home brew cider

whitser

going to try and do some home brew cider this autumn. has anyone on here brewed cider and has anyone got a fruit press for sale or rent? also im looking for timber whiskey barrels.

oblivious

I have made cider a few times, but with juice from the supermarket that not from concentrate.


Also be aware you will need around 20 pounds of apple to get one gallon of juice (must), generally most people do around 5 gallons (20liters) as more than this get very labor intensive.

also you will need some method of pulping the apple before pressing, some use poles and bucket other opted for wood chipper/shredders, it really depends your price range


Grape and grain had one for sale and a few place in england have them hop and grape

these two forums have people that have pressed the own cider and made their own presses

http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

http://overthegate.myfreeforum.org/index.php

barrel aging on a home brew scale is a real pain the the ass. 5 gallon barrels are expense (200-300+ euro) . Also are much more pervious to oxygen to a full size ones. furthermore the barrels need to be swelled to make them seal properly which can be pretty labor intensive

also there is a large evaporation rate, which means you need to bee toping up with cider every week and thus really need to have on hand 1.5-2 time of what you need.

plastic buckets are the favored method available form any good home brew shop and if you want an oak character, oak chips and bee added to develop the flavor

gucci

This guy here shows you how to make a neat little cider press out of a drum (which you could also do with any plastic barrel basically.) Good luck!

noby

gucci, that link isn't working.

oblivious

This is it i think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0fvkiSHOsY

whitser

fair play lads. all advice has been taken on board. im defo going to give it a go this autumn.

whitser

lumberjackchampion is a legend. im going to go for it using his method.
does any one know where to source them glass bottles?

oblivious

Demijohn they are called

Grape and grain sells them for 8.95, here is a link
http://www.grapengraindublin.com/

whitser

thank you V much oblvious.

marknoonan1974

Where is a good place to buy loads of apples for cheap? Seems expensive in Tesco!!!

oblivious

marknoonan1974 wrote: »

Where is a good place to buy loads of apples for cheap? Seems expensive in Tesco!!!

You could try David Llewellyn, Fruit of the Vine in lusk

This maybe of use to you http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/index.cfm/section/members/key/289

T-Square

Whoa!

Great thread.

My brother and I used to brew beer when we were teenagers.

We would bought a pressure barrel from Easons, and they had a limited selection of what I could only describe as cans of beer concentrate

oblivious

T-Square wrote: »

We would bought a pressure barrel from Easons, and they had a limited selection of what I could only describe as cans of beer concentrate

One stop shop for all you need is you want to get back into the hobby

http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/

cavedave

And dont forget the second stop

bridge

we brewed home beer when we were teenagers.one of my mates ended up pregnant after a session on it so i guess it was powerful tho it tasted disgusting

BeerNut

bridge wrote: »

it tasted disgusting

Just like with cooking, that's what happens if you don't do it right.

cavedave

bridge

one of my mates ended up pregnant after a session on it so i guess it was powerful

I think you might need to look up about human reproduction happens . I'm sure there are some guides somewhere on the internet...

Bestbrew

Did the home brew you used state you'd get 100% extra free?