Inaugural Cider Batch

We’ve done it!  We gathered up a whole bunch of granny smith apples on Saturday morning (for free!) and turned them all into wonderful cider.

So, here’s how the process works:

Start by washing your apples.  I used the bottom section of the 55 gallon tub I used to make my chicken plucker, filled it with water and Courtney and I sat around while the kids were napping and inspected all the apples.  We sorted them into two buckets, one for good apples and one for those that had a moldy/wormy spot.  We rubbed each apple with our hands to knock off any dirt, etc.

Halve or quarter all of the apples.  This is so that they fit into the grinder.

Grind away!  The grinder will chew up the apples as fast as I can feed them in there.  It is amazing.

The ground up apple pulp is collected in a food grade bucket.

Another view of the grinding in action.

Filling the pressing bags.  The bottom three inches of a five gallon food grade bucket acts as the form.

Tie the bag with a piece of kitchen twine.

Loading the press.  Put a bag in the bottom, then a pressing disc, then another bag, and so on.  A lot of juice will come out into your catching basin before you even begin pressing, so have that in place first!

Start pressing.  On the ground is the scissor jack from our mini van.  You start with that and once there is room, switch to the 6 ton bottle jack.

The final product.  One sip and you’ll know what the “Wow” factor is all about on this fresh squeezed cider.  It is comparable to nothing else I’ve ever had.  Courtney and I drank a large pitcher of it over the next few days.  The rest was split between a few half gallon Ball jars to make vinegar with the balance put into a fermenter to make hard cider.

Thanks, Robert.

Other Apple Grinder/Cider Press Posts:

Project Introduction

Status Report

Cutting a Keyway

Completion

Being Bold: Apple Collecting

Apple Cider Vinegar (future post)

Hard Cider (future post)

Cider press update

I had quite a bit of time to work on my apple grinder and cider press this past week.  The press frame is all put together now.

That press frame required lots of sawing, for someone without an electric saw.  I do have a Black and Decker scroll saw, pictured here in my post about mechanical tools.  But that blade won’t cut the notches required to piece this frame together.  I guessed I put about three or more hours into cutting out the notches, as pictured below.

I used that hand saw to make 1/4″ deep cuts at 1/2″ intervals and then chiseled out the pieces.  Then I used a rasp to smooth everything out.  The 2×4 uprights had notches on both sides where the 2×6′s are mounted.  There are also notches in the center 2×6′s where the press shaft goes through.  And can you believe I passed on a Dewalt circular saw at a garage sale for $12 a few weeks ago?  I’m kicking myself for that one.  The bottom plate was slightly bent, but it would have been fine for a job like this.

Thanks, Robert.

Other Apple Grinder/Cider Press Posts:

Project Introduction

Cutting a Keyway

Completion

Being Bold: Apple Collecting

Inaugural Cider Batch

Apple Cider Vinegar (future post)

Hard Cider (future post)

The last of the cider

Last winter I made hard cider.  A family member gave me four gallons of apple juice that was frozen after being pressed earlier that fall.  Payment for the free juice was a stake in the finished product.  I researched how to make hard cider and was surprised to learn how easy it was compared to brewing beer.

Dump the apple juice into the fermenter, add yeast, seal and come back in a few weeks.  Depending on the original gravity, you may want to add some honey to boost the sugars.  The fermentation does throw off some strong sulfur-like odors, so make sure you keep that in mind when selecting the location where the cider will be fermenting.

Hard cider takes much longer to fully cure in the bottle.  It is due to the strong flavors from the juice, which takes quite some time to mellow out.  I did sample a bottle or two out of curiosity two weeks after bottling and it was indeed bitter.  Three months after bottling, however the cider was approaching its prime.  It is now seven months after bottling.

The cider is so good that I feel like it deserves to be served in a champagne flute.  My beer mug will do just fine, though.  I put it in the freezer earlier in the day so that I could have a frosty mug.

I’m now planning for this fall.  Calendars in our area say that early apples begin to be harvested August first.  I’ll post again soon to tell you how I’m preparing.

Thanks, Robert.