Cider Makin' - AR15.COM

Posted: 11/1/2009 8:03:52 AM EDT

Yesterday (Saturday) my friends and neighbors got together for our annual Cider Pressing.

We had about 300 pounds of apple for the press. A nice variety of sweet and acid apples.

Also some pears...All told we pressed about 17 gallons of cider, 15 went into quart jars (then to the freezer)

We had about 3 bushels of pulp. One of the bushels went to a horse arena, the other two went into the compost pile.

This is great tasting stuff. We are set for the year.

I see some hard cider in my future....

Posted: 11/1/2009 8:36:17 AM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:

Yesterday (Saturday) my friends and neighbors got together for our annual Cider Pressing.

We had about 300 pounds of apple for the press. A nice variety of sweet and acid apples.

Also some pears...All told we pressed about 17 gallons of cider, 15 went into quart jars (then to the freezer)

We had about 3 bushels of pulp. One of the bushels went to a horse arena, the other two went into the compost pile.

This is great tasting stuff. We are set for the year.

I see some hard cider in my future....

Pics or

Lol sounds like a good time man

Posted: 11/1/2009 8:52:25 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

I see some hard cider in my future....

I make that that with my brewing kit. Good stuff.

I WISH I had an orchard closer, the one that used to be a few miles away is a subdivision now, it's tough finding unpasteurized stuff to work with.

I need to use a different yeast this year. The high test champaigne yeast yield a beverage that doesn't taste "cidery" enough. It's good and will get you crunked, but it shouldn't be called cider the way the last few batches came out, didn't stop me from drinking it though. I've also found cutting it with cider when you drink it works well.

Posted: 11/1/2009 10:40:00 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I see some hard cider in my future....

I make that that with my brewing kit. Good stuff.

I WISH I had an orchard closer, the one that used to be a few miles away is a subdivision now, it's tough finding unpasteurized stuff to work with.

I need to use a different yeast this year. The high test champaigne yeast yield a beverage that doesn't taste "cidery" enough. It's good and will get you crunked, but it shouldn't be called cider the way the last few batches came out, didn't stop me from drinking it though. I've also found cutting it with cider when you drink it works well.

Try Lalvin's D47 yeast if you want it to end up a bit sweeter.

Posted: 11/2/2009 1:08:00 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I see some hard cider in my future....

I make that that with my brewing kit. Good stuff.

I WISH I had an orchard closer, the one that used to be a few miles away is a subdivision now, it's tough finding unpasteurized stuff to work with.

I need to use a different yeast this year. The high test champaigne yeast yield a beverage that doesn't taste "cidery" enough. It's good and will get you crunked, but it shouldn't be called cider the way the last few batches came out, didn't stop me from drinking it though. I've also found cutting it with cider when you drink it works well.

Montrachet wine yeast works well also.

Posted: 11/2/2009 1:32:09 PM EDT

[#5]

I'm a D47 fan myself.
I also toss in some honey or brown sugar pre-fermentation.

Posted: 11/2/2009 8:49:25 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
I'm a D47 fan myself.
I also toss in some honey or brown sugar pre-fermentation.

How much honey per gallon? I've got plenty thanks to my bees...

Posted: 11/2/2009 10:26:44 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Yesterday (Saturday) my friends and neighbors got together for our annual Cider Pressing.

We had about 300 pounds of apple for the press. A nice variety of sweet and acid apples.

Also some pears...All told we pressed about 17 gallons of cider, 15 went into quart jars (then to the freezer)

We had about 3 bushels of pulp. One of the bushels went to a horse arena, the other two went into the compost pile.

This is great tasting stuff. We are set for the year.

I see some hard cider in my future....

Just curious, can the pulp be used for something like apple sauce?

Posted: 11/3/2009 1:15:09 AM EDT

[#8]

I would guess you would need to cook the pressed apples in water, and than run through a Victoria strainer or other device to try and make apple sauce. I have never tried it, and I think the resulting applesauce would be rather bland in taste. You could try to add some cinnamon to cover the lost flavor if you wanted to try this.

Posted: 11/3/2009 6:49:06 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
I'm a D47 fan myself.
I also toss in some honey or brown sugar pre-fermentation.

Does the addition of honey lengthen the fermentation time?

To the apple juice, I usually add 2lbs. of corn sugar prior to fermentation. I have heard of people adding 3lbs. of sugar, but the resulting drunkenness, and hangovers weren't worth it. About 12% is what I shoot for.

Posted: 11/3/2009 7:11:59 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I'm a D47 fan myself.
I also toss in some honey or brown sugar pre-fermentation.

Does the addition of honey lengthen the fermentation time?

To the apple juice, I usually add 2lbs. of corn sugar prior to fermentation. I have heard of people adding 3lbs. of sugar, but the resulting drunkenness, and hangovers weren't worth it. About 12% is what I shoot for.

The fermentation time will be longer. I stick to roughly 2-3 lbs of honey or brown sugar per 6 gallons of juice.

Posted: 11/3/2009 7:22:12 AM EDT

[#11]

I made 10 gallons of hard cider last year that I am still drinking.

I made about 50 gallons of cider last year. I couldn't make any this year because the frost killed the blossom so no apples.

Posted: 11/3/2009 7:34:39 AM EDT

[#12]

I know this is heresy, but you could always go out and buy some apple juice and make some hard cider. If you catch it on sale, you can make 5 gallons for about 12 bucks total. That means your cost per bottle, if you use 12oz. bottles is 24 cents.

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