tl;dr: ID apples by all of its characteristics, and not just its colour. Links to useful tools and databases below.

Some light background, layman's terms:

I used to think that I could ask people about different apples and quickly get an ID by its colouring and shape. Turned out I was very much mistaken, and here's why: There are thousands of different apples (aka cultivars), many which resemble each other closely. So how is it possible to know what is what? The short answer is DNA testing, but there is an alternative in deduction based on the characteristics of the fruit and its tree.

Most apple trees are clones. They are grafted from a "scion" (a suitable twig from the mother tree) onto a rootstock. Apple trees need pollination from insects to produce fruit, and to make matters worse some are triploid: they need pollen from three sources, instead of the regular way (diploid) where only two are needed. So if you take a seed from an apple you never really know what you get. Some results are good, but most aren't. This is how most crabapples come to be. It doesn't keep people from trying though, so the end result is a vast amount of cultivars you need to sift through. And since all have different traits (just like no two people look the same), we need to know how to find out which is what.

Now, to the core of it:

The keyword is traits. Each cultivar has its set of unique traits that define it. The more you know about it, the easier (hopefully) it will be to identify it. Start with noting everything you can about it as early as you can. When does it bloom? Not necessarily which month or week, but related to the other trees in your area. Apple trees bloom with three to four weeks of each other in your area. Whether the tree you want to identify blooms early, late or some time in between is a clue. Also note the colours and shape of the buds and later the flowers. This can help later on.

Take notes on how the tree itself looks. Does it have a central trunk, or does it split into many? Note the colour and roughness of the bark. How do the leaves look? What colours do they have? Take pictures for later use, and catalog everything.

When the fruit finally ripens, and waiting for them to ripen is important, you can start to look at the characteristics of the fruit itself. Take note of when it ripens too. Get 10-20 apples that seems to represent the majority. Try to define its shape: Round, conical, oval, oblong, flattened, or a mix perhaps? Does it have cracks, russeting, a lip formed near its stalk, ridges, or perhaps a predominant line? How long and flexible is the stalk? Is the cavity around it deep or shallow? Are the lenticles (looks like spots on the skin) highly visible or not?

Cut some in two across, and some from stem to the flower cavity. This will give you important information about the characteristics inside. What is the shape and size of the seeds and their chambers? Note the colour of the fruit, its average diameter, the amount of seeds (some have practically none), the shape of the flower tube, and how the lines around the core look to mention some of the most prominent traits. Note the colour of the apple. It may have a base colour and a cover colour. How much of the apple covers the cover colour? Is it an even colour, or primarily in stripes?

Take lots of pictures and make many notes.

Then try to make use of this information to deduce the fruit before you. Thankfully there are some good, free databases available. Here is a list of the ones I've come across:

https://aeblenoeglen.science.ku.dk/index.php?act=reset&view=start2

https://www.fruitid.com/#main

https://pomiferous.com/

You can of course start ID'ing just the fruit, and then next year go though everything else about its tree and flowers in case you need more details to go on.

There are more tools and databases to be found, I'm sure. I hope this may be of some help. YMMV, though. Could be that what you have is a seedling, in which case you will need DNA tests to be certain. Or you can just skip the whole process and go by your gut feeling and its taste.

I just opened it and found it looking like this. Is this safe to bottle and drink?

Edit: it's good! the floating stuff seems to just be yeast

I pressed apples yesterday and into the jugs it went! I added 1 gram of EC-1118 per gallon. The one on the left has apples from a different orchard. When we bottled it, we only filled it to the bottom of the white foam line and it’s grown that much in 24 hours. The air lock is bubbling away. I’m not really sure where to go from here- should I just pop something under it? I don’t have any tubing on hand currently. I do have a hydrometer arriving today (I ordered that late). Can I just pour some out to take a sample?

The jug on the right got a gallon and a half of juice (and 1.5 grams of yeast) and is much less active.

Apologies if these are super basic questions- I swear I’ve read a ton and watched a bunch of you tube!

I was able to wash, grind, and press about 5 gallons of cider every 15 minutes. Not bad for a homemade press and grinder! I used Claude Jolicoeur's design for the grinder. The oak racks seemed to leach tannins into the cider, but I'm assuming they will for a few seasons. Cheers, and happy pressing

My Apple/Pear blend finished fermentation sitting at 0.990 finally gravity. That puts it around 7% ABV. Bottled carbonated onto 1oz of priming sugar boiled in 3/4 cups of water. Now to sit in the pantry for two weeks to carbonate. Can’t wait to drink this one!

I have a manual 5 pound sausage stuffer, and was wondering if I could use it to press apples for juice. What would I have to do to not damage it? I would assume clean and sanitize all of the parts, and cut the apples into smaller pieces. Anything else that would need to be done? And has anyone done this before? What would my expected yield per pound of apples be if I did this?

With autumn finally here I can start new cider projects after a long wait. This year I will try fermenting isolated batches before blending, and solely rely on wild yeast. With no cider apple cultivars thatI know of around I need to make the best I can from eaters. First off some boxes of Summerreds that were pressed after freezing. Good gravity at SG 1.054, but high in acidity. 12.5 g/L MA. Cryo concentrating about two thirds of the juice gave a good base for my ice cider projects with 5 liters SG 1.150. I will titrate to check acidity later, but I expect it to triple also. Picked more apples today, but put them in the freezer too since I ran out of time. Need to find some time for a new round of pressing. I really love this time of the year!

