Homemade Apple Cider
Fresh apple juice fermented for one to two weeks with wine or cider yeast, then cleared and bottled. Proper homemade cider tastes nothing like the syrupy commercial versions – it's drier, more complex, with a genuine apple character that varies depending on the fruit. The process is simple: press or buy the juice, add yeast, wait. The patience is the skill.
Ingredients
- 5 lfresh apple juice, unfiltered and unpasteurised
- 1 packetcider or wine yeast
- 1 tspyeast nutrient
- 1 tabletCampden tablet
- 50 gsugar per liter
- 1 tspsugar per 500 ml bottle
Method
- Prepare the juice. If pressing fresh apples: wash thoroughly, core (but keep the skins – they carry wild yeasts and tannin), and press or juice in batches. Strain through cheesecloth into a clean sterilised fermentation vessel. If using shop-bought juice: choose cloudy, unfiltered, unpasteurised juice if possible. Avoid anything with potassium sorbate – it prevents fermentation. Ascorbic acid is fine.
- Pitch the yeast. Check the juice temperature: 18 to 22°C is ideal. Sprinkle the dry yeast directly onto the surface of the juice. Add yeast nutrient if using. Fit an airlock filled with water. Within 12 to 24 hours at room temperature you should see the airlock bubbling as fermentation begins.
- Ferment for 1 to 2 weeks. Keep the fermenter at room temperature (18 to 22°C), away from direct sunlight. The vigorous bubbling of the first few days will slow to occasional bubbles. Fermentation is complete when the airlock has stopped bubbling for 48 consecutive hours and the cider begins to clear. Taste it: it should be dry, slightly tart, and smell clean – not vinegary.
- Clear and rack. Siphon the cider off the sediment at the bottom into a clean second container. This is called racking. Leave to clear further for 3 to 5 days. The cider can be consumed at this point as still cider – dry, tart, and apple-forward.
- Bottle for sparkling cider. Add exactly 1 teaspoon of sugar per 500 ml bottle before sealing. This gives the residual yeast enough food to produce carbonation inside the sealed bottle. Use flip-top or crown-cap bottles rated for carbonated drinks. Store at room temperature for 5 to 7 days, then refrigerate for at least 3 days before opening. Homemade cider keeps for 3 to 6 months refrigerated.
FAQ
The best cider comes from blending varieties: a tart cooking apple for acidity (Bramley, Granny Smith), a sweet dessert apple for body (Cox, Fuji, Gala), and ideally a cider-specific apple or crab apple for tannin. Single-variety cider is possible but usually lacks complexity. If using shop-bought juice, blending two or three different brands gives a noticeably better result.
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Comments (1)
I always chill the glasses for homemade apple cider — 15 minutes in the freezer transforms the drinking experience. The frost on the glass keeps everything at the perfect temperature through the last sip.