Tag: cider video

  • DIY Cider Press Video – GF Video

    DIY Cider Press Video – GF Video

    Homemade cider press built by my neighbors Gene and Priscilla. A hydraulic cider press that uses found materials from a log splitter and a tree chipper, Gene built this from parts he had. Use this video and the photos here as a basis for your own cider press plans. This is really cool to use, and it would be a blast to build as well.

    Build your own cider press

    You can do this! It will take some time, but its do-able. Its helpful to have some metal skills or ask a neighbor who does to help. You’ll want a bunch of people around anyway to help with the cider press, its a lot of work to process all the apples, apple mash, and bottle the cider.

    This cider press uses a chipper, much like those that are in electric wood chippers, to mash up the apples. I love the use of a traffic cone to direct the apple mash in the right place. The racks that hold the mash are custom built, be sure the racks have slots to allow the cider to drip out. The cloth is muslin.

    The apples are first washed in a mild bleach solution and then rinsed in two buckets of water. A 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in it works well for this. Any bruises or blemishes are cut out of the apples.

    After the apples are pressed, the cider is filtered and pumped through a UV sterilizer. UV light kills bad bugs in the cider, its a simple way, i think to have good cider and not have to pasteurize it to sell. Your local rules might not allow this, so check first.

    You can freeze cider to be able to enjoy it all year. Leave enough space in the containers for some expansion as the cider freezes.

    We’ve made hard cider from Priscilla’s press, you can check out our how to make hard cider videos here

    diy-cider-press-video-gf-video

  • How to make hard cider and apple cider

    How to make hard cider and apple cider

    OK, here is my attempt at making hard cider. Keep in mind I am not the expert here, so please watch with that in mind. This show has generated a lot of email….

    some emails:

    You don’t mention it but did you use any campden tablets? They are used to kill any wild yeast that may be on the fruit at the time of picking. It’s pretty much guaranteed that there is wild yeast and bacteria on the fruit including the little bugs that make vinegar. This is probaly why your cider had a vinegar taste. Also if it was me, I would have added sugar to boost the abv (alcohol by volume) Just a few ideas.

    try coring the apples first – we find when we make apple sauce that its the seeds & core that make it bitter. Nice color on the cider though, that’s why I’m thinking it was the seeds instead of it being vinegared … I would have thought it would have been more cloudy had it been vinegar. There are several recipes online for making home-made apple cider vinegar in a reused plastic bottle right on your own countertop.