Hard Cider

Having been inspired by my friend Eric's cider as well as the availability of free apples, I decided to try my hand at making hard cider this year.    

To make cider you first need to pick the apples.   When I was a kid I worked at a horse farm which was connected to a summer camp in Broadalbin, NY.  Many years ago my family picked up apples off of the ground there and made apple cider with them.   We froze most of it and drank it all winter long.   My dad's wife now works at the same camp and I got permission to take as many apples as I wished.  My mom helped me out with picking and we used my grandfather's apple picker which was quite fun.  It is a "claw" as we so named it, with a gallon milk jug beneath it to catch the apples.   The handle is a snow scraper handle made to remove the snow from rooftops. "Getto-fabulous" in the most excellent way.

Red Delicious

One advantage to these gnarley looking apples is that they have not been sprayed with any nasty chemicals

Mom - Just before loosing "the claw"

 If every kid had an apple tree and one of these claw pickers I am quite sure that video games would be obsolete

 Mom's preferred picking method

4-5 bushels of apples!

I supplemented my free apples with some gleaned apples which I acquired very inexpensively from a local apple grower.   He had lost most of his apples to the late frost in the springtime and was happy to let me take what I could salvage of his crop.  

I took the apples to an orchard in Sharon Springs to be pressed and on my way home I found this little snake hanging on to my windshield wiper with his nose in the breeze

 I think he was pretty happy when I removed him to the grass on the side of the road

 30 gallons of cider!

 Mixing in the sugar 

 The first two batches!

I consulted with my local Zymologist on the best cider making techniques.  He loaded me up with information, supplies and a few different yeasts to try.   I have 2 batches made and I am waiting for the sugar mixture on the third to cool as I am writing.  The first batch has about 4 pounds of Sucanat sugar added (a molasses-rich sugar), the second batch has 1/2 gallon - about 5.5 pounds of Maple Syrup.   Both batches have wine yeasts added.   The third batch has 2 pounds of dark brown sugar and 1 pound of white refined sugar and no yeast added.   I have one more batch to concoct.   Any ideas for what should go into it?