How to make apple cider at home

Cider is a light apple wine with a delicate aftertaste. Gentle drink came to us from France. There are several options for the preparation of cider: on the basis of apples and with the addition of pears. In most cases, alcohol is prepared by fermenting fruit with yeast, subsequently giving it a gaseous state.

How to make apple cider

It is not necessary to give preference to one sort of apples, combine them with each other, experiment. As practice shows, the ideal ratio is calculated, which involves the preparation of cider from two parts of sweet fruits and one part sour.

• apples - 8 kg.
• granulated sugar - 1 kg.

1. Collect apples, wipe dry with a towel and place in a paper bag. Send for 3 days in a warm cabinet. Fruit can not be washed out, because cider is prepared on the basis of wild yeast, which live on the peel.
2. After the deadline, clean the apples from the twigs and leaves.Cut into small cubes, turn into a mash with a blender, combine or meat grinder.
3. Choose a suitable container for infusing the composition, sterilize by boiling water in it. Thoroughly dry, wipe, move applesauce to the pan. Important! Choose a container so that the apples do not completely fill it (approximately 2/3). You can use the usual three-liter glass jars. In this case, it is necessary to decompose the mash into several containers and leave space for the formation of gas and foam.
4. After packaging mashed potatoes in jars, add sugar (preferably cane) to each composition. Based on the calculation that for 1 kg. mass accounts for 125 grams. sand. It is necessary to take into account the original variety of apples: the sweeter they are, the less sugar is added. In the end, you should have a sweet, not very cloying wort.
5. Stir the mixture in each container, stretch gauze fabric or bandage over the neck. Send the composition to infuse in a dark place (pantry, cupboard), the exposure time is 4-5 days. Avoid places with a sharp temperature drop (cellar, balcony, etc.).
6. Daily in the morning and evening, mix the wort with a wooden spoon. The mixture will whip into a dense layer and harden on the surface of the composition. You need to constantly drown it. After 10-15 hours after the formation of a whipped layer a characteristic hiss and foam appear, this will be the result of the beginning of fermentation.
7. Now pick up another container, but not for insisting, but for fermenting the wort. Boil it, wipe dry. Squeeze all the juice out of the apple mixture into a jar, put a rubber glove on the neck. Needle pierce in the middle finger 2 holes.
8. Place the composition in a dark dry place with a temperature range from 20 to 26 degrees. The duration of fermentation ranges from one to two months. After this period, the glove will fall on one side, a characteristic sediment will appear at the bottom of the jar, the cider will become light. All these signs indicate the end of fermentation. Important! There are cases when fermentation lasts more than two months. You should not delay longer in the hope that the cider is “about to mature”. Using a silicone tube, transfer the composition to another jar, leave to ferment under the same conditions.
9. After fermentation, carefully pour the cider, try not to raise the sediment. Prepare a filter for filtering: fold the cheesecloth in 4 layers, place the cotton wool between them.Skip the drink, pour it over dark bottles, cork (roll up). Important! If you do not plan to further saturate the cider with carbon dioxide, fill the bottles in the neck. In other cases, leave extra space.
10. After blocking the composition, send the cider to ripen in a dark, cool place (recommended temperature is 8–10 degrees, without drops) for 3–3.5 months. After this period, the drink is considered ready.

In the end, you will have a cider of a delicate golden color, with a strength of 8-12%, with a sweet taste and light aroma. When consumed in small quantities, there is no hangover.

How to make apple and pear cider

The traditional recipe of cider includes only apples, but experienced housewives came up with an original variation of the drink with the addition of pears. The end result will please you, the product turns out moderately sweet, easy to drink, does not cause addiction.

• pears - 5 kg.
• green apples - 3 kg.
• red apples - 2 kg.
• sugarcane - 700 gr.
• betonite (optional)

Concrete is needed to clarify cider, it is added at will.In addition to the above ingredients, you will also need an infusion container, a fermentation vessel, a saucepan, and dark bottles (glass or plastic).

1. Determine for yourself: how you will ferment the composition. In the case where cultured baker's yeast is used, the fruit must be washed. If you decide to use the wild method of fermentation, then pears and apples should be wiped with a dry towel.
2. Next, you need to get the juice from the fruit. To do this, remove the twigs and leaves, cut the fruit into pieces, pass through a meat grinder, combine, blender or juicer.
3. After the composition has turned into a porridge, prepare a bag of gauze fabric, folded it in several layers. Then squeeze the liquid into a clean glass jar (pre-sterilized).
4. If you decide to ferment the composition with wild yeast, send it to a dark place with a stable temperature. When fermentation takes place with food yeast, add them according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you wish, you can add granulated sugar (50–70 g per 1 liter of the composition) if the apples and pears do not have sufficient flavor.
5. When the mixture is mixed, put on a medical glove on the neck, pierce one hole with a needle in the middle or index finger. As a rule, fermentation is completed after 1-2 months.
6. After this period, you can add concrete to cider, giving the drink a delicate beige tint. In order to properly intervene the drug, dissolve 40-50 grams in a small amount of purified water. composition based on 10 liters of the future drink. Pour into the cider, shake the jar so that the crystals dissolve completely and do not settle. Wait 3 days, then remove from sediment.
7. Finish cooking by pouring the composition on plastic bottles. Block them, put them in a refrigerator or cellar for 1 month. After this period, proceed to tasting, if necessary, repeat the filtering.

How to saturate cider with carbon dioxide

Not everyone likes non-carbonated drinks, some prefer to drink the composition with bubbles. For these purposes, carbon dioxide saturation was invented, which we will consider in more detail.

1. At the end of the fermentation, be sure to remove the drink from the sediment.This will help you a filter of 6 layers of gauze and planted between them an oblong piece of wool. The mixture must be passed through a kind of sieve several times.
2. Strained composition should be bottled in plastic or glass. In this case, containers should be sterilized beforehand. Cider is poured only in dry jars, because even a drop of unpurified water will spoil the product.
3. After careful preparation, place sugar (beet or cane) on the bottom of the bottles. For 1 liter of the composition has 12 gr. sand. Sugar triggers re-fermentation, as a result of which carbon dioxide will be released.
4. After that, pour cider into the bottle, back off from the neck by about 7 cm to leave space for the foam. Spin the lids, take them to a dark closet or pantry, leave for 2 weeks. Important! Twice a day it is necessary to check the gas pressure in the tanks. At elevated rates, the bottles will explode or blow up, so periodically unscrew the corks, releasing the gas.
5. After infusion at room temperature, move the ready-made cider into the refrigerator, store under such conditions constantly.

Gourmet French drink can be prepared independently, without spending a tidy sum. Choose your favorite sort of apples or pears, twist the fruit into a porridge, squeeze the juice and infuse the wort. Moderately add sugar to the cider does not get cloying.

Video: Apple cider recipe at home