Cider with real fruit, any ideas?

Hi!
First post, but not the first batch. Ive made a batch of mead from scratch and a couple off batches of cider from one of those "just add water, sugar, yast and ferment"-sets from the stores. In these sets you add 2.2 pounds of sugar (i use pure dextrose) into a about 6.5 gallon batch, and add yeast (how much i dont know).

So i figured, it can´t be that hard to make cider from real fruit (i searched the forum and the net for a while, but didn´t find any recipe)! You could substitute some amount of the water with apple juice of course...

So any ideas to how i should proside?

P.S. Im Finnish, so I don´t know any products by name what they are Also me having English as my third language i hope explains some messed up spelling that may or may not occur from time to time

Welcome to the Forum!

I have not made cider with real fruit yet, I usually just use store bought apple juice add some sugar to get the gravity up around 1.065 or so and then add some yeast. I like using the cider yeasts that are out there such as White labs or Wyeast, but each yeast has a different taste so I sugest you find one you like. Something I like or somthing someone else likes may not be to your tastes.

I suggest you check out CVILLEKEVIN's post at
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/results-juice-yeast-sugar-experiments-83060/

he has some really awsome methods going on as well as some results from his experiments. Plus he gets his cider from a cider mill and documents the mix of apples that the cider came from.

Good luck and have fun!

Get the apples and grind them into pieces, then place them into a nylon bag and use a press to squeeze out the juice. Use a hydrometer check the gravity, if it is high enough then pitch the yeast as the instructions say on the packet/tube. If it's not high enough for your liking, add sugar. There's no need to add water.

You can also go to an apple orchard that presses cider and get some from them.

Dumb guestion, leave the nylonbag in the wort, and use the juce in the cider also? Or do i leave the bag out of the equation? : )

Kousenshu said:

Dumb guestion, leave the nylonbag in the wort, and use the juce in the cider also? Or do i leave the bag out of the equation? : )

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There is no wort. You don't boil anything. You place the nylon bag inside the bucket to make sure that only juice comes out, and not pieces of apple. Here's an example of what I mean:



It's pretty simple. Just crush up the apples and press them until you get 5 gallons of juice, then put the yeast in (after it's been prepared according to the package). The hardest part is figuring out a way to crush the apples and press them.

This was my first year making hard cider. I did it exactly like Teromous said. I had a SG of 1.044, let it ferment all the way out with cider yeast. I did buy the malolactic enzymes to force the MLF fermentation. That's kind of spendy. I think next year I will do two batches of each type of cider, and do one with and one without those enzymes, just to see what the difference will be. Anyway, from what I have been reading, it's not necessary, if you let nature take its course, and not rush things to finish.
Once my cider finished, FG of .996, I racked into another carboy, and let it settle for a few weeks, then crash chilled, and racked into a keg, and force carbed it, and bottled it. It was pretty good right off the bat. I haven't tasted one in a few weeks, but I have the rest all in the storage cellar in the basement.

I am also in the process of building my own fruit press. I litterally broke the one I bought from Cabelas, and had to return it. Of course I am over engineering it so I should be able to do an ice wine if I feel so inclined.

Teromous said:

There is no wort. You don't boil anything. You place the nylon bag inside the bucket to make sure that only juice comes out, and not pieces of apple. Here's an example of what I mean:

[Ideleted image]

It's pretty simple. Just crush up the apples and press them until you get 5 gallons of juice, then put the yeast in (after it's been prepared according to the package). The hardest part is figuring out a way to crush the apples and press them.

Click to expand...

Sounds easy enough!

Bombo80 said:

This was my first year making hard cider. I did it exactly like Teromous said. I had a SG of 1.044, let it ferment all the way out with cider yeast. I did buy the malolactic enzymes to force the MLF fermentation. That's kind of spendy. I think next year I will do two batches of each type of cider, and do one with and one without those enzymes, just to see what the difference will be. Anyway, from what I have been reading, it's not necessary, if you let nature take its course, and not rush things to finish.
Once my cider finished, FG of .996, I racked into another carboy, and let it settle for a few weeks, then crash chilled, and racked into a keg, and force carbed it, and bottled it. It was pretty good right off the bat. I haven't tasted one in a few weeks, but I have the rest all in the storage cellar in the basement.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips! I had to look up about four or five terms to get everything, but i got it Love homebrewtalk wiki

or....I've done a few ciders..where I ferment out..and then rack into a secondary on top of a select variety of apples that are peeled and sliced up thinly. I like grannysmiths, sweet 16's and braeburns for a good 3 apple mix...adds a nice body to the cider before bottling or kegging and nice full flavor too.

HTH
Dan

It's a long process but you can also use a household blender instead of a press, then strain through a muslin bag. Harder work though because of the size needed
Failing that you can always just buy chunky apple juice from the store - an organic one will basically be pressed juice as it is. But that's not much fun!

I ran the math and calculated that i would have to use about 110 punds of apples for 6 gallons of juice! (Are my sources totally of?) I think I´ll have to wait untill fall so i can use my girfriends moms apples in the mix

That sounds about right. I usually shoot for more because the apple can be hard to press and you might not get as much out of it as you want. I think around 90 pounds gets me 5 gallons.

I made my first few batches by pressing the apples myself -- a lot of work but rewarding. There are several YouTube videos that show how some people have done this.

I cut up apples, chopped them up with a kitchen blender and put the results in a nylon bag. You can use any method that will break up the apples enough that you can get most of the juice out of it.

To press, you can buy apple or wine presses ready-made, but they are expensive. I made a press out of 2x4's (normal wall-framing wood), mostly following the instructions in the book "Real Cidermaking on a Small Scale" by Pooley and Lomax, ISBN 9781854861955. For the tub I used a big 5-gallon pail (like paint comes in) with holes drilled in it.

My math was similar to yours -- it took about 120 pounds of apples to get 6 gallons of juice. The smaller the apple is chopped up the more juice you'll get.