Introducing How To Make Cider
Starting out on the new How to Make Cider blog, I think we may need to begin by setting out some reasonable expectations.
So first of all, let’s just get rid of some possible misunderstandings about the purpose and intended pathway for the How to Make Cider series of articles which will be published here from time to time on the blog. We probably won’t be won’t be going into much detail at all as far as industrial cider is concerned, so if you are looking to become the next Strongbow, Bulmers or Magners then there wont be much here to help. The kind of cider which we want to encourage a lot more of, which there is plenty of scope for making, is the type of cider or even cyder which has become known by a number of different names, most usually “Real Cider” after the well known real ale idea, or craft cider or maybe traditional farmhouse cider but you need to be careful with that last one because the big industrial cider makers have been spending a lot of money on advertising agencies who like to appropriate the image and phraseology of farm cider, traditional and some other names, even when their product is far from anything which should rightly be so described.
So we will be concentrating mainly on how to make craft cider, and homemade cider making.
The next thing is to explain the dichotomy between two attitudes towards making cider that can appear to be very much at odds with each other.
Two ways to make cider
If you ask some people how real cider is made they will come out with a recipe which can appear far too simple to be true, but it isn’t really:
- Crush the apples
- Extract the juice
- Leave it to ferment then store in airtight conditions for a few months.
That’s it.
The second approach to making a modern craft cider involves applying a certain amount of scientific understanding of the chemistry involved in order to avoid a few risks and to fine tune the end result according to taste. The controversial step perhaps is the addition of a specially cultured yeast rather than relying on the accidental combination of wild yeasts and bacteria which may be present in the apples and on the cider making equipment.
Really, it’s just a matter of preference and may also depend on the local conditions which method is chosen and once you have decided how to make cider for your own taste and peace of mind, then it should no longer be a bone of contention.
