Make Your Own Cider

Making your own cider is easy to do and can be cheaply done if you have access to apples (free of course) and anyone has the right to collect windfall apples for free, so why not make your own cider which is free of chemicals and preservatives, and you can make large or small quantities and recycle at the same time.

You need some equipment, and you need to prepare ahead of time, depending upon the quantity of apples you have and the quantity of juice this gives, and much of this equipment can be made by the average metal worker, wood worker, or keen DIY enthusiast as some of the euipment can be expensive if you buy commercial items, and this is the rub, they try to sell you expensive equipment.
Many home made apple pulverisers can be found online made from stainless steel to wood, and all they do is pulverise the apples into smaller pieces to allow them to be crushed easier and you can core whole apples and throw them in, or you can cut the cored apples into quarters and put them in for best quality cider, or you can leave the cores in and make scrumpy.

You can get glass pressure bottles ahead of time and the best ones to use are screw cap bottles containing sparkling cider, beer, or even sparkling pop, but get too many rather than not enough, an average demijohn holds 4.5 litres or 1 gallon, and you will need demojohns for small quantities or a 5 gallon (22.5 litre) fermenting bucket for larger quantities, buy the ordinary beer fermenting buckets and not the much more expensive wine brewing buckets.

You will need a few tools:

large spoon or paddle to reach the bottom of your bucket if you have one.
Hydrometer for measuring the specific gravity of the apple juice so you can add a little sugar if required.

Sodium metabisulphate powder and citric acid for sterilising and cleaning.
Bottle brush to clean your bottles.

Finings if you want really clear cider, but only use the clay type which uses Bentinite clay as this is chemical free.

Sparging bag as this acts as a filter to filter out the solids if you don't make a pulveriser or have a press.
Large funnels.
Syphon tube, this is a clear plastic tube.

Always clean your equipment thoroughly and sterilise everything before beginning.

Put 1 gallon of hot water in the sink, open a window as this smells, and put four tablespoons of sodium metabisulphate and a pinch of citric acid as this intensifies the sterilising, put ALL your equipment into this after it has been thoroughly washed, and sterilise everything as not sterilising things is the most common way of ruining a batch of cider, you can buy citric acid as dried granules or you can squeeze a little lemon juice into the sink instead. Insert your demijohn and fill it with your sterilising solution and rinse it round and cover the entire inside, drain it back into the sink and roll your demijohn around to sterilise the outside, drain the sink and let everything dry.

Method 1

If you don't have a pulveriser and a press you cut your apples, put a large saucepan onto the cooker and add a cup or two of water to stop your apples burning, and fill your saucepan with chopped apples and cook through until they turn to a pulp, keep an eye on the water as you may need to add a little more.

Put your funnel into your demijohn and put your sparging bag into your large funnel, add your pulp slowly and let the juice drain through, lift the sparging bag periodically as this releases a lot of juice, when it stops running you lift your sparging bag from your funnel and twist the bag to squeeze the remaining pulp and extract more apple juice until it stops running, repeat with your remaining apple pulp until your glass demijohn is up to capacity, and not to the top as it needs airspace for the fermentation to occur and expand. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Method 2

Pulverise your apples and let them and their juice run into a bucket, put this mixture into your fruit press lining bag in your fruit press and press the apples and collect the juice. put this into your demijonh until it is to capacity and not to the top.

Take a little of your apple juice and put it into a trial jar which usually comes with your hydrometer, and take a hydrometer reading, add any brown, unprocessed sugar if necessary and repeat your readings.
What apples do I use? use a mixture of as many apples as you can and always use eating and cooking apples for the best results.

Make a starter by using a much cheaper general purpose wine yeast such as Gervin, take some of your apple juice and fill a glass bottle to about 1/4 full and add your yeast, plug the top of the bottle with cotton wool or cover with cloth such as cotton, and put an elastic band around it and stand it next to a radiator and within hours you will see the fermentation starting and become vigorous, take your bottle of starter and add it to your demijohn and stir it in, fit an airlock if you like, or cover it with cotton and put an elastic band around it.
Stand it in a warm place such as in a spare room and do not get it too hot or too cold and in about a week it will ferment.

When you see the fermentation stop you draw a little of the fermented apple juice off and take a hydrometer reading, if it reads 1005 or less than it has fermented, but if you leave it a little longer you can get it down to about 1000-1001 and this is better, you will see the demijohn has fermented apple juice and a thick film on the bottom, you avoid this thick film of sediment and begin the racking process.

If you have a second demijohn then take your syphon tube and put it about halfway down your fermented apple juice and begin syphoning, put the other end into your second demijohn and carefully lower the tube in your first demijohn as the cider level drops, and get it to just above the sediment on the bottom, and pull your tube out just before it draws up the sediment, you will have a second demijohn with clean cider, you can if you require, add finings and stir it in and leave for a few days with an air lock fitted, and this will clear your cider, but fining is optional.

Take your clear cider and pour it into your bottles, ensuring you leave about 1" of airspace above the cider as this will continue to ferment slightly, and this is for still cider.

If you want sparkling cider you prime your bottles by adding about 1/8th to 1/4 of a level teaspoon of sugar to the bottle before filling it with your cider, fill with cider, leaving your airspace and screw your tops on and place somewhere cool and leave for 6-8 weeks before drinking.

When you come to open a bottle you will see a film of sediment on the bottom of your bottle, particularly with sparkling cider, and you keep your bottle upright and move it as little as possible so you don't disturb your sediment, open it carefully and pour it continuously into a large jug and leave the sediment behind, rinse the bottle out and pour your cider into a glass and put any remaining cider back into your bottle and screw the top on.