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MLF would raise the pH.

You can get MLF during alcoholic fermentation or (more usually) after. You want temperatures in the high teens C or higher, it usually takes 2-3 weeks and you need to let the cider rest for a further month for the flavours to settle down.

Russet apples are excellent for cider, eating and cooking.

Generally craft cider such as French and Spanish cider does go through MLF, it is easier in cider because apples have more malic acid than grapes. It does sound like MLF, you should wait a month or 2 before bottling.

Sounds like MLF. The flavour will seem a bit strange and cardboardy for about 6 weeks so you have to give it time to settle.

How do you know it is going through MLF? It will "infect" other batches if you mix them, though MLF is usually a good thing. All French cider goes through MLF.

Leaving the chopped apples overnight is fine, cidermakers often macerate the apples for a day. You don't need to sterilise apples, or even clean them really if they look ok. Did you know wine grapes are never cleaned? They just go straight from the vineyard to the crusher.

As I said, also the equipment, and there are spores in the air as well, anything fermented outside will get spores falling into their cider. If you do wild ferments you will find it gets easier after a few years, when a strong population of yeasts has built up in the area. Some winemakers are...

Wild ferments are very common commercially, as stated by miracula. With wine and cider there is always going to be some variation year to year because the fruit ripens differently each year, so they are not going for consistency, There will be a population of yeasts in the cellar, that is the...

Could there be any iron dissolved in the cider? how did you grind the fruit?

I press my pears when they are still a bit firm.

I would recommend buying a proper SS apple mill and just using the cast iron one for decoration. You don't want dissolved iron in your cider.. The cider will turn black when exposed to air, I have seen it. Grease or wax won't help, but you could try powdercoating. Any paint that chips off should...

6.7 is 6/0.89 instead of x 0.89, I don't know whether Jolicoeur or Le are correct but I suspect it is Lea.

If you can, a bit of concrete and a tap just outside the door would be good for washing down the press and grinder. I think hosing down is easier outside. Those curved things you mount on the wall for hanging hoses to drain are very useful, I hang my hoses on a nail and they get kinked.

I would be pretty easy to make your own bag from something like shadecloth.

I have drunk a lot of French cider, Norman and Breton, and it is usually perfectly clean with no trace of barnyard. Some small producers like to make cider with funk but the vast majority of large producers want their cider to be perfectly clean. The amount of wine and cider produced around the...

Yes I agree with Maylar, I never have problems with wild ferments, I don't even use so2.

When you are growing native trees there is a lot more than just the fruit. You are providing shelter and habitat for native animals, and conserving natural heritage. You are even helping with climate change. Native trees are usually grown from seed, to encourage genetic diversity.

If they ripen in april they probably aren't twenty ounce. Mine ripen from february, though they will stay on the tree till late april. They aren't Bramleys and I doubt that they are Jonagold, not a variety grown much in Australia.

I got my tree years ago from a nursery in Victoria called Badger's Keep, sadly no longer open. The tree is very reliable for producing good crops.