Cider Making

Following a visit to Mr H's dad, we came home with a huge bag of cooking apples from his tree. We brought them home and as I was plotting all sorts of jam and chutneys, Mr H had a very different idea. Cider!

I can not deny I think this is highly dangerous. Irresponsible drinking is the norm in this household, and I think a home brew could be suicide. But, what can I do? Of course, I also think it would be great fun to have our own brew :)

In our usual haphazard attempt to being as self-sufficient as we can, we followed no recipe or guidelines to the letter, but instead amalgamated several! This obviously adds to the danger, but most of our "experiments" have been relatively successful, so what the hell.

So, we have some brewing kit donated by Mr H's Dad, which we used to make the elderflower champagne, but we were short of a cider press. As these cost money Mr H "fashioned" his own. 2 G Clamps and 2 pieces of wood. This cost £11. Hooray. We cheated by grating the apples in a food processor before putting in a muslin bag and pressing (very haphazardly) in Mr H's cider press. We now have a demi john filled with fermenting apple juice. Here it will stay for a couple of months before transferring to another demi john, minus the sediment. Then we leave it until it is clear and this should be followed by the tasting.

Chopped Apples before Shredding

Mr H's Cider Press - Genius!



The Pressed Juice
Looks disgusting... watch this space!