Real Cider - non of that turbo C%*p!

[Anavrin]

Hi Everyone

I tried my hand at Turbo Cider a few months ago and have to say, it was terible!

Ive decided to show how to make a real cider that actually has apples in it! and nothing else (apart from yeast of couse)

Firstly I visited Willington Fruit Farm in Cheshire for my apples, I live in Lancashire and there's a definate shortage of
orchards up here and this seemed to be the best local one I could find, so here's my recipe for 1 Gallon of Cider.

2lb Cheshire BRAMLEY'S SEEDLING - (Cooker) The best known English Cooking Apple. Smooth, green skin, firm sharply flavoured flesh which "falls" well when cooked.
8lb Cheshire COX'S ORANGE PIPPIN - (Dessert) The best known English Dessert Apple. Slightly russetted skin, firm and juicy flesh. Will store well until Christmas.
5lb Cheshire MELROSE - (Cooker / Dessert) Deliciously juicy and crisp as an eater and excellent for cooking. Smooth red skin finish. Will store well until February.
5lb Cheshire BELLE DE BOSKOOP - (Cooker / Dessert) Large red variety with russetted skin finish. Excellent all purpose cooker which "falls" to a deliciously fluffy
yellow pulp. Sharp flavoured as an eater. Will keep until January.

Then cut the apples in to quarters or more bits if its a big one

Heres my 3 Gallon fermenting bucket with all the chopped apples

Ok and of course to sterilse all my bits and bobs

OK in this next pic I've moved into the shed, I have filled a bucket with my chopped apples and I'm about to pulp them using a pulpmaster, which is basicly a bucket with
a lid that has a hole though it and it has an attachment that goes on a drill for pulping the apples

This is what they look like after about 20 seconds with the drill

I allways fill the middle up with more apples and give it another couple of goes with the drill?

Then I scoop the pulp into a my press, I use a bag with a fine mesh to stop any big bits coming out through the press

I fold over the top of the bag so the press is not in direct contact with the apples

Then the magic starts, turn the press and start collecting your juice

After two presses

After four presses

Finally the last lot, a gallon of the good stuff

Check the gravity, in this case 1052, good for about 6.4%

Also check the acidity - also looks good

And here it is ready to add the yeast, I've kept back half a litre of the juice just in case it gets off to a real vigorous ferment, will add this in a day or so, you can
see one that I started two days ago on the right


Also if you wanted you could add one campden tablet to kill off any natural yeasts etc but with this lot im just going to allow it to warm to room temperature
and add the yeast, the hole process only took about 1hr 30 mins(2 hours if you include tidying up afterwards), ideal if you fancey making a brew but dont
have the time or energy to get involved in a 5hour AG Brew!

[booldawg]

Great pics! I've been guilty of the odd TC in the past and will be in the future until I get my hands on the proper cider making equipment!

[floydmeddler]

That's inspiring stuff. Will defs do this in the future!

[Jim]

Nice post. Good to see back-to-basics brewing in action.

[aceuass]

Holy crap
You need that much apple for 1 gallon
I applaud your dedication
Cheers
Paul

[floydmeddler]

How much did the apples cost you altogether?

[Anavrin]

Holy crap
You need that much apple for 1 gallon
I applaud your dedication
Cheers
Paul

Yes unfortunatly - 10kg (22lb) of apples will get you a Gallon of juice,
I guess the better you can pulp your apples the more juice you can squeze
out, I think any big bits stop the press from doing it's job properly.

As for the cost, the apples range from 40p - 50p/lb from the orchard,
idealy you can get te apples for free from freinds who have trees, the
most important part is getting the correct mixure of apple types inorder
to get a juice that has the correct acidity, level of tanin and of course
sugars for the yeast.


Ideally I would like
40% Sweet Apples
10% Sharp Apples
20% Bitter Sharp
30% Bitter Sweet (these ones are hard to come by unless you live in cider country)

Ideally

[floydmeddler]

Works out around £2 per litre then. That's not bad really. Can be a special occasion drink!

[Nermal]

Liking the Global knives

Might try this as my gf likes her cider

Where did you get the apple pulper, press and ph strips ?

[Anavrin]

Liking the Global knives

Might try this as my gf likes her cider

Where did you get the apple pulper, press and ph strips ?

The pulper is a pulpmaster, got it from Leyland Homebrew £19 for the top
with the chopper and about £3 for the bucket, get the official bucket
as the lid is a good tight fit.

I also bought the press from the same place, it was £114ish, for £185 they had a realy nice
wooden one that was at least twice the size but as I was only planning on making a gallon
at a time and because it was stainless steel and smaller I thought it would have more use's
for other things.

The PH strips I use at work so not sure where to get them from, you can probibly get better
ones that are more specific to a narrow range rather than mine which cover the hole range.

[Nermal]

Thanks for the info - the press is reasonably expensive but it looks like it will last a long time

[Anavrin]

How did you decide on the blend of apples? Or did you just pick four varieties and give it a go?

Good question, choosing the apples was the most difficult part, I've been Reading a book called "Real Cidermaking on a small scale" by Michael Pooley & John Lomax, in the book it lists apples and wether they are Sweet, sharp, bittersweet etc, but it only really talks about well known cider apples that are not readily available up here in Lancashire, I got alot of info online from searching on google, mainly to get the correct balance you need

40% Sweet Apples
10% Sharp Apples
20% Bittersharp Apples
30% Bittersweet Apples

I could not get any bitter sweet apples so went for 25% Melrose which is a cooker/eater that is supposed to be bitter sharp but tasted faily sweet and 25% of another cooker/eater that tasted alot sharper

[Trunky]

[Anavrin]

65 Gallons! Thats alot of apples!

I was toying with the idea of doing a five gallon batch which would be quite a job for the relitivly small
pulper and press I have but can you tell me if I can condition it in the same way as a beer, in a king keg?

[Trunky]