Lots of apples, not a whole lot of fermenting space

I've come across a good amount of apples and am planning on pressing it on Saturday. I have 4 fermenting buckets and 2 glass carboys. In addition to this I have a collection of one gallon jugs. Short of buying more secondary space or at least some long term bulk aging space, what can I do?

I have been thinking of buying large freezer bags and freezing the cider until I have space to ferment. I have been saving milk jugs for a while but didn't sanitize them, only rinsed them with hot water...now they smell.

What do others on here do? There is a frost advisory for tonight so I might not have access to more apples when secondary space opens up for me.

chevalcider said:

I've come across a good amount of apples and am planning on pressing it on Saturday. I have 4 fermenting buckets and 2 glass carboys. In addition to this I have a collection of one gallon jugs. Short of buying more secondary space or at least some long term bulk aging space, what can I do?

I have been thinking of buying large freezer bags and freezing the cider until I have space to ferment. I have been saving milk jugs for a while but didn't sanitize them, only rinsed them with hot water...now they smell.

What do others on here do? There is a frost advisory for tonight so I might not have access to more apples when secondary space opens up for me.

Click to expand...

I chopped them up after washing (using the apple crusher helps but a knife works well if you have the time), in big food-safe plastic bags (double bag!). Then, when I"m ready, I take them still frozen, put them in big sanitized mesh bags and put them in the primary and add everything and ferment for 5-7 days before pressing.

One great thing about freezing is that they become much easier to press and smash up, as when they freeze and thaw the cells rupture. Plus, you can freeze them at the peak of freshness and ripeness and use as needed.

I am just finishing my apple grinder, or should I say "shredder". It's built off of the design by Claude Jolicoeur. My test runs have a fairly fine grind. Is this OK? If I am freezing anyway I am sure that I needn't even grind and only press after thawing.

I've heard of some Old World ciders actually leaving the pulp for a day of maturation before pressing. Some of them actually add pectic enzyme at this point to extract even more juice. Would this be an idea for your method? I add pectic enzyme to my ciders at the beginning of primary for clearing anyway.


https://picasaweb.google.com/111554988849488925721/AppleGrinder2010
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEqievL6_mA[/ame]

Yes, I actually crush and ferment for 5(ish) days before pressing.

Well, not always. Last year, I fermented some cider that I crushed and pressed right away, and some I fermented my "old" way of fermenting on the apples before pressing.

Both are great. The crushed/pressed juice used S04 yeast, and cleared in about 10 days or so. I don't know if it was because it didn't ferment on the pulp, or because I used a highly flocculant yeast, or a combination of both. The other stuff took longer to clear, even though I used pectic enzyme, but it did clear eventually.

Yooper said:

Yes, I actually crush and ferment for 5(ish) days before pressing.

Well, not always. Last year, I fermented some cider that I crushed and pressed right away, and some I fermented my "old" way of fermenting on the apples before pressing.

Both are great. The crushed/pressed juice used S04 yeast, and cleared in about 10 days or so. I don't know if it was because it didn't ferment on the pulp, or because I used a highly flocculant yeast, or a combination of both. The other stuff took longer to clear, even though I used pectic enzyme, but it did clear eventually.

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Sounds sort of like making red wine with the skins in for a spell before crushing, eh?

I was given 4 grocery bags of Kerr crab apples. These are supposedly super apples for sweet cider. Their skins are really red. When juiced the way a lot of old wives juice apples around here (cutting into quarters and covering with boiling water - possibly adding sugar before canning in quart jars) they give off a flavourful red juice...I wonder what sort of cider I would get if I fermented "on the skins" for a week or so?

Now is a good excuse to go out and get some more carboys, you will need them eventually anyway so go ahead and get some. I would never water down a cider before fermenting, you might as well just use storebought concentrate if you are going to water it down. Yes you can freeze whole apples and press, mostly that is for ice ciders. You would get a better yeild if you scratter them after you freeze them and then press, we do our crabs like that to get every bit of juice we can. WVMJ

WVMJ said:

Now is a good excuse to go out and get some more carboys, you will need them eventually anyway so go ahead and get some. I would never water down a cider before fermenting, you might as well just use storebought concentrate if you are going to water it down. Yes you can freeze whole apples and press, mostly that is for ice ciders. You would get a better yeild if you scratter them after you freeze them and then press, we do our crabs like that to get every bit of juice we can. WVMJ

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Don't worry! I would never water down my cider! I was just giving an example of what I grew up observing as "juicing apples" and wondered if fermenting "on the skins" would result in a similar cider. I was at the LHBS last night asking questions and looking around. 19 litre glass carboy used for $20 and new 23 litre glass for $32. Might have to wait for a pay cheque to come in. Haven't been paid in three months.

Yooper said:

I chopped them up after washing (using the apple crusher helps but a knife works well if you have the time), in big food-safe plastic bags (double bag!). Then, when I"m ready, I take them still frozen, put them in big sanitized mesh bags and put them in the primary and add everything and ferment for 5-7 days before pressing.

One great thing about freezing is that they become much easier to press and smash up, as when they freeze and thaw the cells rupture. Plus, you can freeze them at the peak of freshness and ripeness and use as needed.

Click to expand...

So when you say "add everything" to the frozen apple pieces , does that include
apple cider or juice you already have? I was just thinking the yeast needed some liquid to get going on the fermentation.
So then after 5 days or so you press the still fermenting apple must, do you then sanitize the resulting juice?
I've only made hard cider with cider made at the orchard, and wanted to try my own apple blend(s) this season.

by the way nice looking scratter you got there! WVMJ

madscientist451 said:

So when you say "add everything" to the frozen apple pieces , does that include
apple cider or juice you already have? I was just thinking the yeast needed some liquid to get going on the fermentation.
So then after 5 days or so you press the still fermenting apple must, do you then sanitize the resulting juice?
I've only made hard cider with cider made at the orchard, and wanted to try my own apple blend(s) this season.

Click to expand...

I mix up some campden in a little water, and add that over the crushed apples. There is quite a bit of juice, but more comes out in the next few hours. 12 hours later, I add the pectic enzyme, and then 12 hours after that I add the yeast. By then, the pulp is pretty smooshed up and there is quite a bit of liquid!

WVMJ said:

by the way nice looking scratter you got there! WVMJ

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OK. Let's be honest here...it's not my scatter! I have built mine along the same lines as this one but have built it out of materials I was able to get for free or nearly free. For example, I did not spend the $30 on bearings and bearing blocks (although I might do that for next year). I took some spare blocks of oak I had kicking around and drilled them out in order to make hardwood bearings. The rest of it is made form scraps of wood laying around my garage and a good shot of hard maple scraps I was able to get with the help of a friend who works in a local custom kitchen manufacturer. Some of the oak blocks we dunnage under steel shipments coming into a metal fabricating plant in the community I teach in. I drop by and see what they have and walk out with some nice wood. My senior neighbour was nice enough to send his table saw and 13" planer over to my garage in exchange for clearing more space in his garage. I plan on testing it all tomorrow...if the scratter and press work well I might think of posting pictures!

Here is the press and grinder I've McGyvered. From Friday night to last night I've (along with help) pressed about 140 litres of juice. Pitching yeast soon!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPBp-dZG5f4&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

That's awesome!

My scratter/press is all done by hand. I figure I need the exercise- but 140 liters is a lot more than I would be able to do by hand in one afternoon! That looks great, and you've got me thinking since I have a hydraulic jack just sitting around that I use twice a year for boosting up my boat trailer (spring and fall ).

That jack set up is a lot easier than hand cranking for sure. I love it!