How to make cider at home

Nothing beats the warmth of spiced cider on a crisp fall day. These guidelines will show you how to make your own from home so you can enjoy it whenever you want.

Apple juice is a delicious, healthy drink on its own, and with a little extra effort, the fruit juice can be fermented into sparkling cider.

• When making apple juice, use a blend of tart and sweet apples rather than just one apple variety.
• One part sweet eating apple to two parts tart apple, adjusted according to taste, makes a reasonable balance (if you live in a region where you can obtain crabapples, adjust the blend to one part tart apple and one part bittersweet crabapples for a livelier taste).
• Approximately nine kilograms (20 pounds) of assorted apples will yield about five litres (five quarts cups) of juice.

1. Wash the apples thoroughly and remove the stem and the end.
2. Chop or grind the fruit into a fine pulp. This can be done with a rolling pin, a food processor, a heavy-duty blender or even a leaf shredder.
3. Make sure equipment is very clean before you begin and clean it well after you finish.
4. Save the juice from this process and add to the final result. To extract the juice, wrap the pulp in a clean pillowcase or cheesecloth and place it in a cider press.
5. After each increase in pressure, wait until most of the juice stops dripping before applying more pressure. The juice can be used at once or stored in clean glass bottles.
6. Before pouring it into containers, filter the apple juice through several layers of cheesecloth to clarify it and improve its storage qualities.
7. Provided the fruit is healthy and well washed, the processing equipment is clean and the storage bottles are sterile, the juice will keep for several weeks under refrigeration, frozen juice for a year or longer.

• 5 kg (11 lbs) mixed apples
• 1 Campden tablet (potassium or sodium metabisulfite)
• 500 ml (2 c) white grape juice concentrate (without artificial preservatives or sweeteners)
• 1 kg (1.1 lbs) sugar
• 5 ml (1 tsp) pectolase
• 5 ml (1 tsp) yeast nutrient salts
• 5 ml (1 tsp) citric acid or the juice of a lemon
• 1 pkg all-purpose wine yeast

1. Wash the apples. Remove cores, bruises and other blemishes, then chop the fruit finely. It is important not to let the apple pieces turn brown (oxidize), so place them in a sterilized polypropylene bucket as you go, adding just enough water to cover the fruit. Keep the lid on the bucket when you are not adding fruit. Add one crushed Campden tablet.
2. When you have added all of the pulped apples to the bucket, mix in the other ingredients except yeast. Stir the contents and cover with an airtight lid or sheet of plastic. Let it stand for one day and then stir well before adding wine yeast according to the instructions on the package. Cover and leave at room temperature, stirring twice daily.
3. When the fruit has broken down (in three or four days), drain the liquid into a fermenter, then strain the pulp through a sieve to extract as much juice as possible.
4. Top the liquid up to five litres (five quarts) by adding cooled, boiled water. Put an airlock on the fermenter for an airtight seal. Fermentation has finished when no bubbles are rising in the cider and the airlock stops bubbling. Use a hydrometer to check the specific gravity; it should be about 1005.
5. Sterilize your bottles and then add five grams (one teaspoon) of sugar to each 750 millilitre (three cup) bottle. Seal each bottle using a capping machine. Makes enough to fill six 750 millilitre (three cup) bottles.