Cider time!

[beeboybee]

I have these two barrels bubbling away....
Bit of a rushed start to making cider but so far.....
Sterilised everything fully.
Pulped and pressed fresh apples into 60ltrs of juice
Let it settle for 24hrs
Added Camden tablets
Fitted airlocks
After 48hrs added cider yeast packets

It's now bubbling away nicely I hope

What should I do next or differently to the above stages next time?

Would like to flavour one batch with cinnamon for some Xmas drinks..



View attachment 8907

 

[Tom Bick]

I have to say I dont know anything about cider but when making wine you have a 1st and a 2nd fermenting stage the 1st is open to the air and often only lasts a few days and on the 2nd stage you fit the air lock. If you go straight to the 2nd stage missing out the 1st then you stand a good chance of getting something resembling a fire extinguisher for a few days as the initial fermentation can be very strong.

I guess if you are following instructions it should all turn out well.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I am banned from making my own cider after going back to work and leaving the barrel (in the second fermentsation stage up in the gunroom - a combination of over fermentation and the over pressure valve failing meant me getting a picture message on my phone of a large brown 'map of America' on the ceiling of our just completed (by me) new kitchen ceiling and cider coated kitchen cupboards spent the next days off redecorating!!my friend has now passed on his home made cider press.
But yes, camden tablets, add wine yeast (get a better fermentation) and leave in an open bucket for the first fermentation. After that has finished siphon into barrel bit of sugar as a starter cap on with over pressure valve not airlock. then leave for a few months in a cool place preferably an out building or somewhere on the ground floor with a wipe clean floor!!
If you want a sweeter more appleey flavour, take a few pints of the filtered raw (ooh should i be using that word if I've filtered it) apple juice and freeze - add it back to the completed cider before drinking.

 

[garlicpickle]

I agree you probably shouldn't have the airlocks on yet. The primary fermentation will be vigorous (and stinky) and is aerobic. There'll be some scum which needs skimming off after a while. Champagne yeast is good as you can get a higher alcohol content with it.
I used to put a clean tea towel or pillowcase over the bucket to allow air to get in and carbon dioxide to escape. Once the initial bubbling dies down a bit and you've removed the scum, you can fit the airlocks. After secondary fermentation I used to leave the cider outside in the shed over winter to mature, then in spring you can rack off the solids, and as the weather warms up you may get a final (malolactic) fermentation which will help mellow it a bit.

What kind of apples did you use? I once made the mistake of using only bramleys and the resulting cider was undrinkable as it was so sour. I had 13 gallons of the stuff and had to throw it all away. A blend of cookers and eaters is best.

 

[dclewis]

Amazed you're so early with the cider. This side of the channel they leave the apples to fully ripen on the trees, then pile them up protected from the rain but in the open until the first frost to ensure full development of sugars and soften the apples so that scratting and pressing is as efficient as possible. But hey if you get a good press with your apples so early then good on you.

I ferment out till there's clarity and to dry and then add sugar at bottling to get the fiz in the bottle.

 

[beeboybee]

I was hoping to store some but the wasps where determined to eat them.... How do you store them outside?

 

[For want of a better word]

What should I do next or differently to the above stages next time?

ADD A RAT !



gives the cider hidden body!

 

[BeeJayBee]

.... How do you store [apples] outside?

In plastic crates, loosely covered with a plastic tarpaulin.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

We used to keep some of our horses in a field we 'borrowed' behind my uncle's house the cottage next door had loads of apple trees and the old couple (in their eighties) who lived there left most of the apples fall and allowed us to collect them for the horses - we kept them in a covered barrel and chucked them a few in their feed now and then as a treat - until my uncle got my prize winning show mare totally p!ssed on a bucketful of Ma Nicks' finest Lane's Prince Alberts which had fermented in the bottom of the pile

 

[REDWOOD]

I am banned from making my own cider after going back to work and leaving the barrel (in the second fermentsation stage up in the gunroom - a combination of over fermentation and the over pressure valve failing meant me getting a picture message on my phone of a large brown 'map of America' on the ceiling of our just completed (by me) new kitchen ceiling and cider coated kitchen cupboards spent the next days off redecorating!!my friend has now passed on his home made cider press.
But yes, camden tablets, add wine yeast (get a better fermentation) and leave in an open bucket for the first fermentation. After that has finished siphon into barrel bit of sugar as a starter cap on with over pressure valve not airlock. then leave for a few months in a cool place preferably an out building or somewhere on the ground floor with a wipe clean floor!!
If you want a sweeter more appleey flavour, take a few pints of the filtered raw (ooh should i be using that word if I've filtered it) apple juice and freeze - add it back to the completed cider before drinking.

OMG a similar thing happened to me, I was 16 and living at home and I bought a Boots beer home brew kit that was a plastic bag in a box filled with water a can of something and added yeast. I put it in my wardrobe and after a couple of days I noticed the level had gone down, emergency removal plans and cleaned up what I could, after a few day there was a big brown patch on the living room ceiling my dad thought we had a leaking water tank an spent the best part of 2 days looking for the leak which he never found and still none the wiser 36 year later.
My dad also went round next door one day to ask them not to throw their *** butts on top of his flat extension roof, I wonder who was throwing them out of my bedroom window

 

[Rio]

Fruit press arrived on Thursday so I spent the weekend juicing apples. I had crushed and froze the apples a few weeks ago. (Apparently freezing makes it easier to extract the juice.) I have 6 gallons in the fermenter with a few crushed Camden tablets. I'll add the yeast in 48 hours and hope for cider at Easter. Still another large batch of apples to be crushed and juiced.

 

[itma]

...
What kind of apples did you use? I once made the mistake of using only bramleys and the resulting cider was undrinkable as it was so sour. I had 13 gallons of the stuff and had to throw it all away. A blend of cookers and eaters is best.

One important thing to realise is that "blending" the product is probably where most of the skill comes in!

You can add sugar, raw juice (as per the suggestion above), Lidl's tetrapak apple juice, or anything else you fancy. For those looking for a 'spiced cinnamon' effect some of those coffee-flavouring syrups might be one possible answer.
However, the trick to these '"late additions" is to make sure that the fermentation is completely killed (otherwise, adding sugar is just going to set the thing off again...)


I've just realised that my Lidl "Jam Maker" (tea urn or sous-vide cooker) is in fact a 'pasteuriser' and that a well-known fruit press company seems to be selling them for about 5x Lidl's price ... 75C for 25 minutes is the recommended treatment.

 

[psafloyd]

After 48hrs added cider yeast packets
View attachment 8907

Why? Isn't there enough yeast on the skins and sugar in the fruit?

 

[itma]

Why? Isn't there enough yeast on the skins and sugar in the fruit?

Actually, if you are trying to control the fermentation you'd want to control the yeast.
I'm sure you noticed that the OP had cleared the way for his chosen yeast by adding some Campden tablets to his juice.

Some folk might prefer to take pot luck with whatever wild yeasts happened to be on the fruit, others would prefer not to take their chances.

 

[beeboybee]

quick update on cider experiment.....
its been a couple of weeks now... hardly any bubbles in the airlock,
i can recommend the camden tablet route then adding your own yeast its has worked well so far, now looking at ways to flavour one barrel

 

[REDWOOD]

OK I've got my straw when is tasting time

 

[itma]

If you want clear cider, you should add some Pectolase (pectolytic enzyme).
Its cheap and you should find it on Wilkinson's homebrew counter for a quid.
http://www.wilko.com/home-brew/wilko-pectolase-17g/invt/0022653