In view of a generally large apple crop (excepting a few varieties) around this area, I volunteered to write a short piece for our local newsletter, Peninsula Papers. Here it is…
CIDER USING AN ELECTRIC JUICER
Ordinary wine/beer equipment makes you clear sparkling cider, not rotgut, from eating apples; as for wine, basic cleanliness pays. Because of setup and cleandown times, two demijohns a juicing session works well. You don’t eat bruised fruit, so don’t juice it! N.B. Best to juice outdoors, near an outside tap.
I siphon raw juice from the collecting jug into a demijohn; the foam goes for muslin filtering. Usually a night in the fridge lets the demijohn juice settle and the muslin do its job. Next day, siphon the demijohn juice off the sediment; top up with clear juice from your filtration. Any surplus – drink it!
Kitchen temperature (20 C) is good for fermentation: airlock the demijohn, and let the natural yeasts get cracking. It could take 3 weeks, converting the fruit sugars: there are lots there, thus you’ll end up with about 8% ABV.
After fermentation, the demijohn to the fridge, neck snugly covered with cloth. The yeast sleeps, the cider clears: siphon it off the sediment into crown cap bottles. Prime each as you would a beer: ½ teaspoon sugar per pint. Then, crown caps on before storing the bottles at ~20C for 2 weeks, so the last sugar becomes fizz. Properly done, it should easily keep a year.
Chill before serving; open slowly and pour steadily, same as for live ale, and you’ll leave the very small amount of sediment in the bottle bottom… Cheers!