Home Brew Hard Cider from Scratch

Step 3 Juicin'

Once you've got your apples, you've got to juice them. You can either use an apple press to crush the apples and extract the juice, or you can use a juicer (my preference) to remove the juice from the pulp.

NOTE: When apple juice comes out of a juicer it looks clear and frothy at the top. This is normal. Apple cider turns brown when exposed to air (as do apples in whole form) so really fresh cider will be clear until it has a chance to darken up.

Once you have run your apples through your juicer, remove the pulp from the pulp collection tub and put it in a few sheets of cheesecloth or an old pillowcase (make sure it's clean and free of dyes or soap residue!!!!) then squeeze the ball of pulp over a basin to the get last bits of juice out. This is important. About 10% of your cider is still stuck in the pulp after juicing, so don't neglect this.

Feel free to save the pulp and make apple sauce or apple butter with it or bake it into a cake or make apple bread or whatever. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Comments

[stocky]

I used to do the t-towl thing when i made potato wine, i'd usually grate the potatoes then i could simply use that method from the start On the other hand nowdays I use a cheapo juicer then i made a press with a plastic stoarge box (with a plank on the bottom for strength) and an 8mm threadded rod and a nut (i use a spanner) which simply pulls a thick peice of laminated wooden board down cut some holes in the front and its amazing, on average i get half of what i've got again, eg 2 litres from juicer = 3 all-together :) definatly worth while for me.

[rubbit]

just wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to use irish moss to help clear the juice?? i know it's used for beer and thought it might work here?? just a thought

[ichbinoadie]

Irish moss would work just fine, I think.  It's not some mysteriouschemical process that removes sediment in one liquid and not another, itjust drags the cloud down with it as it settles.

[slapz]

If you pick up the apples from the ground and they happen to have a few worms in them, will this affect the taste?

[Spokehedz]

If you add an acid--such as Vitamin C tablet crushed up, then it will help reduce the browning of the cider so much. However, you will never get the jewel-clear hard cider that you purchase in stores.

[Noodle93]

It's called a clearing agent. They use it in beer to make it seem really clear. Pure chemicals :).

[m3harri]

You could save the pulp for the hogs also