Crabapple Cider 2015

Making a test batch of cider using IMG_3103local bittersharp crabapples from the house at the corner of Mangels and Nordhoff

  • 35 lbs apples
  • Made 2.5 gallons of juice
  • Ground apples with my apple grinder
  • Pressed them through cheesecloth on my workbench vise! (with some extra plastic wrap around everything)
  • 2015/12/6: Initial gravity: 1.050
  • Added pectic enzyme to half of the batch, but it didn’t seem to do much.  Labeled this “keeve”, but it turns out I had the wrong pectic enzyme to do a keeve…  this pectic enzyme will destroy the pectin so it doesn’t get cloudy.
  • Left in 1-gallon jugs after fermentation.
  • Super sour and hard bitters…  but good aroma, so plan to mix this in with the cider next year.
  • Update 10/2016: Left two gallons on the lees for almost a year, and it must have gone through a malo-lactic fermentation because the acid is totally fine now, but the tannin is still very obvious.  The single bottle I had upstairs was much more sour, so it didn’t go through ML fermentation.

Using my homemade apple grinder based on plans from WoodGearsIMG_2890IMG_2998