Michael Pooley and John Lomax's Real Cider Making on a Small Scale came with my apple crusher and cider press. I have read the book, but have not yet tried the all techniques described. I have followed the directions for extracting apple juice, but I'm still collecting enough to make a batch of cider. Perhaps in the future I will write another review "Real Cider Making - One Year On" and will be able to tell you whether it really does do exactly what it says on the tin.At a glance I can see that it's my kind of book. It's not one of your coffee-table books with glossy full-page photos and barely any text. It's black and white only, with hand-drawn diagrams showing you what to do, and grainy photos of people with beards and hand-knitted jumpers making cider out-of-doors. The text is detailed, with practical instructions of what to do and explanations of why. The science is also explained, from choosing the right mixture of apples to the biochemical process of what yeasts are and what they do, and what other bugs can do if they get into your brew, and so on.
The book includes a plan for building your own cider press. Alternatively you can buy one, for example from Vigo, or if you join your local homebrewing association you may be able to borrow one, or perhaps join in a communal cider-making day. There are also details on making and storing apple juice, making cider vinegar, and making perry (which is the same as cider but made with pears instead of apples).
It's a good book, and as soon as I had finished it I felt eager to start gathering apples and making cider myself. If you want to follow my experiments, watch this space.
4 comments:
Can you do anything with cooking apples ? is it possible to make a cider with them ?
Mel, do you have a ginger beer recipe by chance that you have trialled and was successful?
Welsh Girl - yes you can. Everything I've read about cider says that the best cider is made from a mixture of apples, including a high proportion of what you might call "rough" apples - cookers, crab apples, horse apples and windfalls. In fact, cider made entirely from yummy eating apples is likely to be thin and acid.
Nikki - My mum used to make ginger beer at Christmas but I can't remember what recipe she used. I'll ask my dad. Perhaps he remembers.
Not only your Mum, Mel, but also your Nana, my Mum, used to make ginger beer but I'm afraid I've no idea how. I was never needed in the process and so, as a mere man with a Mum, four sisters, three daughters and a wife, I kept out of the way.
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