Can I Just Make Cider From The Juice And Add Nothing Else
Yes you can. There are some caveats to that though. There are essentially 2 simple ways to make cider.
One is to add campden tablets to the juice to remove any bad bacterial that may spoil the whole batch. Then 24 hours later, add cider yeast.
The alternative way is to not add campden or yeast, and leave the juice to do its own thing. The risk of not adding campden to the juice is: if there is bad bacteria in your juice then the cider won’t taste nice when you’ve made it and you’ll have wasted the whole lot. But bear in mind that people have made their cider this way for generations, so the risk is probably quite small. But it is a risk.
When we started out we always went down the campden and yeast route, particularly when we’d paid to have the apples juiced. Now we make some that way, and some just with the juice and nothing else . That way if there is any undesirable bacteria in the juice, the whole batch isn’t spoiled.
And because we split it down into demijohns, it’s easy to treat some with campden and yeast, and not the rest.
Whichever way to make your cider though, you must sterilise the equipment.
Additives For Apple Wine
Since the main difference between hard cider and apple wine lies in the additives, what is added to apple wine?
In all honesty, this is a bit subjective based on both your tastes and the starting juice. If youve pressed the juice from wild apples, you may already have a bit of tannin present. Some backyard apple varieties are also sweet/tart, and contain plenty of acids. Youll need to evaluate based on your starting juice.
For each additive, Im providing a good range, to allow you to adjust the recipe. The base recipe I recommend, if youre using generic storebought juice, is somewhere right in the middle.
You can buy pectic enzyme, acid blend and wine tannin together in a kit for just a few dollars, and then all you need is a small packet of yeast nutrient.
Back Sweetening Your Homemade Hard Apple Cider
Sometimes, youll find that the yeast went a bit too far with their smorgasbord, and you end up with a homemade hard apple cider thats not as sweet as youd like it.
… and thats when you back sweeten it! You can read my How to Stabilize and Back Sweeten Wine post for information on how to back sweeten it.
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To Peel Or Not To Peel
Peel and core apples if you plan to simply mash them into chunky applesauce. Leave the peels on if you’re going to pass the cooked pieces through a food mill, which will separate the skin and seeds from the apple mash. Leaving the skin on while the apple cooks also adds color to the sauce. Try this recipe for Blushing Applesauce to see what I mean.
Apple Moonshine Distillation Process
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Step Four A Little Of This A Little Of That
When you check on your wine in the morning, you should find that the mixture has started foaming slightly and the apples have floated to the surface. This is exactly what is meant to happen it means that the fermentation process has already started. Now you just need to give it a helping hand.
Add the lemon juice or citric acid and stir it in well. Then add the wine yeast and yeast nutrient , stir again and cover the fermentation bin once more.
You will now have to leave the wine to continue its primary fermentation for at least another 5 days . Check on it twice a day and give it a stir with a sterilized spoon.
During the first few days, the mixture will start bubbling and fizzing, but this should calm down at around day 3 or 4. Wait another day or two until the mixture is still again, and then you can move on to step five.
How To Make Apple Juice
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If you have an abundance of apples and are looking for ways to use them up, make apple juice. Cut ripe apples and cook them with water on the stove until they’re soft. Then strain this mixture through a sieve to remove the juice. To make a smaller batch, blend raw apples with a little water and then strain the puree to get fresh apple juice.
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What’s The Difference Between Apple Cider And Apple Wine
How do you like them apples? A little bit boozy, TBH.
If someone offered you a hard apple cider and handed you a glass of apple wineor vice-versasure, you could be a little miffed, but who has the energy for that? The world is a complicated and exhausting place and someone is offering you an alcoholic beverage made from delicious, sweet, tangy apples. Just take it, say thank you, and sip it with a smile on your face. But if you really feel like you must put on your pedantry pants here, there are a few differences between apple cider and apple wine.
