Good Cider
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Mash the apples into a pulp.
Spread the pulp in the open air for 24 hours.
Press out the juice as clear as possible.
Ferment
Fill a barrel up to the bung-hole with the juice.
Keep adding fresh juice as fermentation proceeds.
When fermentation ends, draw off into a clean barrel with burnt brimstone.
Store
Seal the barrel tightly and store in a cool place.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the sugar and juice that ferment into the cider.
- Brimstone
- Burnt brimstone is added when racking to help clarify and preserve the cider.
The step that matters
Keep adding fresh juice as fermentation proceeds. Fermentation pushes foam and liquid out of the barrel and the juice level drops as it works. Topping up with fresh juice keeps the barrel full, limiting contact with air that can spoil the cider by allowing unwanted microbes and oxidation to take hold.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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