Cider  (The Hard Stuff)

This concise guide to making cider 
comes from a guy named Stu from Canada. 
Thanks, Stu -- I guess I'd better start looking for some apple trees.

Incidentally, cider is another one of those old, pre-beer 
drinks like mead. It was also a big favorite in the North American 
colonies before the popularization of distilling made things like whiskey and rum possible (no recipes for that, sorry, but did you ever think of taking a pressure cooker, fitting it with some copper tubing coils, putting it on a low-heat single plug-in burner and seeing what happens? Just make sure you're insured against fire, explosions and federal ATF raids.)

     Add some juice to a pail, add yeast. Stop air from going in, but let air escape. wait 3 weeks to 2 months. put in bottles, add sugar for carbonation, wait a week or so (longer for better taste), drink. (the longer version follows)...

     The best apples to use are your wild ones, i.e. not the ones from orchards. The small little ones that are found on the sides of roads and fields and such. Try and pick them from the tree, as opposed to using windfalls (windfalls often contain acetobacteria which is the active ingredient in vinegar-making, and vinegar is not good -- unless, of course, you want to drink vinegar)
     A good mixture of apple varieties in your batch is a good idea. Look for apples that are either a neutral base, tart, aromatic, or astringent. In the book I went, by the author suggested blending juice types:  Neutral Base 30-60%, Tart 10-20%, Aromatic 10-20%, Astringent 5-20%. The book also suggest different fermentations for each type of juice, then blended together after fermentation. (I never bothered, but it was my first time; maybe next time I will)
     APPLES: A good cider apple is high in tannin, astringent, and is russeted. Look for apples high in tannin. In some of the books I've looked at, people have used concentrate; but according to the "experts," it lacks good body, due to most concentrates being made from the mackintosh apple. Macintosh apples are low in tannin, lack body, and are all very similar, thus producing a boring bland cider.

•  Right, then you have your apples, now you want to let your apples "sweat". This involves leaving the apples in the dark someplace cool for about a week. This makes them easier to grind, increases the sugar in the juice, and allows good flavour to develop. It's important not to wash the apples beforehand, unless of course you know that they were sprayed. If you wash them you'll get rid of some of the natural yeast that you will need for the fermentation.
• The next step is to get the juice out of the apple. I use a grinder and then a wine press. I've heard of people using juicers,but that would take a very long time.
• Once you have your juice, check the specific gravity. If the S.G. is below 1055 then you're going to have to add some sugar or honey to it until it gets up to around there. Add 2 1/2 oz. sugar to 1 gallon juice for every 5 degree increase.
• It usually takes 2-3 days to ferment. If it doesn't start after a week, then add a commercial yeast. If you want to use commercial yeast from the start, then you'll have to kill off the natural yeast by adding SO2, and then waiting 24 hours for it to work out of the juice. Then add your yeast.
• Keep the primary fermenter topped at all times with the air-stopper, as air leads to the cider turning into vinegar. It is also necessary to keep the feremnter filled with juice as it is ferementing. You'll need to check it every now and then and add some more apple juice.
• it usually takes between 3 weeks to 2 months to ferment in the primary fermenter. A good fermentation temperature is between 55F to 65F 
• If the cider, after its first fermentation, is still very acidic, it is often allowed to stand on its "lees" for a month to encourage malo-lactic fermentation. Low-acidic ciders never stand on their lees, but are "racked off," or drained from their lees, as soon as fermentation ceases.
• You can now bottle, rack the cider, or store it for future consideration.
• If you prefer a sweet, still cider, add sugar, then cap or cork the bottles and then pasteurize the cider to prevent further fermentation. Myself, I added 1 tsp sugar to each quart bottle for the carbonation, and put the bottles in the wine cellar, and ...
• Wait. Then enjoy
  
  Cheers,
  Stuart
  
  P.S. 25 minutes looking for my notes, plus an hour typing it up -- hmmm, who's buying me cider?