Making Hard Cider

"A fine cider may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure."
Czech Proverb





I'm making this page about how to make hard cider, because I'm just learning how myself! I've found that I really enjoy it. If you think you'd like to make it but don't have a clue on how to start, then read on.
Now, this is by no means a scientific measure of the hard cider making process. It's more of a patch-n-paste of information that I have gleaned from the internet and various sections of a How-to-brew book from our local brewery supply store.

When we bought our new house, we noticed that there were several somewhat neglected apple trees in the neighboring yard. As spring progressed into summer, the trees became very heavy with apples, and to our dismay they were allowed to just fall on the ground and rot. So, we asked the elderly ladies that owned the property if we could pick the apples and they said 'have at it!'. A few days later there were with buckets and barrels of apples in our kitchen. At first we decided we would make apple butter.



After making JARS and JARS of apple butter, I decided we should probably think of something new to make. And so I thought 'hmmmm......I like apples and I like booze, why not make some cider?' Et voila, my cider baby was conceived!

Now, a big problem for me was that I had no experience in making cider - or any fermented product for that matter. I did a lot of searching online, and really wanted to find a simple way to make cider. By simple, I mean having to buy as little as possible to make this and using around-the-house items. Believe it or not, the simplest method for making cider that I found involves using a milk jug (clean and empty) and a party balloon. You simply place the cider (see 'about getting that fresh cider below) in the jug and place the balloon on top. The balloon will swell when fermenting is in progress and deflate when it's over. I had a couple of issues with this method. Firstly, the balloon would really have to be secured to the jug, otherwise the fermenation process would rocket it off (This I learned on my own personal experience), and secondly I wasn't so sure about using 'wild yeast'.

I kind of got a little ahead of myself by telling the balloon story first, but that's how I started things out and I wanted this to be as accurate (and unabridged, apparently) as possible.

So, about the cider. Well, like I said above, we had ALL of these apples. I decided to make cider but, we didn't have a press. (Although, I did look up how to make a cider press on the internet. Way too complicated for me. Maybe boyfriend can figure it out.) So, I did the next best thing. I got out the food processor

Now, all of the information I found about pressing apples for cider said that you could chop up/squish/process the whole apple - seeds, stems and all. I chopped up a couple of apples in the processor and noticed that the seeds were all chopped up, too (duh). And then slowly, I started to remember tales of cyanide poisoning from apple seeds and began to worry about accidentally poisoning myself, boyfriend and other loved ones who would drink our cider. So it was back to the drawing board and I decided to core all of the apples. Luckily, we already had an apple peeler/corer from the days of apple butter.

This is where it gets tedious and becomes obvious that this was truly a labor of love. After the apples were cored and sliced (with skins still on) I filled the food processor and pureed the hell out of it. I then lined a colander with cheese cloth and set over a large stock pot. Then, filled the lined colander with my apple puree and let the juice run through it's sieve into the pot. This was a VERY slow process and after a while I would have to squeeze the juice through the cloth, trying to get every precious drop - which was also very hard on my hands. Now, repeat this process 100 times or so - whatever it takes to get a gallon of cider. (Note: I would SERIOUSLY recommend investing in a press after this experience!)

Of course, there are much easier ways to get cider. One is to BUY it already pressed. It's very important that you have cider WITHOUT preservatives. This is because the preservative delays the fermentation process and the cider will rot before it ferments. From what I've read you can use pasteurized cider, but not if you want to use wild yeasts. I mentioned wild yeasts above, and this is the deal. All apples have their own yeasts and will ferment naturally. However, the strains are unknown (thus, 'wild') and how your hard cider will turn out is a crap shoot. It could be phenomenal or just plain suck. After all of the work that I had done earlier with extracting the cider via the food processor, I wasn't about to take any chances with a wild yeast.

Some local orchards will sell you fresh cider, but you will have to ask around for that. I'm fortunate that I have a friend who lives on a farm and presses her own cider every fall. Of course, I found this out after I had crippled my hands with the food processor process.

Well, now I had my hard earned cider. I actually decided against the milk jug and balloon idea, and ended up buying a glass jug(aka, carboy) from our local brewing supply store. Since I didn't use the balloon, I had to buy what's known as an airlock. I had to learn a whole new language during this process, b/c I didn't (and still don't to some degree) understand half of the stuff I was reading online. But, back to the air-lock.....

Since you don't want any 'bad' air, or any air, getting to the precious cider while it's fermenting you have to create a way for the gases of fermentation to escape. With the balloon, the gases expand and then dissipate. Since I wasn't using the balloon, I had to buy a BUNG(does anyone else find that word funny?) and an airlock, which is a little device that you put water in and it allows gases to escape without air getting back in. Clever. You put the bung (which is rubber cork w/ a hole in it) and airlock together (airlock sticks in bung-hole, ha ha.) and that will be your top for the jug while the cider ferments.

Now to the topic of YEAST. Since I opted out on the wild yeast notion, I had to add an already known strain of yeast. So, it was back to the brewery supply store. I have read loads of recipes for hard cider, and they all suggested different kinds of yeast. The yeasts affect both the flavor of your cider as well as the alcohol content. Some said use champagne yeast, others said beer yeast. I couldn't decide, so I bought both champagne and beer yeasts. I would use the beer yeast in one gallon and the champagne yeast in another, and see which one we liked best.

