Advice for pressing: cleaning and mashing, does it matter if apples brown or aren't sterilized?

[oscillate_wildly]

Hi everyone,

I am attempting hard cider for the first time (4-5 gallons) with the guidance of a friend who has made it several times before. They have only used a juicer before, so since we are both going to be making cider we have decided to rent a press this coming weekend to make the process less hard. Right now all of my apples are in boxes. Most are picked from the tree but there are a few windfalls in there and some have some blemishes.

My plan is to wash and chop the apples the night before and take the chopped apples the next day to where the press is. I'll then use a food processor to mash before pressing (we don't have a grinder). I have a mix of apples, so I'm planning on adding all of the juice into one large sterilized carboy. I will then take the juice home, add campden tablets and pectic enzyme before separating out into 1 gal jugs (since I want to try a few different yeasts).

I have some questions about prep and avoiding contamination from pressing:
- Should the apples be sterilized e.g. soaked in star san sol before cutting? Most are from the trees but some are from the ground where animals and dogs, some have some squirrel nibbles
- Does it matter if the apples brown before juicing? I suspect that if I chop the night before then I will have brown apples
- Any other advice about pressing?

I know how important it is to be super careful when sterilizing all equipment and containers when brewing. What is throwing me is that it's clearly not possible to sterilize everything while pressing (e.g. the press, apples, etc). I believe that campden tablets only work on yeasts and not bacteria, and I do not intend to pasteurize the juice. I want to make sure that I am not missing something, as surely microbes will get into the juice during the extraction stage.

Thanks everyone!

 

[gregbathurst]

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.

 

[DaveC73]

I've only pressed apples a couple of times, but here's my 2 cents:

1) the apples don't need to be sanitized but giving them a wash (just a good rinse with water) is recommended, especially since you have some windfalls.
2) A little bruising never hurt my cider, but definitely cut out and throw away any rotten pieces.
3) Why chop the apples ahead of time? If you can, just bring a folding table, a cutting board and a knife. You're processing the apples in the press location anyway, why invite contamination by chopping the apples early?
4) Don't process the apples with the traditional blade if you can. If your processor has a grating/shredding disc, use that. It most closely approximates an apple mill (I have a spiedel mill and can confirm this).

That's about it. Good luck!

 

[DaveC73]

Apparently I have more cents...

5) If you're not going to do a wild ferment but are going to add a cultured yeast strain, then sulfite your juice after pressing. One campden tablet per gallon of juice should do the trick. Campden tablets kill bacteria and suppress wild yeast.
6) For campden tabs to work, the pH of your juice MUST be below 3.8, preferable in the 3.5 to 3.6 range. If your pH is above this, you can lower it using some "sour" apple juice (like crab apples) or using malic acid from your home brew shop. If using malic acid add a little at a time, waiting 10 or 15 minutes before you check pH again. It takes a little while for those molecules to sort themselves out...

 

[madscientist451]

Perhaps save the cost of press rental and use this method on the video below, also I’ve never seen the drill/paint stir method for chopping apples, but it looks like it works! I’ve never used a food processor to chop apples, but it’s been described as a TPITA. I grind the apples the day before pressing, (using altered garden shredder) it seems to help get more juice, so you may want to try that. BTW there are many cheapo diy apple press videos out there, and even showing how to crush apples with a 4x4 post and a bucket, check ‘em out!

 

[Maylar]

Washed? Sanitized? These folks don't bother -

 

[oscillate_wildly]

Washed? Sanitized? These folks don't bother -

Washed? Sanitized? These folks don't bother -

Wow! I was expecting something like the odd brown apple

 

[Whisky River]

Wow! I was expecting something like the odd brown apple

Try not to think about what those shovels were used for in the preceding days on their dairy farm!

 

[beren]

Try not to think about what those shovels were used for in the preceding days on their dairy farm!

Flavor?

 

[SoCalPlumber]

Washed? Sanitized? These folks don't bother -

Real deal. We've been making this for thousands of years w/o sanitation and no problems. I've got a loquat tree and can't wait for an unlimited supply of fruit for cider and wine making in a few months.

 

[beren]

Real deal. We've been making this for thousands of years w/o sanitation and no problems. I've got a loquat tree and can't wait for an unlimited supply of fruit for cider and wine making in a few months.

Yeah but no, there's a reason skilled winemakers were so highly esteemed, and all fermented beverages were easy to get wrong. There were tons of problems, it took both luck and skill to get it right. You can get an infected brew nowadays even after we know about bacteria, yeast, sanitation, etc., it was far easier back before humans knew those things even existed.