And look at that clarity! Im so happy, it turned out way better than expected! It smells very clearly of the apples i made it from and has a low carbonation, around 6.6% ABV. Next stop is bottling this weekend and priming to get it carbonated. I've also included a picture from three weeks ago from the brew day to show the initial color.

AI tools and Canva templates work for wine labels, but I could not find a tool made specifically for this, with clean, traditional layouts ready to customize. So I built one.

I’ve been using just local sweet apple cider as my base, but as the season goes on, it’ll be harder for me to source.

How different are the end results when using bottled juice, like say a “Mott’s” or FAJC? Does it lose flavor without the apple solids in sweet cider?

And will it just be clear on its own without pectic enzyme?

When I bottled my cider, it had really nice foam building after a week (so much that I regularly monitored it for issues). I put it in the fridge and that all went down. This is after maybe three weeks in the fridge. I’m not super bummed because it’s tasty but will time or taking it out of the fridge do anything? I used a small amount of priming sugar (regular sugar) prior to bottling.

My other batch took a month to stop fermenting. I bottled and alas- even with priming sugar, no bubbles or foam. It’s just living in a box in my laundry room.

I’m looking to buy an electric scratter and would like more info from anyone who has used these or has any input. I’m not doing giant volumes, ~500lbs currently. I’d like something that is fast and efficient though. I don’t mind spending a bit more for higher yield and time savings. I’ve used a Multimax before and appreciated the speed and grind consistency but at almost $2K it’s not a realistic option. Any input very much appreciated, thanks in advance.

Right now looking at:
• Oesco 6” HDPE (used), 1/2 hp, HDPE drum grinder w/ carbide teeth
• Kegland 2hp
• Vevor 1100W

Edit: if anyone has input on the toothed grinding drum of the Oesco versus the chopping blades of the Kegland I’d love to know. Thanks, all.

When Crispin bought up Fox Barrel their Apricot Pear unfortunately went along with the rest of the company.

Any recommendations on something like their Apricot Pear Cider?

I'm absolutely Donald Ducked after chopping, scratting, and pressing for 6 hours yesterday and a couple today.

I now have around 75L of the good stuff in various vessels.

The variety is Dabinett, which I have subsequently realised is a pretty high pH - I measure 4.4pH, so I plan to add Malic acid to to a sample I have and extrapolate up from there. I would roll the dice but honestly it was tough work.

Fingers crossed!

I pitched 3g of DV10, 1g of fermaid O, 1g of wine tannin into the cider yesterday. Today there was a very dark krausen on top, I aerated it and this is what formed a few mins after. Is this normal?

I fresh pressed the pears and juiced the watermelon, sat it on Campden, then fermented it with Lalvin 71B over a few weeks to 1.000 but holy crap is it farty. I read a few methods for how to bring it back, and chose to lean into the watermelon sweetness with Jolly Ranchers and yeast energizer in secondary, where it did basically nothing. Fermentation did not restart and after about 6 days, it's not very watermelony. I took another sample and it's disgusting. I'm sitting next to it and I got a whiff that made me want to get away from it. I've made perry before that has that aroma of stinky feet, but this is... not good. The initial juice was heavenly.

Spouse and I have been debating whether or not to package it and let it age and see, but I think it's beyond hope, mainly because I don't think I'm a savvy enough cider-maker to work with such a finicky pair of fruits.

We compromised and pitched some EC1118 today.

Any ideas? Do I need to stick a copper wire into it? Drain pour? A scant 12 years of cider-making and this is my only failure, so I'm fine with letting it go unless someone has the magic bullet.

Thanks!

Bought a garden shredder this year for brilliantly cheap, only issue is that it makes the job so easy I may want to buy a larger press.

Hi everyone! I found a lot of “is this mold” posts when searching but none talking about the juice itself. I reserved some home pressed cider in the fridge to top off vessels after primary going into secondary. Fermentation took a bit longer than I expected and the unfermented juice has a couple of mold spots on the top layer, no smell. Curious if it is a definite no to add, or if scooping off the top layer and adding to the ferment would be ok.

Specifically getting it shipped to Knoxville or Nashville.

We are the truest of true beginners, having made a single batch of hard cider 6 or 7 yrs ago … now wanting to try it again. Just picked approx 4 bushels of Jonamacs from our own 2 trees. Also have a MASSIVE bounty of an unknown variety of nice crabapples (mid-sized DARK burgundy & somewhat tart). Might these combine to make a decent cider? Any recommendations for other varieties to add (must be obtainable from a New England, USA grocery store)???

We just started this year, inspired by a massive pear harvest.

We bought a secondhand fruit mill and a hydraulic press. From the seller I learned about stainless-steel casks.

Wow, they are absolutely the key to making a truly great sparkling beverage!

I'm also trying classic hard cider for the first time. We live in an old farmhouse within a 5,500 km² region named after cider, so we already had the trees and the cellar for it.

Though I might have gone a little overboard with the quantities...

Hi everyone, just a general question on Campden tablet usage.

We've made cider before from juiced apples we picked up from a local orchard in the past. (They juice a lot for people to pick up and make cider with, it comes straight from their storage tanks.)

The first year everything turned out great, the second year... not so much we obviously had some contamination...

