I need to make a note that I bottled my latest homebrew experiment on Sunday. This one is a rustic cider, nowhere near as complex as making beer. It is still wise to sanitise the equipment used but does not even go so far as needing water to be boiled, let alone careful measurements and timing.

Method:

1. Roughly cut apples, put in a vat, pour over water to cover and leave for a week or so
2. Siphon off the liquid and add sugar to it (about 1lb / gallon). Apple solids can then be used on the compost.
3. Leave the liquid to ferment in a container with some kind of airlock (this is the main fermenting stage)
4. After a couple of weeks, the yeast activity should have stopped. Siphon the liquid off into bottles and leave somewhere cool and dark for 2-3 months.

That means I should wait until about February although I suspect I might dip into my supplies a little earlier, just to check on progress. It was a recipe my parents gave me and the taste I had on Sunday brought back memories which suggest it should be fairly much on target.