Greetings! I was so pleased to find this forum. Whoever created this resource has my eternal gratitude.
I got a wild hair after visiting some of the orchards in Hood River, Oregon. I had never seen cider apples before and thought they had an interesting taste. Originally I was going to make applesauce out of them as I thought the sauce would have a unique flavor. Then I did some reading and learned that the cooking process would probably destroy those interesting flavors.
I make a lot of applesauce and jam and do home canning. I thought trying to make hard cider might be interesting so I got the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit and some other supplies off of Amazon and found the Making Hard Cider site by Jessica Shabatura.
After sanitizing everything to the best of my ability with sanitizer and boiling I finally dumped my apple juice into the gallon jugs.
I have two batches:
One is from cider apples I squeezed the juice from. Not having a press I just pureed them in the food processor and squeezed the juice out through cheese cloth. I got about three and a half quarts so I had to resort to squeezing some sweet apples (a variety named Sonata to be precise) to top it off. I put in a crushed campden tablet and the juice yesterday. I will put in the yeast in a day or two.
The second batch is from fresh pressed, unpasteurized cider from a place called Draper Girls.
I just sanitized everything, put in the tablet, and dumped in their juice. Their juice is a blend of whatever apples they had on hand so I doubt there will be cider apples in it. That's fine.
As you can imagine I am mildly terrified I am going to screw this up and waste a ton of expensive ingredients and work.
I have many concerns, of course. But at the moment the thing giving me the creeps is the level of apple juice in the jugs.
In the jug I squeezed the juice for myself the jug is pretty full. The juice comes up to the neck of the bottle and leaves maybe an inch or two air. I assume this is full enough?
However, with the purchased juice the juice level doesn't even come up to the neck. There is a substantial amount of air in there. Draper Girls didn't short sheet me. The gallon jug I got was full to the brim. But apparently the glass jugs hold more than a gallon.
The question is: How much air space is ok? None? A little? I will be putting the airlock on there in a couple of days and I assume this air space will fill with carbon dioxide once the ferment begins. But I also know that oxygen tends to react with fresh fruit and wreck it.
Do I need to fill up one or both of the jugs? I am reluctant to add more juice to the first jug because the campden tablet has already been in there for a day. If I add more juice I am concerned it won't be sterilized. I could, of course, add some pasteurized juice from the store (yes, I know it can't have sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate in it) to either of the jugs.
To get more of my own juice I could just squeeze some Sonata apples to get fresh juice. But.... I also have some bartlett pears in my fridge. I could puree and squeeze the juice out of them and add some. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. It sounds cool but just because something sounds neat doesn't mean it's wise.
I figure if I am going to top up the second, less full jug I had better do it soon before the campden tablet gasses everything off in a day or two and I accidentally introduce undesired microorganisms in the juice. I don't know if I can re-dose with campden or whether that concentration of sulfites to a gallon of juice is too much.
On a secondary note... is it possible to make cherry cider? I have a quart of pressed cherry juice from Draper Girls. And I could generate more of my own by purchasing frozen black cherries and juicing them. It would take quite a few but I bet I could get another quart of two of juice at a reasonable cost. Alternatively I also have some store bought, pasteurized black cherry juice.
I haven't seen much on people making hard cider out of anything else but apples. But I am curious as to whether it would be worth trying this with pears, cherries, quince, or even raspberries.
Thank you in advance!
I got a wild hair after visiting some of the orchards in Hood River, Oregon. I had never seen cider apples before and thought they had an interesting taste. Originally I was going to make applesauce out of them as I thought the sauce would have a unique flavor. Then I did some reading and learned that the cooking process would probably destroy those interesting flavors.
I make a lot of applesauce and jam and do home canning. I thought trying to make hard cider might be interesting so I got the Brooklyn Brew Shop kit and some other supplies off of Amazon and found the Making Hard Cider site by Jessica Shabatura.
After sanitizing everything to the best of my ability with sanitizer and boiling I finally dumped my apple juice into the gallon jugs.
I have two batches:
One is from cider apples I squeezed the juice from. Not having a press I just pureed them in the food processor and squeezed the juice out through cheese cloth. I got about three and a half quarts so I had to resort to squeezing some sweet apples (a variety named Sonata to be precise) to top it off. I put in a crushed campden tablet and the juice yesterday. I will put in the yeast in a day or two.
The second batch is from fresh pressed, unpasteurized cider from a place called Draper Girls.
I just sanitized everything, put in the tablet, and dumped in their juice. Their juice is a blend of whatever apples they had on hand so I doubt there will be cider apples in it. That's fine.
As you can imagine I am mildly terrified I am going to screw this up and waste a ton of expensive ingredients and work.
I have many concerns, of course. But at the moment the thing giving me the creeps is the level of apple juice in the jugs.
In the jug I squeezed the juice for myself the jug is pretty full. The juice comes up to the neck of the bottle and leaves maybe an inch or two air. I assume this is full enough?
However, with the purchased juice the juice level doesn't even come up to the neck. There is a substantial amount of air in there. Draper Girls didn't short sheet me. The gallon jug I got was full to the brim. But apparently the glass jugs hold more than a gallon.
The question is: How much air space is ok? None? A little? I will be putting the airlock on there in a couple of days and I assume this air space will fill with carbon dioxide once the ferment begins. But I also know that oxygen tends to react with fresh fruit and wreck it.
Do I need to fill up one or both of the jugs? I am reluctant to add more juice to the first jug because the campden tablet has already been in there for a day. If I add more juice I am concerned it won't be sterilized. I could, of course, add some pasteurized juice from the store (yes, I know it can't have sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate in it) to either of the jugs.
To get more of my own juice I could just squeeze some Sonata apples to get fresh juice. But.... I also have some bartlett pears in my fridge. I could puree and squeeze the juice out of them and add some. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. It sounds cool but just because something sounds neat doesn't mean it's wise.
I figure if I am going to top up the second, less full jug I had better do it soon before the campden tablet gasses everything off in a day or two and I accidentally introduce undesired microorganisms in the juice. I don't know if I can re-dose with campden or whether that concentration of sulfites to a gallon of juice is too much.
On a secondary note... is it possible to make cherry cider? I have a quart of pressed cherry juice from Draper Girls. And I could generate more of my own by purchasing frozen black cherries and juicing them. It would take quite a few but I bet I could get another quart of two of juice at a reasonable cost. Alternatively I also have some store bought, pasteurized black cherry juice.
I haven't seen much on people making hard cider out of anything else but apples. But I am curious as to whether it would be worth trying this with pears, cherries, quince, or even raspberries.
Thank you in advance!