Cider Brewing

SwedishSonna said:

If you have a Kenwood Chef, then this attachment will do a job of juicing apples.

http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/prod...ttachments/at641-continuous-juicer-awat641b01

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perseus said:

You are being daft, from someone who had made cider. The Kenwood mixer would break under the strain of so many apples.

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ezzoud said:

Good advice on this thread so far - I'll just throw in my own method which has worked well for the last 3 years.

1) Do this in autumn with ripe apples - if you don't have your own collect them from the roadside or buy in bulk at farmers markets - they don't need to be perfect specimens.

2) If you live near Middle Farm phone them up and make an appointment to have your apples pressed. Approx yield is 22lb apples = 1 gallon juice.

3) Whilst they are pressing your apples you can stock up on someone's else attempts in the National Cider and Perry Centre - recommend the "Wild Thing" made entirely from Portslade windfalls.

4) Assuming you have your juice in fermentation vat or similar, add sulphites (e,g Campden tablets) to kill any bacteria in the juice (this will also kill any wild yeasts and prevent a "natural" fermentation but that's another story)

5) Leave for 24 hours. Take the SG with a hydrometer. If less than about 1040 (this will depend on the variety/ripeness of apple used) consider adding sweet apple juice (which you cleverly bought in step 3!) to raise reading to about 1050 (this ultimately will give you a stronger end product).

6) Add yeast - I use a specific cider yeast (try www.ballihoo.co.uk )but wine yeast is also good

7) Move vat to somewhere fairly warm so fermentation can commence - might take a day or two.

8) Take SG readings regularly and once the value is close to 1000 then fermentation is complete - this can take 2 -3 weeks

9) Siphon off the fermented juice into demijohns and store somewhere cool and dark for the winter.

10) After Easter or at least once the weather has warmed up a bit transfer into bottles and add some sugar to the bottle to give a little sparkle - experiment with different dosages and use white or brown sugar or honey (messy to put in the bottles)

11) Leave at least another month before drinking.

Enjoy - it sounds like a lot of work but actually it's pretty straightforward - do make sure everything you use is clean and sterilised though (miltons fluid can do this job)!

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