cider

Hi guys, Planning doing some small experimental cider brews. The Mrs likes the stuff, but I don't really care for it. She also doesn't really drink enough to warrant me turning out 23L batches. So I was thinking about mini brews in a demijohn and bottle condition the end product. Might sound...

My first ever attempt to make cider from my own apples went fine through to the end of fermentation in demijohns - down to a gravity of about zero. I racked it once. It was still cloudy but I decided to bottle it anyway hoping that it would clear in the bottle - and not minding about a bit of...

In the new cider-maker's handbook Jolicoeur writes: Some cider makers also apply a thin layer of vegetable oil, which will float on the surface of the cider, thus isolating it from the ambient air. Has anyone tried this and how did it go? Did the oil "behave" and stay on top of the cider, or...

Hello everybody, Up here in Shetland prices are high and what's on offer is limited. That's probably the main reason that I've started brewing my own. I did some ginger beer the other week and really enjoyed it. At the moment I've got some cider that I'm slurping. Put a bit of cinnamon in when...

I'm thinking of using Discovery and Bramley apples for a cider brew - but have suddenly realised that the seasons do not overlap. Discovery is over by mid-October whereas Bramleys are not in season until November. But I've seen several cider recipes that say Discoveries and Bramleys are good...

Did some beer brewing from kits for a year or so about 30 years ago - but nothing since then. Retired up to Scotland in 2007 to climb hills, and planted an orchard in our garden between 2010 and 2012. 25 trees and 20 different varieties of eating apples. Harvest has been increasing each year. In...

I've just fermented out my 1 gal demi of turbo cider and instead of adding sugar to Prime i was considering using a 1 litre carton of Apple juice shared between the 10x 500ml bottles. (100ml in each) It finished quite dry and I'm aiming for a medium sweetness It would work out about 10g of...

Hi all, not been about for yonks and as i have two apple trees already dropping and twice the amount from past years i want to make use of them. So anybody have a press for sale please. I can collect or need delivery of to far to come. I am in Manchester M26. Thanks Wayne

I have a brand new rape seed press that I was going to make bio diesel with years ago, rape seed went up in price so that it was not viable but now thinking of using it to crush apples to extract juice. this is pretty much an industrial machine so wondered if anyone that is nearby (Derbyshire )...

Is there such a thing as Damson wine as I have a large number of Damson trees and there is aonly a certain amount of Damson gin you can make! I would like to find other uses for damson so gratefully receive andy suggestions, I also have a large amount of 1 litre Grolsch type bottles (many full...

Hello all, I am going to make a cider from concentrated apple juice but I also have some blackberries left over which I currently have frozen and would like to add to the cider. Does anybody have some advice how much blackberry to add so that you can taste it but it's not overwhelming and...

Just a quick question - I pressed my apples 2 days ago and added 4 campden tablets to the 3.5 gallons of juice. Have I left it long enough to add the yeast now?