Finished Product

Update:  The cider is done, the cider is good, the cider is on-tap.

It was a novelty this fall as it was different from brewing beer.  There was more labor, peeling and pressing, and less sitting around watching water boil.  It was like painting a room, a lot of prep, the the paint went on quickly after we set up.  The paint is dry in only a week.  With beer there is a really slow start, and then a lot of waiting for the finish line.  Also, apple cider is not notorious for bloating like beer.  

That's all I have to say about that. 

Update: How to Make Cider

There is 5 gallons of apple cider, fermenting in my bathroom.  The yeast won't do their job in the cool garage, as well as they will in the house.  I don't want this sticky goodness to overflow in the carpeted closet, so the compromise was the bathroom.  If it overflows here, it will run over the side of the tub and onto the carpeted bathroom floor (who carpets bathrooms?).  I'm thinking it won't overflow, though it is quite active and alive, it even makes noise!  

The stopper in the top is filled with alcohol, and lets the gasses cause by fermentation out, but sugar loving bacteria from getting in.  It is pretty nifty and scientific if you ask me.  The thing about fermentation is that it does release gas, which I guess is best in the bathroom after all.

Yesterday, our daughter was in the bathroom, and came running to me holding her nose.  "Mom!!  Did someone puke!?!?!"  I'll admit, it does smell like the dorm bathroom my freshman year of college in our bathroom.  

I am not sure it is a good sign, or a bad sign, as this is our first attempt at hard cider.  Beer doesn't smell bad fermenting.  I could open the window a crack, but that would cool the room down and slow fermentation.  I could shut the bathroom door, but then I'll walk straight into it, in the dark night.

How to Make Apple Cider

Apple Bath

Chopping

Apple mash in a food-grade bucket

The Press

1/2 way done!  7.5 gallons total

Today we processed the apples we picked from my parents' tree.  The apples have been 'sweating' in the garage for a few weeks, which really means they have been getting over-ripe.  My parents came over, and it was a family project.  We chopped the apples up in our Vita-Mix, and put the mash into a bucket.  We rented a press from our local brew supply shop, and spent 4 hours making 7.5 gallons of drink.

After we picked all the fruit, processed it, cleaned the apples, took the compost away, cleaned the floor, cabinets, counter and even my elbow, from all the apple slop and sugar that got everywhere, was it worth it?  I'm thinking what you might be thinking, as you can not taste the final product.  The second the juice hit your mouth, you would rethink our time and effort.  Some (5 gallons) of the juice has champagne yeast in it to ferment into hard cider, and a small amount is just going to be sweet.

It was a lot of time working on a project with people I love, so even if the drink was bitter, the time was sweet.