Need a project for Autumn? How about making some cider?

What apples were made for!

If you visit Stanlake Park you may notice the apple press in the Tasting Shed or the numerous apple trees in the walled garden. In recent years the abundant fruit was collected by producers to make ciders, although that stopped some time ago. This year, I enjoyed a large number of apple crumbles, so the fruit didn’t go to waste! However, if pies and crumbles aren’t your thing then making cider is relatively straight-forward and there are many similarities with wine making. You just need a few simple pieces of equipment to turn a wealth of unwanted apples into their ultimate form – glorious cider!

Pick your apples

Any apple can be used for making cider, but it must be accepted that nature will determine what the flavour profile will end up like. To make the best cider, you need to ensure that the fruit is ripe. Importantly, the fruit also needs to be clean, so as to not introduce spoilage bacteria. You don’t want any mud or bird poo, so wash your apples with a hose pipe or by dunking them into a bucket of water.

There are a few options to extract the apple juice to make cider and if you don’t have access to a press or mill then a food processor will do the job on a smaller scale. Regardless of your methodology, this pulp needs to be squeezed, or pressed, in order to separate juice from the solid component, which is not wanted. This is done by applying pressure to the pulp and straining the juice through a suitable medium. No matter what press type, the premise is the same: to exert pressure. The squeezed pulp releases the juice, which passes through a cloth, ensuring a most satisfying flow of juice which can be collected in a bucket or other vessel.

When you use a basket press, you would hope to achieve a 50 per cent juice yield: that is to say that every 10kg of fruit pulped and pressed will equate to 5 litres (9 pints) of juice. You need to measure the sugar content of the juice using a hydrometer – it looks like a thermometer with a bulbous end. Place this into the juice, it bobs around and you read a measurement of where the hydrometer sits in the juice. It’s actually measuring the density of the juice which is a proxy for the sugar content, which you can then extrapolate into a potential alcohol.

Cider basket press

Wild fermentation vs adding cultured yeast

Two choices now present themselves – either allow a ‘wild’ fermentation to occur or add a cultured yeast. A wild fermentation can give extra complexity, but you lose control and it could gain unpleasant characters. A cultured yeast gives ultimate control over the fermentation. Either way, it is advisable to add a small quantity of sulphur dioxide to the juice, to give it some protection from spoilage bacteria and yeast. Place the fermentation vessel into a cool/mild environment with little temperature fluctuation (between 12–15C will be perfect). Any colder, and you will get a longer, slower fermentation, but any higher, and the fermentation will run away too quickly, potentially increasing the likelihood of off flavours.

With a wild fermentation, depending on the temperature, it might be a few days before the cider shows visible signs of fermentation. If in any doubt, add a cultured yeast to the juice. 

Under normal circumstances, within 48 hours of adding the yeast, you will start to see the signs of fermentation, notably the production of bubbles. This is carbon dioxide – the primary by-product of the cider making process. Once the fermentation has started, put a lid on the fermentation vessel, but ensure you place an airlock on the top. This ‘bubbler’ is a small plastic pot which you put water into – this will allow the carbon dioxide to escape but keep the air out. Fermentation will take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks if you have used a cultured yeast but could take several months if you have allowed it to go ‘wild’, again depending on the temperature.

Are we there yet?

When is cider fermentation complete? Fermentation will have finished when you notice that the liquid clears, bubbling ceases and a heavy sediment deposit forms at the bottom of the vessel. This sediment is known as ‘lees’ and is formed from the dead yeast. You want to remove the cider from the lees: do so by syphoning the clear, freshly fermented liquid into another clean container, a process known as ‘racking’. Ensure that the container is full to the brim, topping up with a bit of water if necessary. Then, screw the lid down nice and tight.

The cider will now sit in this maturation container for as long as it takes to soften and become palatable, which could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending upon the type of fruit that has been used. You can drink the cider from this container, and it will be still and dry, but if you choose to do so, you must consume it within a few days (not always an issue!). If you have made a large quantity of cider, then you will need to bottle it. 

If you are looking to achieve a sparkling cider you might choose to add some sugar at the point of bottling. Any yeast that is still within the cider will enable a secondary fermentation of this newly added sugar in the bottle, producing a touch more alcohol and, crucially, producing carbon dioxide too. This gets trapped in the bottle and will dissolve into the cider, creating a natural sparkle and also preserving the cider. The bottles should be stored somewhere cool (around 12C) to allow a gradual but full secondary in-bottle fermentation. The cider could stay at its prime for at least a couple of years if the carbon dioxide has successfully filled all of the headspace in the bottle. 

All that’s left now is for you to enjoy the fruits of your labours!

Now, if you want to learn how wine is made, you should join us on a Wine Tour, so you can have a look at the process in person (while sipping delicious award-winning wines…)

At Stanlake Park we don’t like to see any of our fruit go to waste, so will you be seeing a Stanlake Park cider in the future? Our winemaker is far too busy with making wine but who knows, never say never!