Apple ciderhard apple cider, that isis made by crushing apples and fermenting the juice. An aspiring apple cider maker without the equipment or wherewithal to do some hearty smashing could instead purchase apple juice or apple cider from a roadside stand and ferment that by various methods. Those basically entail pasteurizing the cider if that hasn’t already been done, tossing some yeast into the mixture, sealing it, and monitoring how much gas it’s letting off. Let it sit for a while to let the sediment settle , and then siphoning it off. Different cider makers may add sugar or honey at various points and fuss less or more over cloudiness and effervescence, but there you go. Chug-a-lug. That’s probably going to end up around 3.5 to 4.5 percent alcohol, which is nice for a little beer-ish buzz.
No word on if an apple wine or hard apple cider will keep anything but sobriety away, but if so, you’ll be the first to know.
Introduction To Apple Wine
Apple wine recipe is one of the most famous of all wines and it can also be called as apple cider. Making high-quality hard apple cider is actually very easy while making high-quality alcoholic cider from fermented apples is actually very difficult.
True hard apple cider depends entirely on blending the right types of apples, carefully selecting them, and then mixing them with just enough sugar, tannin, and an acid to produce a perfectly balanced hard apple cider. There are several benefits of an apple wine recipe, which we will discuss in this article.
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Its About The Time Of Year Where You Are Getting To The End Of Your Bright Ideas About What To Do With The Mountains Of Apples Youve Picked And Youre Also Thinking About Those Damaged Or Bruised Ones And The Windfalls Carl Legge Permaculture Chef And Smallholder Has The Answer
Making wine is an ideal way of getting the most out of your harvest and using the bruised and damaged ones. You could make just a 5 litre demi-john. To be honest its better to make a big amount to really use a good quantity of apples. The wine you make really can be very good. Your apple variety will affect the taste. The ones I use taste a lot like sauvignon-blanc. This recipe will make 25 litres which is about 30 standard sized bottles.
How To Make Apple Wine
The basic process for making apple wine is the same for any small-batch country wine. Start with a juice of some sort, add in a bit of sugar for sweetness, along with other winemaking additives, and then a strain of winemaking yeast.
Allow the mixture to ferment for about 7 to 10 days, until most of the very active fermentation is complete. Then siphon the mixture over to a clean fermentation vessel and allow the mixture to ferment more slowly, in a cool dark place for another 6 weeks to 6 months.
At that point, bottle the wine, allow it to bottle age for at least a few weeks before drinking. Simple enough!
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Try Making Your Own Fruit Wine
Fruit wine is perfect for those who dont have access to grapes. Even though its a lengthy process its the perfect wine to make. When your backyard doesnt happen to be a vineyard, fruit like apples, peaches, blackberries, cherries and even pomegranates make tasty recipes. Every year I see a neighbors apple tree with an excess of apples going to waste and wish I could have them for something tasty like fresh fruit wine. You might see a similar situation in your neighborhood. If you dont have the space to grow fruit, there are plenty of farmers markets and fruit stands to gather up enough fruit so even condo and apartment dwellers can make their own wine.
Making homemade fruit wine is simple, enjoyable and worth every last sip. Organic Authority e-zine
According to most sources fruit wines are easier to make than brewing beer. You will need to purchase equipment for your wine making venture however, and learn some new terminology like must, rack and carboy. Must is the gloppy mass of squished peeled skins, seeds and pulp. Rack means to siphon the wine must from one container to the next in order to leave any sediment behind. Carboy is the long neck glass container that looks like a large water cooler jug that holds the ingredients of the wine as it ferments. Bear in mind though, that most wines fail due to improper sanitizing of equipment due to contamination by bacteria, so dont skimp on the sterilizing of your supplies.
Will My Cider Taste The Same Every Time I Make It
Like making wine from scratch, cider batches never tend to turn out quite the same each time, even if you follow the recipe to the letter.
We put that down to how much sugar there is in the apples depending on how ripe they are, or perhaps the temperature at the time that you’re making it. However if you go down the campden and yeast route, it is more likely to taste similar each year assuming you’re using the same apples.
If you’re ‘going wild’, natural yeasts behave slightly differently than yeasts from a packet so it can be unpredictable. So here’s a quick and dirty way to make one demijohn of cider with very little equipment. It assumes you’re going down the campden and yeast route as we did when we first started. If you’re not, leave out parts 5 and 6:
1. Clean and sterilise
It’s the same old thing that we’re always banging on about, but that’s because it’s important and we really can’t stress it strongly enough. You must clean & sterilise all equipment that will come into contact with your cider.