Champagne yeast will give you a drier cider with a higher alcohol content (up to 14%), while beer yeasts will vary in taste and alcohol content depending on what type you buy (I bought Windsor Ale). Usually hard cider made with beer yeasts will top out at around 7% abv.

My home processed cider still had wild yeast in it, which you need to kill off before adding your own yeast. This can be done in 2 ways. The first is pasteurization, whereby you bring the cider to a certain temperature on the stove and then cool. I've read that this can damage some of the natural proteins/sugars and ultimately affect the taste of your cider. So, I decided to go with the second way to kill of the wild yeasts, which is using what's known as a camden tablet. These can also be purchased at the local brew supply store. (Did I mention that I am now on a first name basis with the folks who work at the store?) You drop the tabs in the cider, wait a day or two and then the wild yeasties are gone!

After the wild yeasts have been annihilated, you can add your yeast of choice (which is called 'throwing'). You can also add sugar and spices at this point. I put in a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and apple pie spice as well as around 3-4 cups of sugar (3 white, 1 brown) to each gallon jug. Then you attach your airlock system, and put the whole thing in a nice cool dark space for about 4 weeks. I would frequently check on my cider baby and see all of the little bubbles coming out into the airlock - it was very exciting.
However, my novice got the better of me a couple of times. At one point during the fermentation process, I had decided that my experiment needed MORE sugar. (This was a BAD idea and I would highly suggest that you don't do this.) So, I pulled off the top and added some sugar. 2 milliseconds later the top exploded off and cider was spewing everywhere. I managed to correct the problem, but lesson was learned: JUST LEAVE IT ALONE.

Phase 2 of the process is what's known as 'racking'. After the fermentation ends, which is known as 'primary fermentation', the cider is poured off into another vessel to sit for another 2 months or so (this is known as 'secondary fermentation').

By the time Thanksgiving had rolled around (which was about 10 weeks from start to finish), our cider baby was ready to be delivered. We popped the corks on both the champagne and beer ciders for our family to try. It was unanimous that the champagne yeast cider was superior, and that jug was gone before you knew it.

But, it packed a little bit of a punch! I bought some fancy device at the brew supply store that tells you how high the alcohol content is, but I don't think it worked b/c it registered at zero. Maybe I just didn't use it correctly, who knows.
The cider turned out surprisingly well, and I'm now on to a second batch. This time, I've stepped it up a bit and used a 6 gallon carboy with cider that I bought from my friend who has the orchard. She has since said she would just give me cider b/c she wants to work in trade!

In case you got lost in my story, I thought I would break down my process of making hard cider in a more easy to read format:

Easy 1 gallon of hard cider:

1. Obtain 1 gallon preservative free cider. As I explained above you can make your own, or buy it from a local orchard.

2. Place cider in 1 gallon carboy. If unpasteurized, add one camden tablet and let sit for 24-48 hours. If pasteurized, go to #3.

3. Add 3 cups of sugar in whatever variety you would like. Swirl around to dissolve.

4. Add 1/2 packet of champagne yeast (or other brewers yeast if you prefer, but I had the best results with this). Swirl.

5. Cover with bung/airlock and store in a cool dark place for 4 weeks.

6. After 4 weeks, make sure airlock is not bubbling anymore. Decant fluid into another 1 gallon carboy. replace airlock. Let sit for another 4-6 weeks. (I added a little more sugar here, about 1 cup b/c I like my cider sweet.)

7. After the 4-6 weeks have passed you can drink!!! You can also wait more time to age the cider, which will improve the taste. Some people will let the cider sit for 6-12 months before drinking.

Here are some improvements I would recommend, based on my own experience:

1. Carboys: While it's really easy to manage a one gallon glass carboy, trying to haul around a 5 or 6 gallon glass carboy (full or empty) is a real chore. I've done some research and found these GREAT industrial grade plastic carboys with spigots already on them. This would have been SO nice, and probably more sanitary than my plastic tube/60ml syringe combo. Plus, if you opt to get this online, shipping will be MUCH LESS for plastic than glass.

2. Pressing cider: Ok, so the cider presses are a little expensive, but THEY ARE SO WORTH IT! I can't begin to tell you how much of a pain the butt it was to squeeze out all of that @#$!! cider. Maybe you're a go-getter like I was and you want to give it a try with the food processor. Great. However, not everyone work that way. So, look at some presses, or maybe you have someone handy around like Mr. boyfriend who can build it for you!

3. Mobility: Carboys are heavy. Carboys full of hard cider are VERY, VERY heavy. Now, I realize that there will probably be some strapping men reading this lens who have much more upper body strength than I do, but carboys are still heavy. Especially glass carboys full of liquid - which I recently learned while trying to rack 6 gallons of cider. I'm not a very big person, so if you could've seen me trying to wrestle 6 gallons of cider with a dog leash for leverage you would've peed your pants. But, that's another lens. SO, I would highly recommend (and will purchase) a carboy carrier. This will save your back, and your beloved cider. I can't imagine the hysterics I would've been in had I DROPPED the carboy!