Let the cider making commence!

[dibnah]

Glad you like the photos I wanted pictures of me doing the work but there was only me and the boy, I wanted to show how you sit on the table the press is on it gives you great leverage and stops the whole thing sliding around. they are expensive I payed around £175 for the press and £220 for the crusher. I went half with a friend and found my £200 by selling crap on ebay. I bought it from http://www.winepress4u.co.uk/ The crusher is well worth the money you can fill the tray with apples and providing you have a bit of strength it deals with them easy. The press is a 15ltr and seems to work well although I have never seen one working before and there are no instructins with it, it's quite easy to work out but there is nothing to compare it to. As to size it always matters Up to now I have made 30ltr's with the promise of more apples soon. However next year I will have a crop of my own as I'm planting around six trees from a local farm which is trying to reintroduce lincolnshire cider apples.

[PurpleDragon]

Will apples crop so quickly? I didn't know that!

[dibnah]

It depends on the age of the tree five years ago I bought a pear tree Iguess it was between 3 and 5 years old and the next year it had a great crop not as good as the year after when it was well established.

[Stonehead]

I've just racked off the first batch of cider into a clean fermenter. It's already clearing well and, while obviously a bit sweet, rough and sharp, a small taste shows that it's progressing well.

The fermenter will now be kept at room temperature (no heating) for at least a fortnight until the sugar has fully fermented out. Then it will be racked again and, depending on how clear it is, either kegged or transferred to a fermenter again for further settling.

Bear in mind that this is a fast fermented cider with a final strength of between seven and eight per cent. It's already been fermented at 21C to help things along and should be ready for Christmas (allowing time for conditioning).

If it was my full-strength scrumpy, made with sparkling wine yeast, then it would be fermented at room temperature for several months. It would still have at least one racking during this time, but it's a longer process and you still have to condition it as well. It's well worth the wait, though.

No photos as I'm here by myself, Wee Un aside.

[dibnah]

its bubbling away nice now thanks stonehead i could see it bubbling inside the fermentation bin but there was nothing coming out of the valve so this morning I used patroleum jelly to seal around the valve and cap and it started bubbling straight away.phew

[Stonehead]

its bubbling away nice now thanks stonehead i could see it bubbling inside the fermentation bin but there was nothing coming out of the valve so this morning I used patroleum jelly to seal around the valve and cap and it started bubbling straight away.phew

Sorry, I should have thought to mention that, but it's always difficult to remember all the little tricks while writing up the whole process.

As well as using petroleum jelly around the bung where it goes into the lid and around the airlock where it goes into the bung, you also need to apply it to the sealing ring that fits inside the screw-on lid.

[dibnah]

no worries mate the bubbles have subsided now, I have however spent far to much time watching bubbles as I always say you learn more when things go wrong.

[Stonehead]

My first batch has unexpectedly developed a new lease of life after being racked. Normally, you'd get a quick flurry of activity (caused by the agitation of being racked) and then settle down to a long slow fermentation with a bubble now and again. When I got up this morning, it was bubbling away quite fast.

And I know what you mean about watching bubbles!

[dibnah]

it must be catching as mine is bubbling away quite rapidly again, anyway I've missed some bubbles!!

[dibnah]

[Cheezy]

Brilliant info chaps.

THere's three of us getting together to make some serious batches.

We're going picking this weekend I think. THere's an orchard on our allotment which the owner says we can help our selves. I have no idea about apple variety, so could do with some advice on tasting Stoney.
sweets well thats obvious, same as sours but what am I looking for when I bite for tannin, is it the astringent tooth thing?.

Another question I was going to leave the apples a week, would you wait longer?

Also I'm going to do some commice pears to practice (just a demi john ),
I've heard you leave the pommice over night any comments?.

My godfather has donated a 12L Vigo mill and press, I've just looked this up on the site that's £450 worth!!

[dibnah]

yes the vigo range is very expensive because it basically monopolizes the market.

I left my windfalls about two weeks and the ones I picked from the tree three weeks but this was just do to not having the equipment ready, but they were all fine but then I was not fussy about the quality of the apples the only ones that were left out were the ones which were black. I am no expert but the apples which were over ripe crushed and pressed much better as they gave least resistance where as the ones picked from the tree were still quite tough.

[Stonehead]

yes the vigo range is very expensive because it basically monopolizes the market.

I left my windfalls about two weeks and the ones I picked from the tree three weeks but this was just do to not having the equipment ready, but they were all fine but then I was not fussy about the quality of the apples the only ones that were left out were the ones which were black. I am no expert but the apples which were over ripe crushed and pressed much better as they gave least resistance where as the ones picked from the tree were still quite tough.

Over-ripe (ie you can push your thumb into the apple) is best, as the higher sugar content makes stronger cider.

That's why we've left our next two batches of cider a bit longer before pressing. The first batch is for Christmas so we had to use "just ripe" apples plus any windfalls.

The apples for the next two batches are sitting in bags until they're just soft and will be used to make "proper" scrumpy.

[dibnah]

racked off the cider today its going to be quite dry, left it a couple of days over but the cooker broke so had to rip out half the kitchen and get a plumber and stuff, however a rag and bone lady well couple of ladys actually came this afternoon and took the old cooker away so that saved me a job.

[Stonehead]

Oops, forgot to provide the latest details following our first sampling!

Almost ready