What I have learned after 4 years of making cider

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jhespe

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This is an ongoing process, please feel free to comment, I am still learning so much. I just want to share.
I started out with a simple home brew setup of a carboy, a secondary, and some bottles and enthusiasm.
1) I advertised on a local classified site asking for anyone that wanted to "share" apples. I was willing to make the cider, and would share, but don't expect anything.
My response was, I needed to take my add down after 3 days as I had 450lbs of apples and didn't even have a way of making juice yet.
2) I needed a way to make juice.
a) I built my own grinder and crusher. There are many designs online, I was rushed as I had 450lbs of apples and they were starting to go bad.
b) I have rebuilt my press/grinder 3 times in the past 4 years. I believe, if you want to do this. Buy a 5+ ton press and a manual grinder and a .5+ HP electric motor. (this will cost about $500) Work from there. Building from scratch will cost you more, trust me.
c) Watch youtube and read whatever you can. There is too much to learn here to write it down.
3) Sterilize everything. If it is going to touch the juice it better be sterile. Star-San is cheap compared to throwing away some evil smelling post fermented junk.
4) Read everything. I learned so much. What was I trying to accomplish? My dad (RIP) used to make cider from the apples that grew on our farm. I think my primary goal was to connect with him. He made terrible cider. He knew it, the family knew it, but he drank it anyways and refused to admit it.
a) So, my goal was to make cider better than what he made. After 4 years, my goals have been refined to try to make it better than what I can buy in the store, but that takes time.
5) OK, so now you have a grinder, a press, a carboy and a bunch of apples. Good to go!
a) If you just grind, press, and make juice, you can make cider. It will taste about the same as my father made, and you don’t want to taste that. Trust me.
b) Wild Yeasts. – I’ve never gone there, seems really unreliable, so if you want that, go read about it. If you want to get rid of wild yeast. I know of 3 options:
i) Cook to 165 degrees to pasteurize. Be aware, this does not sterilize. If you want to sterilize read about it, can’t explain. This is the primary approach I have used in the past. Works fine, and is quite reliable and I haven’t noticed a big issue with flavor problems.
ii) Metabisulfites/Sorbates – Campden tables are easiest, but read up on this. Don’t get too enthusiastic, you can effect flavor if you put too much in. Sulfites AND Sorbates are required.
iii) Filtering – If you have this ability, good on you, but I don’t think it is worth it in a PRE-fermentation process.
There could be more, I don’t know of them.
6) Maybe you have your own apples. – I was lucky enough to meet somebody with 6 apple trees and 3 pear trees that was willing to share. This may happen to you if you are eager and keep advertising. Now, when are the apples ripe? Good question! Get a refractometer. DO NOT PICK YOUR APPLES EARLY! You end up with sour, bitter crap that will never taste good. Go out every few days and read that sugar content. You will know when your apples are as ripe as they are going to get. Record that reading. Depending on the apple, it should be around 1.065 or so.
7) OK, so you have ground your apples, you have pressed your apples, you have removed the wild yeast from your apples. Now, fermentation. This is a really important step. What kind of yeast should I use?
a) I have used about 6 different yeasts in my time. The one most commonly suggested is Champagne yeast. I don’t like it. I find it removes almost all flavor. My favorite so far is S-05. Safale ale yeast. Keeps way more of the fruit flavor than any other yeasts that I have tried so far.
b) Play around here, this is why you are doing this. I have a couple of smaller carboys, you can even use some 1 gallon bottles here. Play around, find out what you like.
8) Ferment at a consistent temperature. I now have a fridge and a temperature controller, but if you don’t have that, you better have a place where the temperature stays consistently under 21(71F). This is important.
9) OK, I have this dry, odd tasting sorta tastes like cider if I could only make it sweeter. Now what?
a) This requires the most commitment in my opinion. I started out attempting to back sweeten with Xylitol and other un-natural sweeteners. This is completely a taste consideration. (Although too much Xylitol can cause the runs, so look out)
b) One thing I learned about is apple juice concentrate. This works well, but is limited, if you put in too much, you can create a bottle bomb.
c) After 3 years I bought a kegging system. If you want carbonated cider, this is a must. Don’t bother with carbonating via yeast. The lack of back sweetening/flavoring just makes all the work disappointing. If you want the good stuff, get the keg.
d) Flavoring. There are absolutely no limitations here. Obviously, wait until you have consistency and a cider that you like. Then go nuts. Ginger, Black Cherry, Hops, Oh God, you have to try Hops!, etc.
10) Bottling – Well, more than that. Aging. If you have gone through all this work, you are going to be very eager to try it. Wait 2 months at least until you call it as good as it will get. It needs to age, or you end up with a sour aftertaste that if you are sharing, isn’t going to impress.
a) Bottling using Yeast - 1 half cup of brown sugar to 5 gallons of cider. (Honey or normal sugar works here too)
b) Bottling from a keg – I have a Blichmann Bottling Gun. Make darned sure you over-carbonate by at least half a pound. You are going to lose CO2 during this process. Make sure you control the temperatures(Get your cider as cold as you can) and follow the charts. Temperature during carbonation is the key.
c) Next year I am going to try to filter my cider. I have read that if you have a 1 micron filter and a kegging system you can filter it from one keg to the other and remove even the yeast without affecting the flavor. I have bought what I need, just waiting on next year’s apples! If anyone has tried this and has advice, please! Share!

