round as the juice flowed from the little tube. Only one demi John full though
Bearing in mind so many different ways of making cider and the possibilities of things going tits up, we decided to use a campden tablet to neutralize the bad bacteria and then added a small amount of yeast together with a couple of large tablespoons of sugar which I made into a sugar syrup.
The demi John was fitted with an airlock and placed on the kitchen windowsill so that the sun would warm it up and kick it into fermentation mode. It started bubbling nicely and buggar it, I forgot to take it off the windowsill this morning before going to work, which means I will have a lot of mess to clean up when I get home.
I will be posting photos of the progress as soon as I can. Apparently the cider should be ready for Christmas as long as its kept in a reasonably warm place.
We will be attempting to make this cider Fizzy and have the cider makers handbook which shows just how this is acheived. I'm a little dubious, but Ken tells me it shouldn't be a problem.
I had a mate who stumbled across the ultimate way to make it sweeter. He was a barman at an old fashioned cider house for a few months bitd. It was a place that only sold two things: dry and sweet cider on draught. Staggering downstairs for work one morning, he found the landlord pouring a bag of sugar into a barrel. On being asked what he was doing, the landlord replied
"Well that's for the sweet cider"
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
votisit said:
Try a jack.......
you can actually hire a press from homebrew shops which does make things a wee bit easier...well, at least you can from ours anyroad.
And good luck with the cider. I tried last year, but now have two big containers of something deeply unpleasent and non alcoholic in the understairs cupboard, which I've just nailed shut
pembrokestephen
New Member
If it's anything like beer, you make it fizzy by adding about a quarter of a teaspoonful of sugar to each bottle as you bottle it: that allows fermentation to continue in the bottle and give you your CO2.votisit said:
Worth noting, though I'm sure you have thought of it, that you MUST use suitable bottles if you're going to bottle-condition it. If you use non-fizzy-stuff bottles, they will probably pop, which is messy, but probably not dangerous (they tend to just crack, rather than exploding everywhere with flying shrapnel - depends how much of an airgap you have).
Someone also told me to make sure your bottles don't undergo any great trauma that might induce stress fractures, or that can make them pop too.
I shall find this out for real when my bloody beer kit stuff turns up, IF it ever does, pah
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