It's cider making time again, folks:


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Here is my mini-cider press. I have taken some apples from up the railway line and some from my own garden. It should be ready for Xmas with a bit of luck [That's a 2 litre jug beneath the spout] :D

IMG_8964.JPG?gl=GB

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Why not use a blender?? just add the pulp in your fermenting vessel and toss the yeast in, all the pulp will fall to the bottom, and leave the cider on the top ready for siphoning off????

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I really have to have a go at this. We have sooooo many apples this year and you can only make so much jelly!

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Why not use a blender?? just add the pulp in your fermenting vessel and toss the yeast in, all the pulp will fall to the bottom, and leave the cider on the top ready for siphoning off????

:tony:

What ? and remove all the fun of it!

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Well that's about how we made fruit wines...The fun of it comes when it's matured in the bottle and drinking it....

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Here's how me Cuz makes it in Oz....

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He makes wines, beer fruit wines and cider.... It's a commercial small winery in Victoria.

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  • 10 months later...

The ancients of Nottingham made cider and several apple varieties originate from Nottingham.

I hope to make 2 or 3 barrels full in France (the press can handle a cubic metre of pulp) but I also have a small press here at home where I make craft cider. It is very satisfying to walk into the barn or garage of an evening and to tap off a pint of home made cider.

The apples are early this year but even if they look ripe it is best to store them for a couple of weeks prior to crushing and pressing. If you use none cider apples, try to get some crab apples to add a bit of acidity and bitterness. Cider making is very easy. I don't get technical, I just use my judgement as the ancients did. No added sugar or yeast and apples that have not seen a chemical.

Why not give it a go?

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I have a very small press and make a batch of cider each year, apple crop permitting. I have found that I make better cider if I treat it like beer and add some yeast. I have tried without the yeast but my results have not been owt ter shout about. Up here in the far north of sdcotland, the apples mature a bit later than in the Midlands but I am looking forward to making my annual batch in about a month or so.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Unloaded 5 sacks of cider apples this morning, brought over from my orchard in Brittany. They should make about 10/12 gall cider. I don't know what variety they are but the trees are ancient. Look like dabinets but who knows? Brought a load of Granny smiths and some bright red apples of unknown variety as well, so will make a separate batch with these as an experiment and for possible blending. This will be 'craft cider' as opposed to the rough stuff made in France.

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Some years ago, we were visiting our friends in Dorset. The husband took our son, then in his 20's, to his friend's place. This friend made scrumpy. When it was ready to drink, he'd get a bunch of men friends to come over and they'd sit in the shed where the barrel was kept. Son said they all sat in a circle, with a big mug with 2 handles on it. This was filled from the barrel, then passed around the circle, each man taking the opposite handle, taking a slurp, and passing it on. When the mug was empty, the last one had to get up and fill it again from the barrel. To say our son was legless at the end of the session, was an understatement. Scrumpy is strong stuff!

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I make scrumpy but I don't drink it until it is about 9 months old. New scrumpy is lethal but it is no stronger in alcohol than the older cider that has gone through a secondary 'malolactic' fermentation and smoothed out a bit. Of course you need to be a year ahead of the game, so that you have good cider to drink when making the new cider. During summer I have a couple of pints straight from the wood every evening before dinner.

Over 90% of cider you drink in pubs is not real cider. It bears little relationship to cider - look up CAMRA's list of none real ciders. The adverts for these so called ciders are shameless lies disguised by the marketing men..

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have just bottled my second batch of the year. I only managed 16 pints this time but it will make a pleasant few evenings next summer :)

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Just unloaded 400lb of apples brought over from France to add to the 100lb in stock. There are 10 varieties. Hoping to make another 3 or 4 batches of 6 gall each. Only the best apples will be used and I will experiment with different varieties. This may give the opportunity for blending next year. The batch that I made a fortnight ago is only just starting to ferment. I may do as compo does on one or two batches and sterilise the apples then add white wine yeast to the juice. Never added yeast before but I am still learning.

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I have just bottled my second batch of the year. I only managed 16 pints this time but it will make a pleasant few evenings next summer :)

Do you mean it will "survive" that long Compo?
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Mustn't forget that cider has many medicinal properties........

Once knew a woman who swore by it......every time she got a prick in her hand, she could not wait to get it in cider.....

Boom boom.

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Why do you need yeast? all apples contain some natural wild yeast, I have made cider with my brother in law for a number of years and he has never put in any yeast, apart from that contained in the apples,

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Why do you need yeast? all apples contain some natural wild yeast, I have made cider with my brother in law for a number of years, in the old French traditional way, and he has never put in any yeast, apart from that contained in the apples,

Just had a thought, maybe you are not using a good mix of apple variety's, that may explain why you need yeast

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Why do you need yeast? all apples contain some natural wild yeast, I have made cider with my brother in law for a number of years and he has never put in any yeast, apart from that contained in the apples,

I have also made cider for many years and never added yeast. But I am prepared to learn and experiment. It is the only way to discover improvements or mistakes. I am going to make one or two batches using the commercial yeast and make comparisons with the natural yeast batches. It is an interesting hobby and I do not want to become repetitive every season. There is always something to learn. I have 10 varieties of apple, 6 of which are cider apples, so no prob with mixes. In Brittany they say that the slower the ferment the better the flavour. They never add yeast and produce the best cider (cidre) in the World. Maybe Normandy would disagree.

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I have also made cider for many years and never added yeast. But I am prepared to learn and experiment. It is the only way to discover improvements or mistakes. I am going to make one or two batches using the commercial yeast and make comparisons with the natural yeast batches. It is an interesting hobby and I do not want to become repetitive every season. There is always something to learn. I have 10 varieties of apple, 6 of which are cider apples, so no prob with mixes. In Brittany they say that the slower the ferment the better the flavour. They never add yeast and produce the best cider (cidre) in the World. Maybe Normandy would disagree.

I am in the Vosges, my brother in law makes and sells organic cider, the press has been in my wife's family for almost 200 years, and they have made cider with it for every year except 1, in the first world war when the Germans confiscated the apples, for eating, but as you know, some cider apples are uneatable, maybe that is why they only confiscated them only once, last year TF1 13H news did a report on him and his cider press,

P.S. I was just wondering why you needed yeast,

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