So last year I made cider for the first time. Got chatting with a few neighbours who had apple trees and too many apples to deal with.

The plan ‘blossomed’. Me and a mate came up with a plan where we collected apples from a few gardens. We left it a little late and only started collecting mid-October. Took the apples to a local place where we could use the apple pulper / press for £12 an hour. Came away with 140 litres of juice after 2 hours scratting and pressing!

Split the juice 50/50. I drunk/froze/gave away/gave back to the apple growers 20 litres of juice (gorgeous stuff) and fermented 50 litres.

I bottled/drunk/gave back some of it at Christmas (it was OK a little rough around the edges), bottled and drunk the rest this summer (mellowed out quite nice actually).

So this year I dreamed up some grand plans of upping my game and the volume. Started collecting apples 2 weeks ago and did my first press last weekend (I invested in a press and converted a garden shredder into an apple scratter). I’ve got nearly 80 litres bubbling away in the garage already and the apple season has hardly started!

Put an advert in my village newsletter for unwanted apples I’ve been overwhelmed by replies. Potential for 500l of juice / cider if I wanted. I think I may have capacity for maybe 1 or 2 more 50-100 litre pressing days!

It’s been fun but hard work. Doesn’t feel like I’ve started. Amazing how a little hobby / try and see balloons like this. I’ll post some photos later.

I’ve been meaning to do it for about 20 years but still haven’t got around to it.

I was once was given a tip of putting in a large tablespoon of crab apple jelly and then pour in the juice before fermenting. Apparently it makes for a cider with some bite. Can’t vouch for the accuracy or results, tho…

In a roundabout way I helped press a ridiculous amount of litres worth on one day last year and will be doing the same again one Sunday in October.

I ended up very sticky and needed to eat and drink only savoury things for about a week after.

This year I’ll have more containers for my personal use and get a good batch stored away for cider.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/events/74295f7b-bf18-488a-b3a0-6d63da4791a4/pages/details

Sounds familiar!

holding

Take a look at these guys as well.

http://themossciderproject.org/

They have a Pedal powered press for taking to schools and a nice blog post about the building of their cargo bike: http://themossciderproject.org/blog/sustainablelogistics

My village has a cider cooperative. Each year they hire a press’s for the weekend, you turn up with your apples, pitxh in andget a share of the output. Very dadly i dont have an apple tree. Was thinking of stopping at asda just so i could get involved

I have made quite a bit in the past and was going to step up production last year and sell some but the council put an end to that. It pretty much ment go full time business or not at all. More conserned.

Blimey, that’s a lot of juice. We have dabbled on a much smaller scale the past couple of years making a couple of demi-johns. First year we went to a local apple day to get them pulped and juiced. Last year we bought a small press and scratted the apples in a bucket with a plaster mixing paddle on a cordless drill! Good fun and the cider wasn’t too bad.

Get yourself licensed (or technically, qualified to apply for a licence), then you can sell the stuff – even if only out of your garage. I went on a personal licence course a couple of years ago and one of the other guys on it was doing it for just this reason (also just using windfalls donated by neighbours).

500l will pay for the course in one harvest, even if you’re practically giving it away. Although if you do too well on it your supply of free apples might dry up!

Also, there can never be enough cider in the world.

I’ve got nearly 80 litres bubbling away in the garage already and the apple season has hardly started!

I’ve been making it from my garden apples for the last seven years. I made all the classic mistakes but have learned loads. In short:

Leave the apples as late as possible. Windfalls only from September onwards.

Store them together in a cool dry place so they release ethers and develop their flavour.

Test for starch to sugar conversion with a drop of iodine on the flesh. If it stays dark, too much starch.

When they’ve converted all starch to sugar, press into clean vessels with thin necks (to avoid surface area) and fill right right to the top. Any airspace will spoil it.

Make them airtight and add nothing. Leave it until April. You should end up with a fairly decent dry still cider. Don’t bother trying to make anything more fancy until you’ve perfected this approach.

Garden apples won’t have the tannin that cider apples have so it’ll be more like a white wine than a scrumpy. I’ve planted a couple of Dabinetts which should balance well with my Bramleys, but they’ll take years to develop.

You can forage for wild/crab apples but if you find them by the road, chances might be the tree came from someone throwing an apple out of the window. Wild apples are pot luck. You might find one with perfect cider making characteristics but there’s no guarantee.

Cheers Trailrider_Jim. Some good advice above no doubt I’ve made some schoolboy errors and probably most of my stash right now is a mix of cookers and eaters.

I’ve found 2 gardens with what looks like (unidentified types of) cider apples. They aren’t ready yet. I’m going back later this month for a final collect / scrat and press. I’ll keep this stuff separate and see how it compares.

Good advice about the licensing. I’m not planning on selling this year but future years… As you say if people are giving me apples and I’m selling the produce it would get slightly awkward.

We have 6l of pear cider in the understairs cupboard. It all but stopped bubbling after a week. Leaving it some more as per the internet.

We do this on the farm. Press our own, press our neighbours, mostly for juice but it’s a good little seasonal business for minimal outlay. Invest in a couple of pasteurisers and you’re away.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/P6L3m9]20161113_114019[/url] by neil.d.cox, on Flickr

On a scrumping trip… Apologies if it’s been seen before!

Make sure its stopped fermenting before bottling, stories of exploding demijohn’s and bottles abound! Did the tour at Westons the other week, quite interesting, especially the oak barrels for adding flavouring.

She wants it fizzy so it’ll have a little extra sugar added.

I’ve got a DJ of ‘au naturel’ bubbling away. Every time I press I top it up with a bit more juice. Nothing added, fermenting with natural yeasts lets see how it turns out.

I’ve got another DJ of pear juice bubbling away (not sure if they were cider or eating pears. This time of year I’d guess the latter). This I treated the same as the rest of my apple juice:

The rest I treated with campdens and added pectolase, left for 24 hours then pitched different varieties of yeast. This was the method that worked for me last year.

First press batch has now been racked out of the fermenting bins, I’ve got a second batch just starting to bubble nicely.

Stuff on the left the cider that’s settling out. This had literally just been racked off so bright orange but clearing nicely now.

Obviously I had a little taste when I got the syphon started. It’s young and tart but definitely cider!

Stuff on the right the latest apple and pear juice just starting off.

I’m leaving my windfall dessert and Bramley apples in hessian sacks for at least a month before pressing. Did this last year and it brought more cider flavours out.

Use 100g of fresh pork mince to the initial mix before washing. It is sealed in the liquor so will not go off but will improve the body and strength .