Hello!

A week from now I'm going to come into posession of twenty or thirty
gallons of applejuice.

Most of it I'll make into hard cider, but some friends have requested
some sweet cider.

If you've had good results with preserving sweet cider, please write
back and tell me what you did with it.

Thanks very much.

--
Daniel MacKay
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:27:18 GMT, Daniel MacKay >
wrote:

>Hello!
>
>A week from now I'm going to come into posession of twenty or thirty
>gallons of applejuice.
>
>Most of it I'll make into hard cider, but some friends have requested
>some sweet cider.
>
>If you've had good results with preserving sweet cider, please write
>back and tell me what you did with it.
>
>Thanks very much.

This is what we do with fresh pressed apple juice. The method is taken
right from USDA Guide 2, Fruit.

Refrigerate juice for 24 to 48 hours. Without mixing, carefully pour
off clear liquid and discard sediment. Strain clear liquid through a
paper coffee filter or double layers of damp cheesecloth. Heat
quickly, stirring occasionally, until juice begins to boil. Fill
immediately into sterile pint or quart jars (see page 1-9 to sterilize
jars), or fill into clean half-gallon jars, leaving 1/4-inch
headspace. Adjust lids and process.

Process pints or quarts 5 minutes in boiling water bath.
Process half-gallon jars 10 minutes.

We don't have enough room to refrigerate much juice so we simply let
it settle for a day, pour off the clearest liquid, leaving most of the
sediment behind and we do not bother with further filtering. A little
sediment won't hurt.
We also process quart jars for 10 minutes which negates the extra step
of having to sterilize the jars when only processing for 5 minutes.

If you want to sterilize jars, USDA Guide 1-9 states:

Sterilization of Empty Jars
All jams, jellies, and pickled products processed less than 10 minutes
should be filled into sterile empty jars. To sterilize empty jars, put
them right side up on the rack in a boiling-water canner.
Fill the canner and jars with hot (not boiling) water to 1 inch above
the tops of the jars. Boil 10 minutes at altitudes of less than 1,000
ft. At higher elevations, boil 1 additional minute for each
additional 1,000 ft elevation. Remove and drain hot sterilized jars
one at a time. Save the hot water for processing filled jars. Fill
jars with food, add lids, and tighten screw bands.

Have fun.
Ross.

Can you give me some guidance on how to turn (store-bought) apple
cider into hard cider?

And, if you know from personal experience, is it worth doing?

Thanks,
Dave


On Oct 13, 10:27 am, Daniel MacKay > wrote:
>
> Most of it I'll make into hard cider, but some friends have requested
> some sweet cider.

Can you give me some guidance on how to turn (store-bought) apple
cider into hard cider?

And, if you know from personal experience, is it worth doing?

Thanks,
Dave


On Oct 13, 10:27 am, Daniel MacKay > wrote:
>
> Most of it I'll make into hard cider, but some friends have requested
> some sweet cider.

> Can you give me some guidance on how to turn (store-bought) apple
> cider into hard cider?
>
> And, if you know from personal experience, is it worth doing?

I've done it from "orchard-bought" cider that was pasteurized. It is as
easy as can be, especially compared to brewing beer. The only warning
is to be sure the juice doesn't contain preservatives. Pasteurized is
OK, but no perservatives.

Simplest version is to just add yeast (dry ale yeast works fine - I've
used Nottingham, for example). I also did a batch with added honey
(4 gals juice + 1 gal water w/ quart of honey dissolved in it) - which
is called a "cyser." I just followed normal beer brewing sanitization
routines, etc. I brought the honey water up to just below boiling,
then cooled it a bit before mixing.

You can bottle it "still" or "sparkling."

The only other thing is that cider gets better with age. The "cyser" I
made was too "hot" for at least a year of aging... then it was excellent
and a lot like a chardonnay (and it continues to improve).

I don't think store-bought would be much different... if they have added
sugar or corn-syrup, it will be stronger (like the added honey).

