Hi guys
I`ve been lurking on here since mid June reading up on cider making as I have a small crop of apples and so does my grandad. This isn`t much at all but since I`ve had to hand press them it has been enough! Last year all the apples got rotten and fell on the floor so this year I thought I`d try some cider to use them up. This is the initial crop:
I basically chopped them all up and pulped them in the blender:
Popped the pulp into a fine cloth bag and gave it a GOOD squeeze:
I then re-filtered this through another fine cloth
And after just short of three hours I ended up with just short of 1 gallon of the apple juice, note the apples left are from my grandma as I was to save her some! I have added pectinase (just under 1 teaspoon as it says 1 per gallon and I have added just short of 1 camden tablet, again the instructions say 1 per gallon). I`m now leaving it until tomorrow or maybe even Thurday night as it took longer than I expected. The airlock is there simply to seal the container, I hope it doesn`t start fermenting since there is a camden tablet in there!
So that is what I have done so far but I do have a few questions. Firstly it was quite a bit darker than I expected but after leaving it to settle for a while the top area is becoming more of normal apple colour I would expect. There is now a quick thick seddiment falling to the bottom:
Do I need to filter this again before I start the fermentation in a few nights time? Would you also add any more than the recommended pectinase to try and clear this up a bit or stick to the 1 teaspoon per gallon rule?
Although this is my first home brew, I`m actually going to go down the route of Brendon O`s Graff :https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/ as it sounds quite nice. I have everything except the Crystal which I don`t get until tomorrow so like I said it may have to sit until tomorrow or possibly Thursday before I can get started, will it be ok for a few days like this?
I haven`t got an aweful lot of apple juice here, just under a gallon (3.5L) so would you recommend that I top this up with a supermarket bought apple juice? I`m from the UK and I have looked and can`t get any unpasterised stuf, it`ll have to be shelf bought. Any other fellow Brits recommend a good boxed apple juice that I can use to top this up (I believe it must be only UV pasturised right?)
Sorry, lots of questions! Really enjoy the forum...
Craynerd.
I`ve been lurking on here since mid June reading up on cider making as I have a small crop of apples and so does my grandad. This isn`t much at all but since I`ve had to hand press them it has been enough! Last year all the apples got rotten and fell on the floor so this year I thought I`d try some cider to use them up. This is the initial crop:
I basically chopped them all up and pulped them in the blender:
Popped the pulp into a fine cloth bag and gave it a GOOD squeeze:
I then re-filtered this through another fine cloth
And after just short of three hours I ended up with just short of 1 gallon of the apple juice, note the apples left are from my grandma as I was to save her some! I have added pectinase (just under 1 teaspoon as it says 1 per gallon and I have added just short of 1 camden tablet, again the instructions say 1 per gallon). I`m now leaving it until tomorrow or maybe even Thurday night as it took longer than I expected. The airlock is there simply to seal the container, I hope it doesn`t start fermenting since there is a camden tablet in there!
So that is what I have done so far but I do have a few questions. Firstly it was quite a bit darker than I expected but after leaving it to settle for a while the top area is becoming more of normal apple colour I would expect. There is now a quick thick seddiment falling to the bottom:
Do I need to filter this again before I start the fermentation in a few nights time? Would you also add any more than the recommended pectinase to try and clear this up a bit or stick to the 1 teaspoon per gallon rule?
Although this is my first home brew, I`m actually going to go down the route of Brendon O`s Graff :https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/ as it sounds quite nice. I have everything except the Crystal which I don`t get until tomorrow so like I said it may have to sit until tomorrow or possibly Thursday before I can get started, will it be ok for a few days like this?
I haven`t got an aweful lot of apple juice here, just under a gallon (3.5L) so would you recommend that I top this up with a supermarket bought apple juice? I`m from the UK and I have looked and can`t get any unpasterised stuf, it`ll have to be shelf bought. Any other fellow Brits recommend a good boxed apple juice that I can use to top this up (I believe it must be only UV pasturised right?)
Sorry, lots of questions! Really enjoy the forum...
Craynerd.
