How To Make Your Own Cider

The shedding autumn makes for a spectacular view and an alluring pleasant weather. Yes, the fall is minutes away and there’s no better way to welcome it than to sip on a fine glass of pure apple cider. Whether clear or murky, dry or sweet, cider slides down the throat like no other magic potion. Moreover, the ecstasy of savouring a glass of apple cider surfaces from making it on your own! Of course, it does involve patience, but moments after your first heavenly sip, you shall not deny that it was worth every ounce of sweat! Homemade apple cider can be alcoholic (hard cider) or non-alcoholic, as you wish! The cider making process, albeit time-consuming and strenuous, is incredibly enjoyable and will reward you with a strong sense of accomplishment, setting aside the palatable treat that it indisputably is! Apart from the money you save by steering clear of commercially sold cider wines, you will be safeguarding your health. On the contrary, homemade apple cider offers health benefits like lowering cholesterol and improving lung conditions. Keep reading this section to learn how to make your own cider.

Homemade Apple Cider Recipe

Requirements

Apples or fresh Apple juice.
Knife
Apple corer
Blender or food processor
Steel Presser (with Muslin Bags)
Container

Steps

Commercial apple juice is not advisable since the preservatives in it tend to rot the average bottle of juice before it ferments. Hence, it’s recommended that you buy some fresh apple juice from the nearest apple orchard. However, if you really want to sweat it out, rush to the orchard and start picking the right blend of apples!
Pluck directly from trees and never pick fallen apples.
Wash these apples either in a big water bucket or by using a garden hosepipe. Remove the twigs and leaves attached to them.
Buy your own utensils to obtain large volumes of juice from these apples. You will have complete control over your cider-making experience!
Mill your apples either with a scratter or a pulpmaster (a rotating blade attached to an ordinary electric drill).
When you compress the apples, load the bucket half full with apples, raise the drill to its highest level, and lower slowly into the apples. Close the lid safely while pulping to diminish messy endings.
Redistribute the large quantities of pulp into different buckets and drill separately. Chop the apple lumps into finer pieces with the knife, if required.
Use a well-built basket screw press with a muslin bag that holds and drains the pulp into an empty container. The steel pressing plate should be coated in nylon to thwart the juice from touching the metal and ruining the cider essence.
Keep tightening the screws harder and harder to extract maximum juice. Empty the cylindrical cake of pulp and start again with a fresh load.
Pour the pressed juice into big glass jars and mix it with a crushed campden tablet to reduce the risk of contamination of undesirable cider bacteria.
Pasteurize your apple cider by heating it to 160 degrees Fahrenheit so as to kill any bacteria present.
Add a stopper with a fermentation lock filled with sodium metabisulphite solution. To prevent flies from drowning in the solution, put a tiny plug of cotton wool on the top of the lock.
Leave the jars and bottles of juice in a warm cupboard to ferment over a few days. Later, transfer the stock to a cooler room.
When you use brewing tools, disinfect your container ahead of time. Check the density of the liquid to specify how alcoholic the cider is.
If you desire to control your fermentation, pitch in a vial of champagne yeast.
To attain that sparkle in every sip, put in some crushed sugar.
Try researching with cinnamon sticks, small pegs of rum, nutmeg, ginger, lemon peels, honey to add all sorts of zest to your hot or cold cider drink. You could also add a scoop of ice cream to make a very rich dessert.

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