Making Homemade Apple Cider
Making cider is a great way to celebrate fall—and that pure, fresh apple cider taste is like nothing you’ve ever tasted from a grocery store. If you’ve got the right tools, it’s simple to do and lots of fun!
In colonial days, it was common for farmers and families to own a barreled cider press (and in those days, the cider was often left to ferment and become an alcoholic “hard” cider). Today, the “old-fashioned” cider press is becoming more popular again, perhaps because more people are planting fruit trees.
The difference between the taste of homemade apple cider and that pasteurized, filtered grocery store cider is indescribable. They barely resemble each other. The taste of homemade cider just pops in your mouth—pure, fresh, flavor-packed! Plus, you can use all those less-than-perfect apple drops from the ground, so it’s also a big savings from the price of store cider.
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The Apple Press
An apple press makes the whole process fun and simple. The press essentially grinds up the apples into pulp and then presses the juices out. Once you get going, the liquid gold keeps flowing. You go from press to glass in 30 seconds!
There are many kind of presses from a very simple hand press to the traditional cider press with a grinder. You can often even rent an apple press. Then all you really need are the apples and a few supplies (cutting boards, knives, and empty pitchers). Take turns with the press—and you’re in cider heaven!
How to Press Apple Cider
- Start with a wheelbarrow of apple drops (fallen apples). You need a good amount of apples to make cider. Approximately 30 to 40 apples will yield one gallon of cider.
- The apples need to be as ripe as possible. It’s fine to use less-than-perfect apples on the ground at any orchard or old apple farm. Discard any rotten ones, though. Spoiled apples cause the juice to ferment too rapidly.
- Blast the apples with a hose to wash them off.
Now you need to grind up the apples. Some presses come up a grinder. Feed the apples into the hopper. Turn a cast iron wheel to grind the apples. The wheel is attached to the grinding shaft which quickly and easily chops up the apples.
- The apples fall into the tub below. A big press screw is flowered onto a wooden pressing plate.
- Turn the pressing plate down on the pulp to free up the apple juices which flow into a container below the press.
- Once all the juices are pressed out, empty the leftover pulp into a bin. Then, grind up more apples and press again!
- The juice quickly oxidizes into a rich amber color. Some apple “froth” forms on the top which can be skimmed off.
- Finally, pour the cider into jugs and drink! Amazing sweet, fresh as a whistle, and crazy delicious! (Watch out for any drunken bees who ended up in the jug!)
* If you are concerned about pasteurization before drinking, just heat the cider to 160 degrees Fahrenheit for about 6 to 8 seconds. After pasteurization, cider can be frozen for longer storage.
Add some cider donuts, and you’re in heaven.
Cider pressing is a great occasion for friends and family to get together on a fall day. The kids—of all ages—will have a blast cranking the press. If you have the inclination, find (or make) a cider press and throw your own autumn harvest party next year!
Anyone else a cider fan? Or, own a cider press? Have any questions or comments? Just post below.
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Some resources say to press the apples slowly to get more yield. Do you know how on Earth this could possibly be true?
Mark, you have us stumped. We have not heard of this method.
Thank you for your awesome article! I just bought an apple press and have one question. Would the juice come out be considered apple juice or cider? Would I need to add anything to the juice to make it cider? Thanks in advance!
Hi, Jessica. Apple juice undergoes filtration to remove pulp, so what you have coming of your press is considered cider. So glad you enjoyed the information! Thanks for letting us know.
We just started pressing apples from our 6 trees. We started in early October. Last weekend November 2 we tried to press some more but got 1/4th the yield. Do apples dry out late in the season? What is the preferred pressing season?
Also we have goats and I am wondering if we can feed them the residual pressed apples or will the seeds hurt them.
Thank you for the help.
Hey there, we have been pressing our orchard apples and there have been swarms of bees. It’s impossible to figure out where on our land they are coming from. Any recos or strategies for keeping them at bay?
Of course, the bees are important for pollination. However, once the flowers are gone (containing nectar and pollen for food), bees will look for any sugars or sweet substances such as the apple cider!
If it’s truly a swarm, you have a hive nearby. The hive might be overcrowded which produces swarming. Or, the bee hive is sub-dividing and you’ll see a lot of bees for a day or two while they look for a new home. They’re not generally aggressive.
To reduce swarms in orchards, it’s important to pick up damaged, dropped, or overripe fruit.This fruit should be collected regularly and discarded.
Finally, when you press cider, there’s always going to be some bees! Just watch out for them in the collected cider and don’t swallow any!
My husband and I have pressed cider as a social thing in Vermont for over 10 years. We've moved south now and Have continued the tradition; however, the mix of apples we used were all too sweet--hence the cider is too sweet for our taste. Do you know how we can dilute this (other than water) to make it more tart? Everything I see on the internet speaks of fermentation when making hard cider. We just wan regular cider to drink. Thank you
I'd suggest going by a brewing store and picking up something to perk up the acidity of your apple cider. I'd start with malic acid since that's the acid most prevalent in apples as far as I know, but you could experiment with tartaric and citric acids to get just the right taste. These three acids should be available at any store for winemaking or you could order from a brew site like morewine or amazon. Just plain "acid blend" would be better than nothing, I don't use it in my wines and meads very often but I have used it to perk up the odd jam or jelly that just tasted too sweet (since the sugar is important for the set, you can't just add less, you pretty much HAVE to balance it with acid). Or toss a handful of Granny Smith, craapples or some other kind of tart apple into the mix, maybe some that aren't at peak ripeness yet? Or even toss a lemon in (experiment, you might find you like the bitterness from the pith or you might find just some lemon juice is enough).
We just used one type of apple out of convenience and it turned out beautifully. However, a great cider often has a mix of apples that are both tart and sweet varieties. You do NOT want to just add water as that will make the cider less sweet, but also thinner or more watery tasting. We’d suggest you top of the cider with pure apple juice. Just take a sample first and test it out to see if you like the taste. Also, if you happened to heat your cider to kill bacteria or put yeast in it, that also adds to the sweetness so you’d definitely need some tarter apples in the future. Just avoid too much tartness or it will be quite acidic.
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