cider

[tracie]

Hi All,

having seen the article in this months Kitchen Garden mag I am tempted to have a go at making cider.

Has any body else tried this?, and tips or hints would be greatfully received.

Thanks Tracie

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hi Tracie, It is really easy to make, but takes ages chopping up and pulping the apples before pressing out the juice. I first tried using an industrial mincing machine, but it is much quicker to use a blender or juicer. If you use a juicer you can still get quite a lot more juice out by squeezing the left over pulp through muslin or a tea cloth. Obviously if you use a juicer you don't need a press, so that will reduce the outlay on equipment.

You get a clearer juice by pressing the pulped apples in a proper press, but the juiced liquid still produces clear cider after fermenting, but you get more sediment in the bottom of the demi-john.

All the rest of the information in the article is spot on, particularly using a mix of cookers and eating apples, although my Newton Wonder cookers made an excellent lively sparkling dry cider last year.

One thing to watch when you first start fermenting the juice - (I always add either a general purpose wine yeast or one for German white wines and sterilize the juice with a campden tablet and leave it for at least 24 hours before adding the yeast as it is more reliable than hoping there are the right kind of yeast spores naturally present on the apples)- is that the juice erupts in a brown froth which rises up out of the demi john and runs all over your work tops, so put them on plenty of newspaper and kitchen towels. It settles down in a day or two when you can put on the air lock and let it finish fermenting.

If you make sparkling cider make sure you use bottles strong enough to take the pressure. I still use some of the old Grolsh spring top bottles that my dad collected for his cider and beer, but I don't think they make them any more. The cheap Chinese spring top bottles with a plastic seal are rubbish and a waste of money. Get one with a rubber seal if you can - or just use beer bottles with the plastic caps that brewing shops sell.

[Cider Boys]

Hello Tracie

Plumpudding has given you good advise, but being Somerset born and bred and living my whole life in the County I am passionate about good cider. I used to make it up until a few years ago and still drink it regularly.

I have taken the liberty to copy a reply about apple trees that I posted on the forum some time ago, if you are ever in Somerset try the link I've included at the bottom, Roger still makes some of the finest ciders.

Here's one you may (or may not) remember by Somerset's Adge Cutler to get you in the mood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eefdl43gGEM

Best of luck.

Barney

Re: Apple trees for producing cider.
Hello Samantha

May I congratulate you in choosing to pursue such a wonderful and fulfilling hobby.

Cyder making is easy, all you need are apples that you crush and press and a container for the juice and a means of covering to keep both the air out and the dreaded vinegar fly at bay. You need no added yeast, the natural yeasts from the apples will start the fermentation to make good cyder.

Every time you make a cyder it will be different from any previous tastes and the larger scale scrumpy maker would blend their cyders from the bitter sharp and bitter sweet varieties.

Locally we have still an abundance of Morgan Sweet apples that make an early cyder that you can drink just after Christmas but it is not the best apple in my opinion. However when apples are in short supply I have made cyder from Bramley apples, damn sharp but mixed with fizzy lemonade it still was a good drink.

I do not know what is best for West Yorkshire (I thought that you all drank bitter ale there) but I’m sure a good nurseryman would advise you.

Although not like the good old days, there are still many traditional cyder makers in the West Country especially in Somerset and apples such as Kingston Black, Slack My Girdle, Tremlett’s Bitter, Yarlington Mill, Somerset Red and many more including Tom Putt are used.

I have not made any cyder for the last couple of years but my eldest son still makes a drop and I always make a point of acting as his quality controller!!

A lot of scrumpy cyder offered for sale to holiday makers is pretty awful, but good for drain clearance. However there are many fine cyder boys still lurking in Somerset such as Roger Wilkins

I first tasted cyder as a boy when helping myself to some of my father’s that he kept in his cool larder, later on as a teenager I visited Taunton Cider Factory as part of an educational school visit (it was an agricultural technical school), what a lot of first class cider they made in those days, none of us could remember the coach trip back to school.

Another first class cider was that made by Michael Eavis of Glastonbury Festival fame, I remember doing some work for him when it was named the Pilton Blues or Pop Festival. He made the cider for a local Hotel and gave us all some after the work was finished, this was an astute man ‘cause we weren’t much good after drinking this fine cider.

Although I haven’t made any for a couple of years, I still regularly succumb and have a quart or two especially at elevenses with a slab of quality Cheddar.

I have very fond memories of times in the hay fields when the cider (usually watered down) was drunk by us workers and of times when some used to fall asleep and then had to be carried home in agony where they had got sun burnt.

You best find yourself some apple trees and start making it because you will have along wait before any young sapling will provide enough apples.

Try the link for a first class scrumpy man.

http://www.c1der.co.uk/cider_with_roger.htm

Best of luck

Barney

[tracie]

wow,

fantastic, thanks for all your replys.

My friend on the allotments has all the kit presses juicers ect and I have the apples so we have a little co-operative between us.

My apples are not quite ready yet, but I am now desperate to get started.

Regards Tracie