Anyone want to give me a summary of cider production process?!
Anyone want to give me a summary of cider production process?
Cider is a form of beer
Answers:
Choosing apples for making cider
1. Remove the fruit from your apple tree and wash your apples, discarding all magotty, rotten or mouldy specimens. Do not be tempted to buy apple juice at any point. If you are going to make cider then at least go to the effort of making Cider which tastes of real apples. If you use apple juice you will be dissapointed.
Pulping apples for making cider
2. Pulp the apples. There are many ways of doing this. For small volumes you can use an electric kitchen juicer or a blender. The more traditional (and environmentally friendly) method is to stand above a strong bucket half full of apples and hit the apples repeatedly with a heavy object. We tried both and eventually settled on using the blender with a grater attachment so effectively we push our apples through a cheese grater. The traditional method was just too much hard work for us.
Be careful because cheaper models of blenders and juicers have very weak motors which will blow at the slightest siff of a pound of Worcester Pairmains. We went for the Magimix Le Duo Juice Extractor from John Lewis. The bigger the motoer the better.
Pressing apples for making cider
3. Now you have to press your apple pulp.
For small volumes a kitchen press such as this is fine, but if you want to make more than 2 or three gallons I suggest you invest in a bigger press. Our home made apple press consisted of four G-clamps and two pieces of old melamine board (an old kitchen work surface).
We wrap apple pulp (with all apple presses you have to pulp the apples before pressing the juice out) in cheesecloth and place it between the boards and start turning the screws. The juice drips out on all four sides into a large shallow tray.
After two years we decided that to make cider in the quantities we wanted, we would have to buy a cider press, but for your first experiments in cider making this will do just fine.
Fermenting apples for making cider
4. Pour your juice into a cleaned and sterilized wooden keg from a home brewery supply store. You should fill the keg to the top. Having an only half-full keg is apparently a sure-fire recipe for vinegar.
5. No yeast needs to be added, traditional cider making relies on wild yeasts, so remove the bung on the top of the keg to let some yeast in. The fermentation starts in 1-2 days and you will see white froth bubbling up through the bung hole. Do not panic at this point.
6. Wait for for several weeks until fermentation stops and then replace the bung
Maturing cider
7. Leave your cider to mature for at least 8 months and then after tasting a sip to ensure it hasn't gone horribly wrong, invite some friends round to enjoy a strong (we got 9% alcohol) sweet and cloudy glass of traditional cider. Remember not to drink and drive.
Source(s):
http://gardenspace.newarchaeology.com/ma...
Cider (or cyder) is an alcoholic beverage made primarily from the juices of specially grown varieties of apples and pears. In most places in the world, the term refers to fermented apple juice and pear juice, but the drink is known as hard cider or ciderjack in the United States and parts of Canada, where the term "cider" almost exclusively refers to non-alcoholic apple cider.
Cider generally has a stronger alcoholic content than typical beer, usually over 5%, and appears golden yellow and often cloudy. To produce cider, apples are washed and mashed, pressed (usually in a stone mill or hydraulic press), then fermented in oak vats using natural or added yeasts.
Cider is very popular in the United Kingdom, especially in South West England, in comparison to other countries. The UK has the highest per capita consumption as well as the largest cider producing companies in the world [1] including H. P. Bulmer, the largest [2]. The drink is also popular and traditional in Brittany and Normandy (France), in Ireland and northern Spain. The drink is making a resurgence in both Europe and the United States [3]. Overall, the UK produces 110 million imperial gallons (500,000,000 L) of cider per year.
Apples grown for consumption or consumer outlets are far from ideal for cidermaking, as they are low in tannins. Most makers use cider apples, the cultivars developed specifically for cidermaking, of which there are many hundreds of varieties.
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Mulled cider
This warm, comforting drink is easy to prepare and is a great finale for a holiday meal. This recipe is for one quart, which will serve up to three people; the amounts can be multiplied without any problems.
Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You'll Need
1 quart apple cider
1/2 c. brandy (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
6 to 8 whole cloves
1/2 c. dried cranberries
2/3 c. honey
1 orange
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 whole bean
Steps
1Step OnePour the cider into a nonreactive saucepan and turn the heat to low.
2Step TwoCut the zest from the orange with a sharp paring knife or a vegetable peeler. Try to get only the orange part. If any of the bitter white pith comes with the zest, cut this off and discard it.
3Step ThreeLightly pound the zest to release the aromatic oils, and place the zest in the cider.
4Step FourPlace all remaining ingredients in the cider and continue to steep over low heat, stirring occasionally.
5Step FiveWhen cider is very hot and has begun to steam, it's ready to serve. Taste it at this point to make sure it's sweet enough and that there are enough seasonings. Add more if necessary.
6Step SixShut off the heat and ladle the cider into mugs.
Tips & Warnings
Apple juice can be substituted for apple cider.
You can also use these seasonings to make mulled cranberry juice.
Always use a stainless steel, heatproof glass, ceramic or nonstick pot to make the mulled cider. An aluminum pot will react with the acids in the cider and give it a metallic taste.
Honey is good in mulled cider, but you can also use Turbinado (raw) sugar or light brown sugar, or a combination
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How to make cider:
Apples used to make hard cider are more closely related to wild crab apples than ordinary eating apples and have high tannin content. Pomologists divide cider apples into two broad categories―bittersweet and bittersharp. Bittersharps have a higher acid content than bittersweets. Both yield juice that is rich in natural sugar and ferments to produce alcohol. Cider mills normally use a blend of bittersharps and bittersweets to give the cider a balanced taste. Some cider mills have been known to add small amounts of crab apples to their blends in order to create a more unique taste.
After harvesting, the fruit is crushed, or scratted, in the cider mill. After crushing, the pulp, known as the pomace or pommage, is wrapped in cloth, ready for pressing. The pomace cloth is generally made from nylon, but some traditional cider-makers still press their apples through straw. The wrapped pomace, often known as the cheese, is then placed on the cider press and the unfermented juice, or must, is extracted by applying varying amounts of pressure.
For hard cider, the must is transferred directly to fermentation vats or casks. To produce dry cider, fermentation continues until all the sugar is converted to alcohol. For sweet cider, the juice is filtered at an early stage to retain the required percentage of unfermented sugar.
The initial fermentation process usually relies on the wild yeast present in the apples. Commercial cider producers add cultured yeast (often champagne yeast) to the must in order to ensure a consistent end product.
After about three months of maturation, the must is filtered to remove sediment that contributes to a cloudy appearance. Some traditional cider makers insist on retaining this natural cloudiness as a token of authenticity. Most commercially produced hard ciders and some traditional ciders are then carbonated. American cider tends to be less carbonated than its European equivalent, mainly to avoid the country's high sparkling wine tax.
Today, cider drinking is very much in vogue and cider producers, both commercial and traditional, are meeting this increasing demand for volume and quality.