Cider from fresh fruit

[aero-spaced-out]

Hello all

Context: A work colleague has a pear tree out their back AND his wife has somebody where she works that has an apple tree. He came in with a bag of apples and pears for me and said to me that there will definitely be more coming.
So a perry and an apple cider is on the cards.

I have ordered a scratter/pulping bucket and a 6L fruit press. Except I have no idea where to begin.

My approach was going to be to to quarter them, freeze/thaw them, scratter them and press the juice.
From there
Transfer to a demijohn, kill off any wild yeast, then add some peptic enzyme to clear it before I start adding anything I need to start fermenting.

Killing off wild yeast as I don't feel comfortable leaving them in there... maybe next year I'll try an on fruit natural ferment lol

I just don't know if that is the correct order.
Am I better letting the fruit sit for a while before I do or doing anything different from what I am planning?

It's going to be a weekend job for me so if there are any resources or books I could get to read on it I would be appreciative!

Cheers!

 

[Cwrw666]

If the fruit isn't bruised or other damage then letting them sit for a couple of weeks before freezing will reduce acidity considerably.

 

[fluketamer]

you may have two issues.

1 ) those are unlikely perry pears if they are edible. trying to make perry from regular non perry pears has always turned out not worth it for me. i have tried pear juice and fresh pears both. you need perry pears to maker perry. they prolly have more acid and tannin then regular eating pears.

2 ) similar issue with the apples. to make really good cider you need cider apples with a high amount of tannin and acid. those are different from eating apples.


you can make cider from eating apples but it will not be the same. you will need to add acid and tannin.

you could easily do that to the apples but i have tried with the pears and it doesn work well.

good luck and let us know

 

[aero-spaced-out]

1 ) those are unlikely perry pears if they are edible. trying to make perry from regular non perry pears has always turned out not worth it for me. i have tried pear juice and fresh pears both. you need perry pears to maker perry. they prolly have more acid and tannin then regular eating pears.

My work colleague doesn't even know what they are but they are small pears that as he has described them:

Are bitter with the tiniest bit of sweetness to them​

They are quite small too.
I'll upload a photo of one here tomorrow when Ive got one on hand.

2 ) similar issue with the apples

The apples smell wonderful. These are absolutely for eating. You can tell just by their scent. Have yet to wash and try one but I'm 95% sure these are going to taste beautiful.

Any particular kind of acid? I have seen strong black tea for adding tannins but would the acid jsut come from a citric acid addition or how would that work?

 

[jof]

I find cider works ok if you have a mix of different kinds of apples & a few crab apples too.

Also I use a food processor to pulp them before pressing.
Those blades in a bucket that you connect to a power drill look too dangerous & not particularly effective to me.

Note the maximum I've done in a day(well afternoon really) using the food processor is 6 gallons, so if you have tons of apples you'll need something more industrial, like the garden shredders some of the other forum members have used in the past.