This fall, a friend pointed me toward a different source from which to gather fruit straight from the trees. They were all culinary apples, but in several varieties; the diversity was definitely welcome. In addition, I was also able to gather some crabapples from the same plot. After last year I did a little bit of cider homework, looking to enhance the flavour of what had turned out to be, after fermentation removed the simple sugars, a dry, somewhat bland beverage. Adding crabapples to the mix seemed like a good way to introduce the acidic and tannic characters culinary apples lack. Before getting down to juicing, the apples were also allowed to sit for the better part of three weeks to "sweat"; the natural yeast begins to ferment the fruit sugars, breaking down the cell structure and making the apples easier to process.
I cannot say enough nice things about how this cider turned out. The crabapples were definitely a good idea; their acidity and tannins gave the cider real heft and character, and balanced well with the touch of residual sweetness left after fermentation. While it was much more work than ciders I've made from store- (or orchard-) bought juice, the final quality was much greater, and my enmeshment in the process was much deeper.
As homebrewers, we have to really work to connect with our ingredients; while we can grow our own hops, isolating suitable yeast cultures on our own requires a substantial amount of work (which a number of folks admirably put in), and growing and malting enough of our own grain to sustain this as a year-round habit is pretty much out of the question for anyone living in an urban or suburban setting. Working on the fruit for this cider allowed me to really get in on the ground level of the ingredients in a way that I probably will never be able to do with barley malt and saccharomyces. It made the final product that much more enjoyable. My next cider will undoubtedly come from store-bought juice, and I'd still encourage anyone looking to try cider making to go this route. If one day the opportunity to pick your own apples and choose the balance of fruit going into the cider presents itself, though, go for it; it takes the "easy" out of making cider, but we're not really doing this because it's easy, are we?
NB: After making this cider, I came across a couple very recent resources that may interest those looking to take their own steps into fermenting pomme fruit. The first is an article in the Nov/Dec issue of Zymurgy that covered a side-by-side comparison of different brewing yeasts for making cider. The results suggested using British strains for suitable ester character and favourable residual sweetness; WLP002 or 004 may be what I try next. The second resource is Drew Beechum's recent book, The Everything Hard Cider Book, about which I learned from an interview with the author on the Brewing Network's The Session podcast. Drew's book focuses on how to make good cider with readily available juices and other materials, as well as how to use this type of cider as a basis for experimentation. It's one I'm planning to pick up before too long. Hope these help.
Local Cider ‘13 - From apples & crabapples picked in residential SLC
OG: 13.2P (1.052)
3 ½ buckets various varieties of apples & crabapples
WLP775 English Cider yeast
Brewday: 2 November 2013
Let apples sit for 2 ½ weeks after picking.
Processed apples with home juicer; VERY labour-intensive process.
Strained, pasteurized at 160F for ~10 minutes, chilled, pitched.
Fermented at ~65F ambient.
Bottled: 22 November 2013
FG: 1.005
ABV: 6.4%
Bottled with 2.7 oz table sugar and rehydrated champagne yeast.
