shakey jake
Well-Known Member
Ive tried several different types, with about the same blend of apples to see if it makes much of a difference, dont know yet
Cider
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SWMBO is bemoaning the fact she is not seeing any Crab apple or Quince trees about.
Freightdog
Well-Known Member
I only do two or three demijohns a year and don't add any yeast. I don't find it needs it, I just let it get on with it. Leave it with a bubbler until it stops fermenting, rack off into bottles with a bit of sugar and tuck them away until I remember I made it.
I just found last year's, and although some are a bit active, they are pleasantly sweet, dry and fizzy. Much better than rough scrumpy, which I find too sour for my taste.
I just found last year's, and although some are a bit active, they are pleasantly sweet, dry and fizzy. Much better than rough scrumpy, which I find too sour for my taste.
My street is lined with the bloody things. The noise of crab apples falling onto parked cars at night frequently wakes me. Thankfully, a poor year for them this year.SWMBO is bemoaning the fact she is not seeing any Crab apple or Quince trees about.
Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
Most champagne and wine yeasts will work well. I would only use Nottinghamfrom the beer yeast stable.
Having a lush pint now in front of the fire and telly box with the boy.
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Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
They are manna from heaven for those with insipid apples. When I don’t have enough traditional cider apples I’ll put in a load of crabs for the tannin.
About 50kg of crab apples went into ours. Probably not enough, but hopefully it'll help.
Bloody Cider...my brother 'gifted' me a case of Henry Westons 8.2 loony juice. My memory of cider was glass bottles of strongbow and woodpecker as an underage peever in the 80s. Chilled the Westons and thought - lovely, quite balanced, not over sweet for 8.2. Sadly was far too moreish for this real ale drinker and I vastly underestimated it. Drank 6 bottles seemingly without issue...until I had to stand up and negotiate the house 
Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
I did think of that with your mix. It’ll def help and not all cider needs to be super astringent. Being an Essex boy (like me) the eastern counties style is like that. Does help with body though. The one I’m drinking now has a bit of bite is quite acidic but still nice in its own way.
Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
That one has a great flavour but they make it v sweet I think. I’d still drink 6 bottles thoughBloody Cider...my brother 'gifted' me a case of Henry Westons 8.2 loony juice. My memory of cider was glass bottles of strongbow and woodpecker as an underage peever in the 80s. Chilled the Westons and thought - lovely, quite balanced, not over sweet for 8.2. Sadly was far too moreish for this real ale drinker and I vastly underestimated it. Drank 6 bottles seemingly without issue...until I had to stand up and negotiate the house
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
I made my own cider for the first time this year. I swapped a loaf of sourdough I baked and two venison steaks for a press a few months ago and I made a scratting mill to grind up the apples to make them easier to press. I got 3 gallons from a flexitub of apples from our tree. Next year I will get more apples from other places now I know my system works. The scratter needs a bit of fettling to feed more smoothly but it took less than 10 minutes to grind the tub of apples resulting in a 5 gallon bucket of pulp. I added a packet of this yeast.
Here are some photos of my kit especially the scratter which I am powering off my metalworking lathe. I'm really pleased with this as it worked very well and was easy to clean up afterwards. I just need to wait a while now and see how the cider turns out. It's all on a very small scale but it's been fun and the scratter was made from offcuts I had lying around, all I bought was the 1/2" stainless tube and a box of stainless screws so it cost almost nothing. I gave the scratter a couple of coats of veg oil to seal the wood and stop apple juice soaking into it so it can be cleaned easily and won't harbour bacteria or mould.
And these are a couple of videos of the scratter:
scratter running
scratter grinding apples
Here are some photos of my kit especially the scratter which I am powering off my metalworking lathe. I'm really pleased with this as it worked very well and was easy to clean up afterwards. I just need to wait a while now and see how the cider turns out. It's all on a very small scale but it's been fun and the scratter was made from offcuts I had lying around, all I bought was the 1/2" stainless tube and a box of stainless screws so it cost almost nothing. I gave the scratter a couple of coats of veg oil to seal the wood and stop apple juice soaking into it so it can be cleaned easily and won't harbour bacteria or mould.
And these are a couple of videos of the scratter:
scratter running
scratter grinding apples
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
I had a big tub of water and rinsed them, but was very rustic
I put a couple of sackfuls at a time in an old shopping trolley and hose them.
This is what I did as well. Gets dirt, birdcack, soil etc off. I changed the water a couple of times too
Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
Yup use my plastered bath that I cart deer carcasses in
Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
In and out for us through the bath. See Normandy cider videos gets left in a muddy field and churched through the scratter. But mud etc probably drops out during fermentation. Probably sulphited heavily which sorts all sorts.
It's my first attempt at making cider although I've brewed a lot of beer. I read this book and it said to wash the apples and change the water so I did. I thought it can't do any harm. I just gave them a quick rinse to get the worst of anything off them as quite a few of my apples were windfalls and had been sat for a couple of weeks on the grass and were a bit muddy. This thread has been really handy to hear how everyone who's been doing it a lot longer than me does it.
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