Thanks for reading. Please add your opinions, experience, or advice. We are all in this together.
 
Lots of good information there. I like the idea of posting on CL to see if anyone wants help removing apples from their trees. I see a bunch around here in the summer and by the fall I notice that a lot of the apples just go to waste and rot on the tree.

I also think it's wise for someone to try fermenting a gallon or two of cider with store bought juice before going to the effort of picking/grinding/pressing their own apples (or if it's not the right season for that). It's a lot easier to pour $7 down the drain if the result sucks than it is to know you wasted potentially tens of gallons of cider with a process that didn't work or by learning you don't like the yeast choice or whatever.
 
I agree lots of good information here. You may want to try a batch that you haven't cooked, raised the temperature to 165F, or used any campden tablets on. The store bought yeast will out compete the wild yeast and the alcohol in the cider will pretty much kill whatever is left.
I do a wild yeast ferment every year, probably 3-5 gallons out of 40 gallons or so and its usually pretty good. Maybe not really better, but different. Another method I use is to do a partial wild ferment for a few weeks and then pitch a commercial strain. Note I usually ferment around 56-58 and the progress is pretty slow. I try not to use any chemicals or additives in my cider.
I agree with your comment on using green apples, the cider comes out much too acidic and sour for my taste. Many Orchards pick their crop before its ripe so the apples won't spoil in the way to the store.
I try to find orchards that sell tree ripened fruit and also have a few trees of my own so I can pick when the apples are ready.
I also store my apples for 30-60 days after harvest to let them ripen some more and they also get softer and loose some moisture which concentrates the flavors.
My grinder is a slightly modified electric tree branch grinder I got an auction for $25. Harbor Freight now has a similar unit for $99.
For a press I use a wine press I bought at a flea market for $70.
So you don't need to spend $500 to make cider, if you look around and get lucky you can find cheaper alternatives.
 
Thanks I will try perhaps 5 gallons without raising the temperature. I am always so paranoid about my valuable, valuable juice that I go a little overboard, in protecting it. If that works out I am curious how the taste will differ.
 
Definitely try a batch to raw. Add Camden tablets. I normally only add 3 campden in 5 gallons. It seems to do great and not leave any taste. Have done five tablets but I'm sulfite sensitive. Works well.
Any pasteurized ferments I've tasted vastly different than raw. Raw is by far better. By far
 
Ripe apples, the correct test is an iodine test, not SG since apples vary so much in how much sugar they have when ripe, vary from apple to apple on the same tree so sometimes you have to pick several times not just once.
 
Sulfites AND Sorbate are required - only if you are sweetening and dont want carbonation. At bottling sulfites are there to prevent oxygenation and protect from spoilage organisms. Much better to use a little KM up front after pressing than heating it up, all that vapor coming off of your juice is your aromatics that you want to preserve, hard to make something great when you just turned your juice into something generic.
 
Thank you I will look into this, not sure from your description what to do with with the iodine
 
Iodine stains starches, unripe apple have more starch then ripe apples since the starch has been turned into sugar, since you are picking your own apples you can easily stain some to see how ripe they are when you pick them, you can also store them for a while after picking to mature - turning starch into sugar before you press. WVMJ

Thank you I will look into this, not sure from your description what to do
 
And under/unripe apples affect taste of cider and cause one heck of a haze that's hard to clear.....
 
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