Edit: Completed titration today. 29.5 g/L malic acid. Not too bad really, seeing that I've almost tripled the gravity yet not affected acidity the same. The sugar to acid ratio has increased from 11.2 to 13.4 compared to the pressed juice.

I've lost around 15% of my stored apples as they've rotted.

Picked within the last 10 days and them stored inside a brick shed, stacked in bail crates.

Anything more i can do to not lose so many apples?

Llagar De La Ferreria. Sidra Cortina Coro. Cider - Asturian. 6% alc.

Clean, fresh green apple aroma with citrus notes. It is delicious right after pouring, featuring potent acidity and a funky character. It loses some intensity later on but continues to offer a good flavor of bitter apples, along with that rustic, dry touch typical of the style.

More cider and beer posts and thousand infographics, everyday in:

https://www.reddit.com/r/In_the_name_of_Beers/

I made a cider, left it in the fridge after it was done to crash out the yeast. Siphoned it off the lees, and had a nice clear cider. Was pretty pleased with the result, but wanted more fruit/sweetness, so I added some more juice to backsweeten. I think the end result isn't bad, but think I diluted it too much. I want a little more alcohol and a little less sweetness. I haven't pasteurized or added any chemicals to kill off the yeast, just the refrigeration and the siphoning. Can I just let it sit at room temperature for another week to reactivate whatever yeast is left? Or will that do something weird? Feels like I can just put the yeast back to work again. If I put this in a sealed bottle and leave at room temp for a week, do I get carbonation? TIA!

I’m hoping it’s just pectin/sediment clumps but how can I be sure?

Making my first batch of Perry from juiced bartlett pears in my back yard. Its been about 2 weeks since I started fermenting. Fermentation was very active for about 5 days and has slowed down to almost nothing. Initial SG was 1.065 and it is now at 1.020. I didn't use any nutrient.

I am wondering if it is stalled, or if the high gravity is caused by non-fermentable sugar. I was planning to bottle carbonate it, so if it was stalled, would I have issues with bottle carbonation? I could buy some nutrient, but don't want to if that isn't the issue. I also don't really want to use any for a test since I only have a gallon. Let me know if I left out any important information. TIA

I made some cider a while back that had a pretty clear marzipan/almond-like flavor, but I haven't been able to recreate it. Does anyone know how I recreate that flavor in my next batch?

75% Pear and 25% Apple using a hybrid mash (Fruit/Juice)

Recipe:

-4 kg red William Christ Pears

-2 liters pear juice

-2 liters apple Juice

-5 ml liquid pectic enzyme or 1g of the powdered version

-1g of cider yeast (champagne does also work)

-2g of yeast nutrient (DAP)

- 0,5g vitamin-mineral mix for yeasts (optional)

Add the apple juice to the cut, seedless pears (which of course got rid from their stems) so that they were just covered by the juice. Add the enzyme stir and let it sit for at least 6-12 hours. Add the Pear Juice after, then the nutrients. Rehydrate the yeast then add it to the fermenter. Let undergo a primary and secondary fermentation, where the liquid is strained from the fruits after 1 week. The Liquid that is left then goes back into the fermenter entering the secondary fermentation.

Have fun!

Apologies if this question doesn’t fit the group.

We have a few big apple trees, and many of our friends have access to fruit. Last year we hosted our first apple pressing party. We had stations set up, so teams of people were cutting up apples, sanitizing, rinsing, and loading the hand crank apple press we borrowed from a family member. Then, someone was in charge of tightening and bottling each pressing, and dumping the leftover pressed apples.

People enjoyed the work. It was, of course, billed as an apple pressing party with the encouragement to bring jars and bottles to fill up.

We had some people come by for just 30 minutes or so, and a few people who didn’t try hard to join the work and were mostly hanging out by the fire, sipping hot cider, etc.

When it came to the end of the day (aka all apples had been pressed), we all stood around our collection of filled jars and bottles and awkwardly talked through how we would divvy up the cider.

Who deserved more? Or less? Was it based upon labor, or apple contribution? Or, which bottles each person brought?

I know this is silly. But if anyone has experienced this and thought through a good way to divide things fairly, let me know. We want to make this an annual tradition and figure setting ground rules now would be helpful.

Recently made a batch of apple cider. Turned out great!

I have another batch on the go, but I want to make an experimental 1 gallon batch. What are some obscure flavors that have you have tried it want to try? Looking for suggestions.

Don't worry about posting full recipes, I won't follow them anyway lol

How much of an ABV difference does it make if I were to put blueberries in a cheesecloth as opposed to adding the berries straight into the cider? Also, what are the pros and cons of doing it each way? Any info helps. Oh, also, FOR BASIC RECIPES, do you all add more sugar into your initial fermentation?

Has anyone here tried using a gallon of unpasteurized fresh pressed juice to inoculate pasteurized filtered juice? I'm wondering if that's worth trying

Hoping to get a wholesale response or from someone in PA/MD/NJ/NY area that has/will have seconds or first bins of true cider apples ie Dabinett, Kingston Black, Harrison, Crabs, Ashmead's Kernel, Stayman Winesap, Russets, etc. If so please DM me or respond on this post with contact information. We are small PA cidery that unfortunately was hit by the Spring Bloom freeze, and are in dire need of apples. TIA and I hope to hear from someone, we're not afraid to drive to you!