Derric

> wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:27:18 GMT, Daniel MacKay >
> wrote:
>
> >Hello!
> >
> >A week from now I'm going to come into posession of twenty or thirty
> >gallons of applejuice.
> >
> >Most of it I'll make into hard cider, but some friends have requested
> >some sweet cider.
> >
> >If you've had good results with preserving sweet cider, please write
> >back and tell me what you did with it.
> >
> >Thanks very much.
>
> This is what we do with fresh pressed apple juice. The method is taken
> right from USDA Guide 2, Fruit.

Why do you strain out the solids? Do they go bad in the jar?

My favorite thing about fresh pressed apple juice IS the solids. If I
want pee-clear Apple juice I can buy gallons from the grocery store.

With the solids in it, the juice has a body and I find the taste more
intense.

I feel the same way about beer. Portland is full of microbreweries and
there's nothing like a pint drawn stright off the tap - no filtering.
Canned
beer is filtered - it's a product, nothing more. Brewed beer isn't
filtered,
it's BEER. You can almost sit back and eat the stuff it's so delicious.

Ted

Ted:

> Why do you strain out the solids? Do they go bad in the jar?
> My favorite thing about fresh pressed apple juice IS the solids.

People have different tastes. Your mileage may vary. For me, the goal is
to end up with something that looks and tasets as close to fresh
applejuice as possible.

To that end, during crushing and pressing, I'll add some potassium
metabisulphite and ascorbic acid to stop microbial growth and preserve
the apple-green or pink colour of the fresh applejuice, and bottle it
without heating, according to the recipe "Preserving Apple Juice" in the
Anderson/Hull book, "The Art Of Making Beer."

My main event this weekend was turning 500-600lb of apples into about 25
gallons, 100L, of applejuice!* Here's a wee slideshow:

http://bonmot.ca/~daniel/cider/

Some of the applejuice has been preserved (using ascorbic acid and "wine
stabilizer") as sweet cider, the rest -- about 80L -- is destined to be
clear, dry, sparkling cider, in taste as close to brut champagne as I
can make it.

Also I turned a biiiiig box of basil, plus about $100 worth of pinenuts,
parmesan cheese, garlic and extra-extra virgin, into sixty, 100g
portions of pesto - now frozen.

I love the fall.

--
Daniel MacKay
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

On Oct 15, 1:27 pm, Derric > wrote:
> > Can you give me some guidance on how to turn (store-bought) apple
> > cider into hard cider?
>
> > And, if you know from personal experience, is it worth doing?
>
> I've done it from "orchard-bought" cider that was pasteurized. It is as
> easy as can be, especially compared to brewing beer. The only warning
> is to be sure the juice doesn't contain preservatives. Pasteurized is
> OK, but no perservatives.
>
> Simplest version is to just add yeast (dry ale yeast works fine - I've
> used Nottingham, for example).


Thanks. Any suggestions one where I can read up on this?

The easiest thing that comes to my mind is to open a gallon of cider,
put in "some" yeast, and cover the top of the jug. Unfortunately,
this leaves too many variables, e.g., quantity of yeast, how long to
ferment, fermentation temperature, how to cover the jug, etc.

I konw that "real" hard cider uses a mix of apples. (I think there
are four, but sweet, tart, and astringent are the ones I can
remember.) I'm still wondering what a hard cider made from cider from
sweet apples tastes like. Maybe it is worth the experiment.

Dave

djb > wrote:
> On Oct 15, 1:27 pm, Derric > wrote:
> > > Can you give me some guidance on how to turn (store-bought) apple
> > > cider into hard cider?
> > [ . . . ]
> The easiest thing that comes to my mind is to open a gallon of cider,
> put in "some" yeast, and cover the top of the jug. Unfortunately,
> this leaves too many variables, e.g., quantity of yeast, how long to
> ferment, fermentation temperature, how to cover the jug, etc.
> [ . . . ]

I'd use a whole packet of yeast. It will ferment quicker. And don't tighten
a cap on the bottle! I just inverted a whiskey glass over the carboy mouth
when I did mine. It will continue fermenting for quite a while and will
mature with age. Go to rec.crafts.brewing for more info.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~