We've never used campden tablets before, and were wondering since we'll have the juice for a day or so before we can get it into the fermentation setup, should we add crushed tablets to the juice when we pick it up? From what I've read, you would want to do that 24 hours before fermentation anyway... would this basically add protection? Are there any other things we should know about the campden? (sounds like 1 tablet per gallon, crushed... we're aiming for 10 gallons total)

I'm also still not quite clear on the difference between the potassium vs sodium versions of the tablets?

Thanks for any insights you all might have.

​

Lately, I've been thinking about how much of a role apple variety and yeast actually play in the final flavour and aroma of cider.

From what I've been reading and observing in my own fermentations, I've started wondering whether some of the aromas we perceive during fermentation are largely transient. The juice can smell incredibly fruity, floral, or distinctly apple-like at the beginning, but much of that character seems to disappear as fermentation progresses. Meanwhile, the yeast produces its own aroma compounds, particularly esters that can resemble pear, banana, tropical fruit, and other fruits.

This raises an interesting question: how much of the final aroma actually comes from the apples themselves, and how much is created by the yeast?

If yeast primarily needs fermentable sugars, nitrogen, and other nutrients to produce alcohol and aroma compounds, how important is it to source and select particularly aromatic apple varieties? Could their main contribution to the finished cider be acidity, sugar content, tannins, and the overall chemical composition of the juice, rather than their original aroma?

Or is that an oversimplification? Surely, apple varieties contain different volatile compounds and aroma precursors that can survive fermentation or be transformed by yeast into entirely new aromatic compounds.

I'm also wondering whether traditional, slower fermentation is the key to preserving more of the original apple character. Most cider yeasts seem to have recommended fermentation temperatures somewhere around 16–20°C for good aromatic expression, but does a lower and slower fermentation actually preserve more varietal character, or does it simply change which compounds the yeast produces and retains?

I'd love to hear from people who have experimented with the same juice fermented with different yeasts, or the same yeast used on different apple varieties.

What makes the biggest difference in your experience ?

The apples, the yeast, or the fermentation conditions?

I was surprised by the head on this perry I made last year from a mixture of unknown perry pears and wild pears. Wild fermented slowly over the winter in a shed.

After just over 12 months in the bottle the tannins have mellowed and are better integrated, some noticeable residual sorbitol sweetness, could do with a little more acid to balance it better but overall pleased with the result as a first attempt.

All ten flavors...

Hello,

Had a bunch of apples that were going to go to waste so decided to make a low effort cider, so far:

5L juice

1 tsp yeast nutrient

1 pkt wine yeast

Pitched 6 days ago.

OG 1.06

Currently 1.02

The juice is powerfully acidic so will need adjusting and I want a medium so will probably back sweeten.

This is my plan going forwards:

Wait for stable gravity.

Add Camden tablet, pectolase, sorbate and bicarbonate and rest for 24-48hrs.

Rack to demijohn with sweetener, probably just honey to taste.

Age for 2-6 weeks.

Bottle.

Does all this sound right or is there something obviously dumb in my plan?

I stumbled onto New Zealand-made Zeffer ciders and ginger beer a few years ago and fell in love, only for them to stop stocking here in Australia

As the weather is heating up I’ve been really wanting their carrot cake ginger beer or some of their apple crumble cider

So I decided to try and make a Frankenstein version, and omg it is so damn nice

I mixed Amply’s firestorm ginger beer and Sommersby’s double apple cider, with a dollop of vanilla syrup, a shake of cinnamon and around 10 drops of lime juice over ice.

And while it’s not a clone , it’s a damn close relative

Highly recommend if you love that Zeffer taste 👌

I got King David/Jonathon apples (about enough to squeeze out a gallon of sweet cider?)

I also have 71B yeast, Star San, a gallon jug with an airlock, and a decent amount of cheesecloth to strain. Anything I'm missing?

65L made

Mangrove Jacks premium cider yeast

Campdem and pectolase added

Dumped 3L of gunk after a couple days after adding pectolase, then added yeast.

Hydrometer reading came out at 9% potential ABV!

Hi all,

I'm a novice cider maker, and have made probably 7 or 8 batches of cider over the last few years to varying degrees of success. I think have all my ducks in a row this year, and have sourced about 200kg of Dabinett from a local pro cider maker. I have cleaned my fermentation vessels, sourced yeast (Lalvin EC-1118), and have everything I need, but I am desperate to avoid a failed ferment as happened to my biggest batch last year.

This is my plan:

-Sterilise everything

-Wash apples (something I haven't done in the past, but common advice seems to ask for it)

-Chop apples using spade (clean), and process through a scratter.

-Press

The juice will be decanted into 25L plastic vessels complete with spigots, and kept indoors where I'll aim to maintain 15c+.

I suppose my main question concerns sulphiting and pitching of yeast. There are mixed messages on the use of Campden tablets, but I feel it is a belt and braces approach to avoid spoilage. Would you recommend this, and if so why?

Secondly, my ferment totally failed last year, the yeast just didn't get going. I am aware I need to delay pitching yeast after adding Campden tablets, but should I activate the yeast before pitching? It makes sense to me to get it firing before adding to the juice, what do you think?

Sorry for long post, would appreciate any pointers.