Homemade cider

Sådan gør du

Apple cider

1) Pick the apples when mature. You know they’re right when you can press two fingers lightly into the apple flesh through the fruit skin.

2) Wash the apples and check for rotten ones. Grind the apples and use a fruit press or a juicer to extract the apple juice.

3) Pour the juice into a clean bucket with a lid and an airlock. The airlock equalizes the pressure in the container during the fermentation process, where sugar is converted to alcohol, CO2 and a wide range of aromatic elements.

4) The fermentation will start by itself after sitting for 24 to 48 hours at room temperature. Going forward a temperature around 5 to 10 degrees celcius is preferable, seeing as it will make the following steps of the process easier. You can listen if the airlock is bubblen – that’s a good sign of activity.

5) Make sure to remove impurities by racking the cider from one bucket to another using a rubber tube about 2 to 4 times during the process. Avoid oxygenizing the liquid too much and put a lid on the new container immediately.

6) Continuously measure the sugar content with a refractometer and bottle the cider when you’re at a level of 12 to 16 grams of sugar per liter.

7) Let the cider continue to ferment for a few months in the bottles. This will also create the lovely cider fizz.