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Hard Cider

The secret to making sweet or hard cider is the blending of apples at pressing time.  A balanced blend of sweet and tart apples is needed.  Hard or sweet, making cider is another great activity to enjoy at home. 

Apple cider mills usually guard their secret recipes for blending very well.  Basically you want a blend of at least two apple varieties mixed by weight at a ratio of 2:1.  For sweet cider combine 2 parts sweet variety and one part tart.  Reversing the mixture will make a drier cider.  While the ratio remains the same, you can add more complexity and character by using more varieties of apples.  Our local supplier uses 6 varieties and that's all he's saying. 

Making hard cider is very much like making wine.  When fresh pressed apple cider is fermented without the addition of any sugars it will produce a dry cider with about 4.5% - 5% abv.  The key to success is using fresh pressed cider that has not been treated in any way.   Cider that has been treated with preservatives or stabilizers, as many supermarket brands contain, will spoil before it ferments.  You must ask your supplier for wine making grade juice.

An exception to this rule is specially prepared wine base concentrates such as Vintner's Harvest Apple Wine Base.  A very tasty batch of cider can be made at any time of the year using this product.  The process is the same as for fresh pressed.