Cider/Perry making

[dessiato]

There’s a lot of old threads, the newest is 5 years old.

We have a few trees producing a lot of conference pears, most of which we either compost, or give away. It seems a shame not to use them.

Any recommendations for kit suppliers etc? Amazon prices seem to vary widely. We’ve a juice extractor, but nothing else. I’ve not made cider for a very long time, but assume nothing much has changed.

 

[Pickman's model]

TopCat

 

[a_chap]

You really need a press to get all the juice out, a domestic juice extractor leaves far too much behind.

We're fortunate in that we have a community cider press.

Apple Pressing returns for 2023 – 2 dates cancelled! | Transition Worcester

www.transitionworcester.org.uk

Maybe you could pop your fruit down here and make use of it

 

[dessiato]

You really need a press to get all the juice out, a domestic juice extractor leaves far too much behind.

We're fortunate in that we have a community cider press.

Apple Pressing returns for 2023 – 2 dates cancelled! | Transition Worcester

www.transitionworcester.org.uk

Maybe you could pop your fruit down here and make use of it

Sadly it's too far from either of our homes.

 

[iona]

Sadly it's too far from either of our homes.

You're fairly near Edinburgh aren't you? Portobello community orchard are holding an apple donation day for Pochle this Saturday afternoon and I'd expect them to know of anywhere local that could either use the pears or process them for you (either just pressing and giving you the juice, or some projects will take fruit and then give you a share of the finished product when it's ready) if they can't take them themselves.

 

[Epona]

seeformiles makes scrumpy and might be able to give advice

 

[seeformiles]

seeformiles makes scrumpy and might be able to give advice

I do indeed. A lot of groups like Urban Harvest are quite the rip off in terms of the amount of juice you get to take home so best to do it yourself. A press like the one below is pretty inexpensive (around £100). No need to be too precious about the state of your apples and pears - I’ll happily use half eaten or mushy fruit. I pulp the fruit with a food processor then the press gets the maximum amount of juice out into 5 gallon containers. I add a Campden tablet or three and leave overnight before adding a lb of sugar per gallon, yeast and yeast nutrient. Then it’s left in the garage over winter to slowly ferment out and I check it about February before racking off, stabilising and bottling. Produces a brew between 8-14% abv. Happy days!
(I also press other people’s fruit for a small percentage of the resulting juice - or offer a dividend of the resulting scrumpy if I process it completely- a much better deal than other local groups offer)

 

[zedr]

bought my partner that press for their birthday last year. got some lovely juice out of it this summer. going to try making cider with it with the last of the apples from our tree. im sober, but looking forward to the process. used to homebrew beer years ago but never tried cider!

 

[dessiato]

I do indeed. A lot of groups like Urban Harvest are quite the rip off in terms of the amount of juice you get to take home so best to do it yourself. A press like the one below is pretty inexpensive (around £100). No need to be too precious about the state of your apples and pears - I’ll happily use half eaten or mushy fruit. I pulp the fruit with a food processor then the press gets the maximum amount of juice out into 5 gallon containers. I add a Campden tablet or three and leave overnight before adding a lb of sugar per gallon, yeast and yeast nutrient. Then it’s left in the garage over winter to slowly ferment out and I check it about February before racking off, stabilising and bottling. Produces a brew between 8-14% abv. Happy days!
(I also press other people’s fruit for a small percentage of the resulting juice - or offer a dividend of the resulting scrumpy if I process it completely- a much better deal than other local groups offer)

View attachment 396153

That's a great recipe. But do you check sugar content of the fruit juice before you ferment? Do you check the alcohol level afterwards? Do you maintain a minimum temperature? We've got an unheated wine cave (it's really just a stone built outhouse) which has a steady, but cool, temperature.

 

[seeformiles]

That's a great recipe. But do you check sugar content of the fruit juice before you ferment? Do you check the alcohol level afterwards? Do you maintain a minimum temperature? We've got an unheated wine cave (it's really just a stone built outhouse) which has a steady, but cool, temperature.

I’ll take a hydrometer reading before and after fermentation to work out alcohol content but sometimes don’t bother as it’s a pretty reliable recipe with any variation dependent on the level of natural sugars in the fruit. Some cider makers swear that a long slow fermentation improves the depth of flavour. In reality, I think that the sheer quantity of liquid means there’s no space in the average home where fermentation would be much faster, so the vessels have to be outside or in an outhouse/garage. On a good year I can make 100+ gallons. You’re in Portugal or Spain iirc so the climate should speed things up a bit. It’s worth exercising a bit of deferred gratification as putting the work in now gives the promise of a pleasant reward during what is often the most depressing time of year in February.