Fermenting liquids are an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, and unwanted bacteria will spoil your finished product.
There are a variety of Cleaners and Sterilisers to choose from, all of which are simple to use. If you’ve ordered the beer, wine and cider starter kit or cider kit from us, both contain a tub of cleaner/steriliser. Simply follow the instructions on the packaging.
2. Wash, chop and juice your apples
3. Strain your apple juice and pour it into the demijohn
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Step Five The First Clearing
Once the first fermentation has calmed down, its time to strain off your apple wine liquid, and get rid of the apple solids which are now sitting at the bottom of your fermentation bin.
The most effective way of doing this is by using a straining bag or muslin sheet, stretched across a colander or sieve which is sitting above a sterilized pot or bowl. Carefully pour the liquid into the straining bag , then squeeze the bag well so that you can release as much of the fermented apple juice as possible.Depending on the variety of apples used, you may find that your wine is still very cloudy. If this is the case, strain it one more time through a fresh straining bag or muslin sheet.
Now its time to move your wine into a demijohn.
Place your funnel on the top of the demijohn and very slowly and carefully, pour the liquid through. Now that all the apple solids have been removed, you may find that you dont quite have one full gallon anymore. If this is the case, simply top up the demijohn with a splash or two of filtered or bottled water.
Then tap the bung into place and fix your airlock to the top, and store your demijohn in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight.
During the first couple of days, you will notice a lot of bubbling happening inside the demijohn this is the second fermentation.
The bubbling should tail off after a few days, and will be replaced by a steady stream of fizz from the bottom to the top of the glass bottle.
Second Clearing Using A Demijohn
Place a funnel on the brim of your demijohn and carefully and slowly, pour your liquid through.
Now that every apple solid has been removed, the quantity of your liquid may slightly reduce. In such case, just top it up with a little amount of bottled or filtered water.
Afterwards, tap your bung in place then fix the airlock at the top. Store the glass demijohn in a dark, cool location away from the reach of direct sunlight.
In the first few initial days, you will see much bubbling taking place in your demijohn it is known as second fermentation.
This bubbling should cool down after several days. Consequently, a steady fizz stream will replace it, emanating from the demijohn/glass bottle bottom rising to its top.
This will also cool off over time, which will stop the constant gurgling of the top occurring once too often. This is what will indicate to you that you need to prepare for the next phase.
Generally, your wine will need an approximate minimum of 3 weeks to successfully ferment or even more. Dont rush it though monitor it until it is completely ripe.
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Preparing The Apples For Making Wine
Before we can make the wine you will want to sort through the apples. You will want roughly 3kg of apples to make a gallon of wine.
If you have foraged apples from trees in the wild or from your garden give them a good clean first of all. Remove and bad apples or cut out parts of any damaged apples. You can leave the peel on the apple but you are best removing the seeds if possible. Remember that you arent going to eating the apples so the cores still contain juice and flavour still.
If you are foraging apples then you can prepare them and freeze them in batches. By freezing the apples before making the wine the cell structures will breakdown. When defrosting the apples more of the juices will naturally be released. This means if you cannot gather all the apples in one go you can save them and make the apple wine later in the year.
Apple Wine Recipe Simple & Rich Apple Wine
Apples are one of the fruits that can be easily gathered around the beginning of autumn. There are countless trees not only in peoples gardens but also escapees that grow wild. The problem with a lot of these apple varieties that have grown free is the way the apples taste. Many wild apples can be bitter and sour. Whilst this means they arent all that good for eating the plus side is they are perfect for making wine.
This apple wine recipe is very easy to do and if you can find a couple of trees near you then the fruit will be completely free. If at all possible you will be best served if you can find a mix of apples. Blending different varieties together will even out your wine and create a more complex finish.
This wine recipe really is better with foraged apples which are usually more bitter, astringent and tart. If you have to use sweet eating apples then blend them in with other varieties such as crab apples or even cooking apples if possible.
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