Is cider really this easy?

[suitsyousir]

Hi all. Stumbled across this link today, and if you ignore all the guff at the top there is a simple method for making cider.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/ ... cider.html

I have a pear and apple tree in my garden and have thought about making cider before but thought it would be more complex than this. I have got everything I need to have a go, and am going to try and put some on this week if I can. Can it really be as easy as this to make a reasonable apple or pear cider? And the article says to add a campden tablet; do they not stop fermentation completely, as I had thought?

Thanks

[AnthonyUK]

As a process it is that easy but to get a decent cider takes a lot of maturation time.

[kinnockthecat]

Me n some of my chums have just pressed a load of apples last w/end and got 120 litres of cider. Fermentation takes a while, I leave it to wild yeast, done this before n had good results, after 3 months or so we rack it off the lees, n then again a couple of months later. Also we tend to bottle ours using some carbonation drops, tried the campden tablet n cider yeast but results better using wild yeast. We jus sanitized all the fermenters n ensured the press n scratter were all clean.

[suitsyousir]

Ok cheers. I did buy some campden tablets today, are they of any use in this or anything else (other than wine which I dont make)?

[wilsoa11111]

yeah i would use a half dose of campden tablets- ie only half a tablet per 5l- thats if you want a wild yeast ferment (this will keep spoilage bugs down and keep the stronger ie better yeasts dominant

if your pitching your own yeast (best is lalvin champagne yeast) i would do a full dose of campden

as for juice extraction i wouldnt bother seiving the juice if its gone through a blender it should be grand- i would give the pulp(stuck inside the juicer) a good press through some voile net curtain(sterilised) and recycle it into pies/jam etc or even as a base for some apple wine

and as always wash your fruit- dont want mud- and keep everything as clean as possible, and give it time, the best cider is olde cider