Any cider makers out there?

[RogerP]

I've just got the bramleys now to pick

How so late? I had to pick all mine because they were falling off the tree in early September.

Always pick them late October, on my tree only the small useless fruits fall off before. The large and huge ones stay on like limpets

 

[dickm]

Always pick them late October, on my tree only the small useless fruits fall off before. The large and huge ones stay on like limpets

Not in North East Scotland windspeeds they don't

This is the first summer since we moved when our trees have produced any sort of crop, and not much even this time. Aberdeen is really too far north for apples in most years, as the late frosts usually get the blossom and even if it doesn't actually freeze, it's often too cold for the bees to be active for pollination. Don't feel like going round with a paintbrush to pretend to be a bee.
Yet only 80 miles south in the Carse of Gowrie near Dundee, there used to be extensive apple orchards.

Did some work with Bulmers many years ago, and even they had problems with bi-annual bearing.

 

[RogerP]

Always pick them late October, on my tree only the small useless fruits fall off before. The large and huge ones stay on like limpets

Not in North East Scotland windspeeds they don't

.... they do here in the soft south-west

 

[Kalimna]

Just a quick update on the cider. Here are a few piccies of the apples (including cross sections of the red ones), and the juice (having sat for a couple of days with campden in, decanted into a second demijohn to remove most of the thick sludge, and yeast added) as it now looks. The colour is pretty close to reality. It is very red.
Anyhoo, I'll leave it a week or so and post up some more when bottling. Only thing is, I might have added too much yeast, so we'll see.
Cheers,
Adam

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The chances of your brew going sour is increased if you have too much of an air gap - when I did a lot of home brew, I used marbles to take up the space. A bonus is that it makes the sediment easy to agitate, which helps stop the bottom layer of yeast dieing.

 

[Kalimna]

I do have a little juice left over - do you think I should add it in? It has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's probably fine - it can't have picked up many stray yeasts in the fridge.

 

[Kalimna]

Cheers - demijohn now topped up. Lets see if vinegar or nectar results.....

Adam

 

[Richard T]

Amazing colour - very like Foxwhelp. I hope they are not as acidic :shock:

 

[aideym]

I am an keen amateur cider maker. I get my apples off adverts I put on freecycle and from the hedgerows etc . The sweetness varies and none are really cider making apples but even if it tastes tart and acidic it will mellow over time, even if it doesn't after one glass it starts to taste better

 

[Hivenhoe]

There was a piece on cider making on Radio 4 today repeated Sunday and poss on iplayer.

 

[whiskywill]

Another useful site. http://www.somersetmade.co.uk/oldscrump/makingcider.php

 

[sd-235]

Been making cider for 6 years apart from last year about 30 gallons+ a year. I have decided to go for quality rather than quantity. Bramleys are exceptionly bad cider apples so I am using non whatsoever, why make a good cider poor or even rubbish? Tannin alone is one tenth of a 'vintage apple'. This meant I have looked around and have found a huge amount of trees nearby. Including a vintage pear and apple tree. Without adding sugar I am looking at 1 gallon only of 5% cider. The rest 16 gallons will be between 6% and 8.2% NO SUGAR ADDED. Also I am using my vast array of demijohns for 4 gallons of Elderberry wine and 6.5 demijohns of sloe gin. I will be looking at another 6 gallons of cider!
As most people soon loose interest in making cider you should avoid spending ANY money on equipment and of course be able to make cider in less time than someone with expensive equipment!! In my case I can make 6 gallons of cider in 8 hours including fetching the apples on my bicycle, with trailer obviously. I will tell you after iadd have my nearly cold dinner!

 

[Kalimna]

Well, thanks for the advice folks - my first demijohns' worth is bubbling away nicely though looks a little cloudy (as mentioned earlier, I think I added too much yeast). Hopefully some of the cloudiness will clear, but so far the striking red colour is just as vivid.
I have only purchased 3 demijohns, some yeast, bungs, sterlising powder and campden tablets, so havent spent a fortune yet. Next brew will be some fiery ginger beer, so they wont go to waste.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[sd-235]

By the way I have no idea which variety the perry pears are (looking at 6.5 %) but the vintage apple have been identified as King of the Pippins (8.2%) Although no garuanteed, an apple which is very hard with minimal sweetness and a dry background is likely to be cider apple. The same applies to perry pears but they also tend to be small. Again this is not a certainty especially when it comes to dual and multipurpose apples/pears. Cider and Perry variety's are often from the 17 hundreds and most people would not have any teeth by the time they were 25 so could hardly be able to eat vintage varieties

 

[sd-235]

Right let's keep it simple. Cut your apples up to appropriate size to go through your garden shredder. Underneath you have a bucket with a pillowcase in. Remove bucket and put another one underneath immediately. Take the pillowcase full of apples out and put them in a household spinner. These are designed to reduce the water content of clothes before putting them in the tumble drier. They spin at 2,700 rpm and Remove more juice from the shredded pulp than a press. While it is spinning carry on cutting up apples for the shredder. Now not all shredder are equally as good, one I had blocked up quite regularly and I had to stop and open it. Not big problem. The one I have now is superb. Never blocks up AND the slot has round holes that will take small apples without cutting them up. This is a Parkside 2400 watt. The same is true of spinners. My white night does the job adequately but the Creda has a tube coming out which can go straight into a demijohn/barrel. Right you have now learnt how to spend either nothing on equipment or £60 second hand and of course you can use them for what they were designed for the rest of the year.

 

[sd-235]

PS got about 15 maybe 20 of my demijohns on freecycle best to ask out of season you will be more successful. The plastic ones are 5 litres and the glass ones 4.5 litres. So racking from the plastic to the glass works well.

 

[sd-235]

The cloudiness in cider is a product of pectin. To remove it is best to use a pectin enzyme. Other finings can make it worse.

 

[sd-235]

Here I am again! Mix chainsaw chippings (must use bio chain oil)or saw dust with the waste pulp in your compost bin for ultra quick quality compost.

 

[sd-235]

Right last one. I should have mentioned the word vintage is old English for good or great for cider/perry but normally refers to single purpose cider apples/pears. IE not my King of the Pippins.