TITLE: Making Cider
DATE: 2018-09-29
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
====================================================================


Last weekend I went down to my parents' house to make some cider. 
Our neighbour has a cider press and a load of demijohns. We got 
enough apples for about 100 litres of cider and plenty of bottles 
of apple juice.

We got apples from three different gardens in the village, so we 
had plenty of variety. There were a few unknown varieties but the 
majority of the apples came from a Lady Sudeley tree, which has 
very pink sweet apples, sometimes even the skin is pink. We also 
had some bramley cookers and various green dessert apples. In 
preparation I went to the Brewstore in Edinburgh and got a few 
different types of yeast. I got a Sweet Bulldog Brews Cider Yeast, 
a Medium Brewstore Premium Cider Yeast, and a Dry Fermentis 
SafCider Yeast.

The process went like this. First we floated the apples in water to 
wash off any bits of bird muck, or insects.

  ![Apples bobbing in 
wheelbarrow](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/bobbing.jpg)

Then we cut the apples into thick slices.

  ![Apple 
cutting](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/cutting_2.jpg)

  ![Apple cutting on chopping 
board](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/cutting.jpg)

Then we put the slices through a garden shredder, like the one seen 
here, which produces a juicy pulp. Then we put the pulp into the 
cider press and filled up buckets from the pressed pulp.

  [seen here]: 
https://www.bosch-garden.com/gb/en/garden-tools/garden-tools/axt-rap
id-2200-3165140430579-199967.jsp

  ![Garden 
shredder](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/shredder.jpg)

  ![Apples going in garden 
shredder](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/shredding_2.jpg)

Finally, we mixed the different juices in demijohns and added the 
yeast.

  ![Filling a 
demijohn](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/filling.jpg)

I wrote on the demijohns the combinations of apples and the yeast I 
used.

  ![All 
demijohns](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/cider/demijohns.jpg)

This is a rundown of the apples and yeast combinations:

Fruit:

-   LS - Lady Sudeley - West Farm
-   BM - Bramley - David Burk's
-   GE - Green Eaters - Mike Cooper's
-   GD - Green Dessert - Mike Cooper's - Have a few cooking apples 
mixed in, maybe 5-10%
-   P - Pears - West Farm

Yeast:

-   S - Sweet - Bulldog Brews Cider Yeast
-   M - Medium - Brew Store Premium Cider Yeast
-   D - Dry - Fermentis SafCider
-   B - Generic dried bread yeast
-   P - Pear peel

Combinations, a demi-john each:

  fruit                            yeast
  -------------------------------- -------
  30% LS, 70% GD                   S
  30% LS, 70% GD                   M
  30% LS, 70% GD                   D
  50% BM, 50% GE                   M
  50% BM, 50% GE                   S
  50% LS, 50% GD                   P
  50% LS, 50% GD                   B
  50% LS, 50% GD                   D
  50% LS, 50% GD                   M
  50% LS, 50% GD                   S
  100% LS                          D
  100% LS                          S
  100% P                           M
  25% BM, 25% GE, 35% GD, 15% LS   D

Now we have to wait a few months until the fermentation finishes 
and all the sediment comes out of the brew, then I'll re-rack the 
cider before bottling it. Then another few weeks in the bottle and 
it's ready to drink. So I think probably by Christmas it'll be 
ready.