Credit and permission to share: Kevin.
Normally the apples from our one and only apple tree go to waste or to the dogs who love eating them whilst dodging the wasps.
It's quite something watching a daft labrador run the gauntlet, grab an apple, then run away to scoff it.
However, this year, I decided to make scrumpy or rough cider before the wasps descended and had a party.
This recipe is perfect for the end of summer if you have an apple tree where you know the apples will go to waste. I gather shop bought apples might not work due to lack of natural yeast but you can probably use them and add brewers yeast - there are other recipes out there explaining this process.
I managed to get 16lbs of apples from the tree including a few thrown in from the fruit bowl and a few overripe pears. This made just under 3 pints which I put into 3 glass beer bottles - not quite full (c1.3 pint/ 620 mil bottles).
You will need:
A large bowl sterilised with boiling water.
Glass bottles depending on size preference and caps.
16lb apples or there abouts with a few bashed pears if you have them.
1lb caster sugar.
Sieve.
A large container for decanting.
A funnel.
Chop up and pulp the apples them.
(I used a mixer and a hand held blender for pulping - not a great idea as it takes ages to mash and you end up with apples flying everywhere). I would probably recommend investing in an apple press if doing this regularly or with large batches or use a large food processor. But for one tree and three bottles this method worked fine.
Add 1lb of ordinary white caster sugar. I chose to rely on natural yeast from the apples as oppose to adding more as I don't like too much sediment and the idea is to keep costs to a minimum.
I covered the bowl with foil and left for 7 days until is started to smell funky. Some recipes suggest 2 weeks but I did not want it too strong or too funky.
I occasionally stirred and blended the mix but be aware of potential for mould etc. After 7 days the mixture had swelled quite a bit.
When ready to bottle, sieve into a separate (sterilised container), I used a fine sieve and a potato ricer to squeeze the last of the just into the sieve, but did not force it through the sieve as it would be too much like soup. No wants to drink soup out of a bottle.
Then I sieved it again.
Sterilise your bottles and caps with boiling water for 10 minutes of so. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Using a funnel, add your cider to the bottle, leaving plenty of space at the top and cap.
Leave at room temperature to settle, and hopefully produce a little carbonation. I chose not to add extra sugar to the bottles but this will add extra carbonation.
URGENT update.
After a few days, we opened a trial bottle, it sprayed 3/4 of its contents everywhere. It was insane. After tidying up and explaining why it wasn't (was) my fault, we were left with a truly outstanding medium dry, slightly fizzy cup of nectar. My advice is to open in the garden, after chilling.
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