Apples seem to be ready a little earlier this year. In fact, one of our neighbours brought round a batch of windfalls a few days ago so, after ordering in some more yeast, I’ve begun this year’s round of cider making.

As last year, I’m chopping out any obviously mouldy or insect eaten bits and stewing the rest in water until soft. After mashing, that gets strained out. For the first batch I was trying to remember my method but I think for the next lot I’ll work through progressively smaller meshes so that I’m pouring a slightly cloudy liquid into the jelly bag I use to finish up.

That leaves me with a batch of juice. I check the gravity with a hydrometer and stirred in a couple of batches of caster sugar to bring the original gravity up to 1.052 (I was aiming for at least 1.050 but that was close enough). It is now in a demijohn with some yeast (pre-fermented as instructed) and starting to show signs of fermentation although not quite enough to set the bubbler valve going just yet.

We’ve had more apples in and we’ve got plenty on our tree that are starting to be ripe for harvest so I’ll have a few more batches going soon as well as other methods for preserving the fruit (including dehydrating — my favourite way to eat apples).