Apple cider anyone?

[DuckSlayer1017]

There is an old dairy farmer near us that has a large scale press he operates for the public. I have seen people come with a pickup full of apples and they are in and out in a half hour. He will press your apples for $0.75/gallon and also will sell you new gallon milk jugs for a few cents if you need any. He has a great setup. There is a covered area where you drive up and unload your apples onto a conveyor that washes the apples before moving them into a grinder. After the grinder the apples are put into some heavy duty cloth on top of a large, heavy stainless steel pan and steel frame. The apples and cloth are layered between boards until the press is full or the customer runs out of apples. Each layer is about 10" thick and the press can handle a stack about 4' high and each layer is about 3'x3' square. Once the press is full they stack a few timbers on top of the stack of the ground apples and then a hydraulic ram presses the apples. The cider goes into a large stainless tank and then you fill your jugs. The farmer uses the apple mash to feed the cows so it's a win/win for everyone. He does require at least 5 bushels of apples, but that isn't really too hard to come by. We usually throw in a few pears for every bushel, they really make the cider sweet.

 

[Jstpssng]

You guys are right, I'm getting my terms confused here. the recipe I have for making hard cider says that if it isn't pastuerised you should heat it up to kill all of the wild yeast before adding your own.(I tried it without heating it last year, with disasterous results.) It's the potassium sorbate that adds a bitter flavor.

 

[MarkF48]

You guys are right, I'm getting my terms confused here. the recipe I have for making hard cider says that if it isn't pastuerised you should heat it up to kill all of the wild yeast before adding your own.(I tried it without heating it last year, with disasterous results.) It's the potassium sorbate that adds a bitter flavor.

Yeah, first year doing it and I did a batch without pasteurizing and it was a major fail. Next batch came out good and we froze a good bit of it. This was an excellent year for apples. We had so many just off one tree we were giving away bags of apples to friends.

 

[4570Man]

Whadja get for a press and grinder? We've got two well established trees and one coming in.

We used a electric wood chipper purchased from a thrift store for $30 We sterilized it before and after use. That was a few years ago and nobody got sick.

 

[mjarrels]

My moms family runs a cider mill, started back in about 1920 when a hail storm damaged the apple crop. Murray cider mill produces about a million gallons a year and is avaible at many fine grocrey stores.

mark

 

[dmccarty]

You guys are right, I'm getting my terms confused here. the recipe I have for making hard cider says that if it isn't pastuerised you should heat it up to kill all of the wild yeast before adding your own.(I tried it without heating it last year, with disasterous results.) It's the potassium sorbate that adds a bitter flavor.

If you just use what ever yeast happens to be in the air and/or on the fruit, you could get hard cider or apple vinegar. If you kill off the natural yeast with heat or UV you can then add the known yeast to produce hard cider. If you have to buy fresh cider and it has preservatives added, it is not likely to turn hard if you add yeast. The preservatives are added to keep the cider from turning to vinegar or alcohol.

Later,
Dan

 

[tcreeley]

Yeah, first year doing it and I did a batch without pasteurizing and it was a major fail. Next batch came out good and we froze a good bit of it. This was an excellent year for apples. We had so many just off one tree we were giving away bags of apples to friends.

How do you like your ratchet press? I thought abougt getting that one! I like your wood hooper!. I'm always reaching in to un-stick apples unless they are small going in! Somebody on youtube rigged an electric motor to his and the apples just disappeared.
..................
I thought about hard cider- glad to learn about the wild yeast and pasteurising it.

 

[MNBobcat]

You don't have to pasteurize as your cider won't fail because you didn't pasteurize. The blowing up in the bottles is because if you don't kill the yeast it will continue to ferment. That's actually how you can carbonate cider. You just have to be careful not to add too much sugar.

Pasteurization is to kill bacteria that could make you sick. But I suspect that is pretty rare.

I picked up 67 gallons of fresh pressed apple juice last weekend.

 

[DFB]

The gases have to escape when turning cider so the bottles cant be sealed tight.


Apple cider vinegars are popular at farmers markets

 

[MNBobcat]

The gases have to escape when turning cider so the bottles cant be sealed tight.


Apple cider vinegars are popular at farmers markets

The bottles can be sealed tight if you ferment down to a low sugar content and the fermenting has mostly stopped. I bottled over a 100 bottles with sealed tops and didn't have any problems. Also, you need to store the cider in the refrigerator. The cold will keep it from going into malolactic fermentation.