My apples are almost ready

[Dave_E]

Hi All,

My 3 apple trees had their first breakout good year (their only 3 years old. I will end up with over 35 apples each of Liberty, Spartan and Honeycrisp. They are all big and ready to pick in a few weeks.
I want to make a small batch of cider but I do not have a crusher. I have a juicer and I have a wine press. I’m asking those who have been at this awhile how would you proceed if you were in my shoes?

Dave

 

[Chalkyt]

From one who has been down the same path, my recommendation would be to read Yooper's post at the top of the forum and keep the first batch simple. For the first year or so I used a juicer (a bit messy and lots of foam to settle and clean up, but it works) before making a scratter and press.

Sounds like you have about 120 apples available which should produce a little over a gallon of juice (just right with a bit left over for top-up or sweetening/carbonation if you want to get fancy... I probably wouldn't i.e. KISS for the first batch).

I quickly moved to S04 Yeast after trying champagne yeasts which ends up a bit too dry for me. My go-to yeasts now are S04 or D47 for a nice "dryish" cider finishing a few points above SG 1.000 with just a touch of sweetness to take the edge off (typically 5+g residual sugar per litre). If you can get hold of Claude Jolicoeur's book, absorb it all and search the forum for posts (top RH corner) about adding nutrients, malic acid or tannin where necessary (it really makes a difference).

Good luck!

 

[madscientist451]

Make apple pies from your apples. It’s just not worth the hassle of putting together the gear to make juice for a small yield. Then look around for decent cider apples. In Western Washington, you’ll be able to find some if you hunt around. Some commercial growers even sell a cider makers blend of juice so you don’t need to invest in any apple processing equipment. I tried for years to make hard cider from eating apples and was always somewhat disappointed with the results. Once you locate actual cider apples, go o you tube and check out all the cheap ways to get the juice out of them. Basically you can do it with a few plastic buckets, a tree limb, a drill and a car jack. Here’s an interesting press made from a large hunk of firewood: