Foraged Cider

[brumbrew]

I know of a few trees around my way that never get used. I tried cider making a few years back but I picked up some wild infection and it tasted like vinegar.

I did a little test a few months back now that I've got more than a few AG beer brews under my belt.

I've got a simple home made press, using a wooden frame and a car jack with a baking tray underneath with a hole drilled in it.

I've been out briefly today and managed to collect 2 buckets worth of apples within 20 minutes. One tree is loaded with little very sweet apples. No idea of the species. I'll just blend everything together and see what we get.

I'll update when I've started the process.

 

[brumbrew]

Here's some pics.

 

[MickDundee]

I found 6 cans of Strongbow in a hedge once.

 

[Clint]

I found an unopened can of lager in the ice on a frozen pond many years ago...yes it tasted fine!

 

[Cwrw666]

Be aware - it's surprising how many apples you need to squish out just a gallon of juice.

 

[brumbrew]

Well I only managed to process the bucket, that was all collected from the one tree in the photo, with plenty left for another day.

They gave up their juice quite well, and I've got about 4 litres from that bucket. Tested it, it's 1.046 or 10.5% on the refractometer. Pretty sweet, tastes lovely!

I'm going to chance this, and see if it starts fermenting on its own.

Happy brewing all

 

[brumbrew]

Sorry 1.042 is 10.5% on the refractometer still pretty sweet (I think)

 

[Sadfield]

I found 6 cans of Strongbow in a hedge once.

Sounds like a Monday morning at work. The local youths use our back car park as skate park and you find allsorts, we've an unopened 70cl bottle of supermarket own brand Jagermeister that no one has been desperate enough to drink. Yet.

 

[brumbrew]

Sounds like a Monday morning at work. The local youths use our back car park as skate park and you find allsorts, we've an unopened 70cl bottle of supermarket own brand Jagermeister that no one has been desperate enough to drink. Yet.

Urggg the one named after a German plane? Horrendous stuff

 

[brumbrew]

Question if I may.... If I sat and chopped the remainder of the apples now. Put them in a bucket of clean water, would they be OK to scrat tomorrow for pressing? Or would they oxidise to much?

 

[Gerryjo]

Question if I may.... If I sat and chopped the remainder of the apples now. Put them in a bucket of clean water, would they be OK to scrat tomorrow for pressing? Or would they oxidise to much?

Add some lemon juice if you have some and put something on top to submerge them and they should be fine though if you looking natural yeast from them the acid in the juice may kill it off.

 

[Hagrid]

You might also find your gravity (and flavour) is lower if they soak up some water.

 

[brumbrew]

I've decided they can wait.

My issue is, the next batch all came from a tree in a car park, upon examination, they all have one side that is very bruised from landing on the tarmac/gravel

I'll just process them all tomorrow see what we get.

 

[Sadfield]

This week's forage.

 

[freester]

This week's forage.

I'd love to find a tree with those on

 

[jceg316]

It's ok to use foraged apples, especially if they're gonna go to waste otherwise. If this is something you want to make more of I'd recommend reading Craft Cider Making by Andrew Lea. It's a detailed book on how to make the most out of the apples you have. In terms of the cider getting an infection, what helps is to know the pH and gravity of the juice. If the pH is too high then wild yeast and bacteria can live in it and if the cider isn't alcoholic enough it won't last conditioning. This site has more info.

I use a lot of foraged apples and my process is to press the apples, add 1 campden tablet per 5 litres, wait 24 hours and pitch yeast. Apparently wine yeast is better in cider than beer yeast, and nutrients should be added for a faster ferment.

 

[brumbrew]

I forgot to update this. I pressed the second batch of apples, got around 5 litres this time. At 10% sugar on the refractometer. So pretty close to the other batch from a different tree.

I ended up adding wine yeast to this one actually as it didn't start going by itself. The ither one has, and whilst I never checked the pH it doesn't smell off at all.

 

[benludo]

Well, I have also foraged apples and a local village has through the Lottery got a press and scatter for locals to use, see attached, managed 200 litres from around 400 kgs of apples (mixed varieties and mixture of windfall and picked). Roughly 1/2 litre per 1kg and coming off at 1050 on the hydrometer. Now gently fermenting at a cool temperature. The pure juice tasted fabulous. Had to buy a 100 litre water butt to be able to ferme

 

[brumbrew]

Well, I have also foraged apples and a local village has through the Lottery got a press and scatter for locals to use, see attached, managed 200 litres from around 400 kgs of apples (mixed varieties and mixture of windfall and picked). Roughly 1/2 litre per 1kg and coming off at 1050 on the hydrometer. Now gently fermenting at a cool temperature. The pure juice tasted fabulous. Had to buy a 100 litre water butt to be able to ferme

Fantastic! I think someone in my local community has one too, but i forget their twitter account.

 

[Bold_Ron]

Well, I have also foraged apples and a local village has through the Lottery got a press and scatter for locals to use, see attached, managed 200 litres from around 400 kgs of apples (mixed varieties and mixture of windfall and picked). Roughly 1/2 litre per 1kg and coming off at 1050 on the hydrometer. Now gently fermenting at a cool temperature. The pure juice tasted fabulous. Had to buy a 100 litre water butt to be able to ferme

I can't see any attached file but would be interested in how the village went about applying for lottery funding for that as I'd like to do something similar. What do you do with the cider you produce?