 

[zedr]

Never heard of the Campden tablets before either, but just found out theyre named after the place they were invented - Chipping Campden - where I lived for a bit growing up.

 

[newme]

I do indeed. A lot of groups like Urban Harvest are quite the rip off in terms of the amount of juice you get to take home so best to do it yourself. A press like the one below is pretty inexpensive (around £100). No need to be too precious about the state of your apples and pears - I’ll happily use half eaten or mushy fruit. I pulp the fruit with a food processor then the press gets the maximum amount of juice out into 5 gallon containers. I add a Campden tablet or three and leave overnight before adding a lb of sugar per gallon, yeast and yeast nutrient. Then it’s left in the garage over winter to slowly ferment out and I check it about February before racking off, stabilising and bottling. Produces a brew between 8-14% abv. Happy days!
(I also press other people’s fruit for a small percentage of the resulting juice - or offer a dividend of the resulting scrumpy if I process it completely- a much better deal than other local groups offer)

View attachment 396153

Oooo I like this idea, I was going to build one with a car jack but well frankly have way too many projects already so may look into this for next year, have two massive plastic sheets covered in apples to compost at the moment, let it all just fall last year as I couldn't be bothered and wow did that make for a lot of mush and definitely not ideal with a dog.

Also reminds me I have a blood orange cider kit I haven't made up that could go on now I seem to be unemployed and with much more time on my hands. So much cleaning and sterilising to do.

 

[seeformiles]

Never heard of the Campden tablets before either, but just found out theyre named after the place they were invented - Chipping Campden - where I lived for a bit growing up.

I never knew that! My missus always called them "Camden Tablets" but I think those would be somewhat different!

 

[dessiato]

I’ll take a hydrometer reading before and after fermentation to work out alcohol content but sometimes don’t bother as it’s a pretty reliable recipe with any variation dependent on the level of natural sugars in the fruit. Some cider makers swear that a long slow fermentation improves the depth of flavour. In reality, I think that the sheer quantity of liquid means there’s no space in the average home where fermentation would be much faster, so the vessels have to be outside or in an outhouse/garage. On a good year I can make 100+ gallons. You’re in Portugal or Spain iirc so the climate should speed things up a bit. It’s worth exercising a bit of deferred gratification as putting the work in now gives the promise of a pleasant reward during what is often the most depressing time of year in February.

Unfortunately I no longer live in Iberia but in Scotland.

My initial plan is to only make a couple of gallons. But to make it from pure juice with no added water at all.

 

[seeformiles]

Unfortunately I no longer live in Iberia but in Scotland.

My initial plan is to only make a couple of gallons. But to make it from pure juice with no added water at all.

That’s exactly how I make my cider/Perry so, if it’s only a couple of gallons, then it’ll be easy to ferment out indoors. “Industrial cider” is pretty lax in its definition in that there only needs to be 20% apple/pear juice for it to be considered the finished product with the rest of the sugars allowed to be derived from corn syrup or similar so nothing like the “craft” equivalent . Stick with the original plan.

 

[dessiato]

That’s exactly how I make my cider/Perry so, if it’s only a couple of gallons, then it’ll be easy to ferment out indoors. “Industrial cider” is pretty lax in its definition in that there only needs to be 20% apple/pear juice for it to be considered the finished product with the rest of the sugars allowed to be derived from corn syrup or similar so nothing like the “craft” equivalent . Stick with the original plan.

I'd rather have a small, high quality, quantity than a lot of less good stuff.

 

[a_chap]

My initial plan is to only make a couple of gallons. But to make it from pure juice with no added water at all.

When I've made cider (from apples I picked and had juiced) I've never added water (or sugar!)

What variety of apples are you using? Eating apples are much too sweet. Make sure you add cider apples/crab apples.

 

[dessiato]

When I've made cider (from apples I picked and had juiced) I've never added water (or sugar!)

What variety of apples are you using? Eating apples are much too sweet. Make sure you add cider apples/crab apples.

No idea what the apples are but they're a mix of dessert and cooking. They're from trees almost 100 years old and no one can remember what they are