Selfsufficientish.com

I'm making cider and got 4 gallons on the brew. The selfsufficientish recipe for scrumpy says to mash the apples every three days. I've been doing it but it's quite tricky. What is the best way to mash the apples when they are in the buckets brewing and without getting your hands into the mix? It's seems like a tricky process when some of the apples won't mash.

I want to use another bucket to make another 8 gallons but I don't have a masher big enough....any suggestions welcome please.

By the way does anyone know what they used to do in medieval times when making cider? They didn't have potato mashers then did they.

northmetking wrote: By the way does anyone know what they used to do in medieval times when making cider? They didn't have potato mashers then did they.

Didn't they just stomp it with their bare feet?

Sorry, I can't really help you with your question... It might actually be quite possible to use your hands - well scrubbed, of course!

I should imagine they pressed their apples, just like today. The presses may have been very Heath Robinson affairs, but they did know about levers and counterweights, otherwise medieval churches would have been impossible to build.

The best way of mashing anything for plonk-making, by the way, is with your hands - just make sure they're clean (all the way up to the elbows). You get all the fun of licking them clean again later

Mike

They used something similar to a large-scale grain mill, the kind that served whole villages.

Hi and welcome to ish Northmetking.
I don’t usually mash at all, just cut the apples into 6mm slices and strain off after six days fermenting. Depends on your apples I suppose but it comes out tasty enough.

Hi,

After some experimentation this is what i do.

Make sure you wash your hands and keep your mashing area and the kit below clean.

1) get a plastic colander and use it to scoop the apples out of the bucket.
2) Put the apples into a plastic / wooden bowl.
3) Attack them with a plastic spud masher.
4) return mashed apples to bucket and repeat as needed.

That said i have managed to mash most of my apples this way, some with good success,
and some that i just cant mash. The cider turned out fine either way.

Cheers.

Hubby has just finished off our apples making cider. Basically, we followed the Jersey procedure, without the great big granite cider wheels. We used a food grade plastic trug and dh got a fence post and drilled holes, fitting in broom handles at heights suitable for all using (including the kids who loved helping out).
Basically we:
1: wash apples
2: cut into quarters (mostly cos we were using Bramley seedlings and it speeded things up)
3: bash with fence post device until very puply
4: press into demi-johns
5: airlock and leave

Sarah

I've read about one person who makes a lot of cider every year. He took a brand-new, thoroughly cleaned garbage disposer, built a frame to hold it, and use that to grind apples with.

Just checked, and it looks like he's now marketing a book with more detailed instructions: http://whizbangbooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/wb23.html