[allenhuerta]

So, a buddy may have gotten a tad too intoxicated the other day while having some beers.. he self proclaims not to like beer, so not sure how that happened... anyway, he sent me a message saying that he wanted me to make a cider. I kind of just said ok and brushed it off.. well... he ordered a press off of Amazon and had it sent to my place. If I would have know he was serious, I would have steered him away.

I looked at a few articles on here, but if I am going to entertain this cider idea, where might I find some decent resources for pressing and fermenting my way there. I am not trying to become a cider master or anything like that, but you know, I want to make something passable.. I feel like I am going to need a ton of apples... pears wouldn't be bad either HAH!

Cheers!

[denny]

I press and ferment my own apples every year.  Ask away!

[allenhuerta]

I guess to start, how many apples would one need? Also, I'm assuming I probably want to keep beer and cider equipment separate. I'm not going all out but figured I'd buy a different fermenter for it all at a minimum, but was not sure of other considerations.

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[denny]

I guess to start, how many apples would one need? Also, I'm assuming I probably want to keep beer and cider equipment separate. I'm not going all out but figured I'd buy a different fermenter for it all at a minimum, but was not sure of other considerations.

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I use all my beer equipment for cider no problem.  How many apples?  How long is a piece of string?  I'm finishing a brew at the moment, but I can give you more detailed info later.

[Slowbrew]

You'll want a pulper too.  Basically a course grinder that shreds the apples so you can press the juice out easier.  You will be dicing apples forever without one. 

At least that's what friends who make cider tell me.

Paul

[allenhuerta]

@Denny oh man I don't know how much string I have around here

@SlowBrew I've never even heard of that... Maybe I would have if I were serious about that but when Amazon delivered and I saw the package, I was like... *FacePalm*

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[denny]

You'll want a pulper too.  Basically a course grinder that shreds the apples so you can press the juice out easier.  You will be dicing apples forever without one. 

At least that's what friends who make cider tell me.

Paul

My press has that built in.  I have what's called the medium plus here...https://www.correllciderpresses.com/presses

[pete b]

You do need the pulper if it’s not built in.
As to the apples, where do you live? If you live where apples grow you should be able to source them between orchards and foraging but if not I think it would be tough because you don’t really want what they have at the grocery store, at least not for the whole amount.
I would say to make pressing them yourself worthwhile the amount would be many hundreds to a thousand or two.
You could always sell the press and use the money to buy cider to ferment if that’s all too much.

[erockrph]

You could always sell the press and use the money to buy cider to ferment if that’s all too much.

Yeah, your friend is insane unless he has his own orchard or something. Pete has the most sensible idea here unless you have access to a fair amount of apples.

I buy fresh pressed juice from a local orchard in the fall and use that to make my cider each year.


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[allenhuerta]

I'd probably give it back to him and let him deal with it but I'll give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen?

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[pete b]

I press apples, it’s great fun if you have ready access to lots of apples. I borrow someone’s press every year that there is a good apple crop. I have access to hundreds of pounds of good cider apples for free in prolific years but I assume most people don’t.

[allenhuerta]

I just want to update everyone on my cider shenanigans... I made my first batch today

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[Steve Ruch]

The current issue of Zymurgy has a piece on making good cider fairly easily.

[denny]

Doing our yearly apple pressing for cider today.

[allenhuerta]

I didn't point my tube low enough. I filled a pint glass and a small growler but I was anticipating trub levels of beer... I was sorely mistaken.... At least the keg is mostly filled.

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