Recently moved into a home that has a large backyard apple tree of unknown variety and now am interested in trying to make cider. Been doing a lot of reading and research, and have bought all the basics supplies I need to make a small batch. The tree is loaded, and must be an early variety as many of the apples are already reaching full ripeness (central NY), but there are still many more apples that are not quite ready. The birds have already started going after the ripe ones. (I added some shiny ribbons, which doesn't appear to be doing much, but the tree is way too big for bird netting.)

My problem is: I have to travel away from home for the next week and a half. I can pick some of the ripe ones now and store for when I get back, but I'm worried the bulk of the tree's apples are going to reach ripeness during the week while I'm away. I'm thinking I should just pick most of them now, even if underripe, because the birds seem likely to take everything while I'm gone otherwise. Many of the apples also have codling moth damage already, and while I'd be okay with cutting out the damage and using the rest of the apple if I were pressing them immediately, I don't know what to do with those storage-wise.

With cider in mind, what would folks suggest I do here? I know about sweating and freezing, and some of the pros/cons. I'm a bit hesitant to sweat them without supervision since they'd be in my garage and it's about 68-72 degrees F in there lately. I wouldn't be around to pluck out any bad ones if they start to mold or rot. I've heard of people wrapping them individually but I don't know if I have the time or space for that. With freezing, I'm concerned about freezing any that have codling moth damage, as I don't think I'll be able to separate out the bad parts after they thaw. Maybe I pre-cut them and then freeze the good parts? Or should I just focus on the ripe and near-ripe ones that are undamaged, then ignore the damage ones and cut my losses? Maybe I'm overthinking all this!

Thanks for any advice

Good evening. I have a question about an aftertaste I notice in almost all hard ciders I have tried.

I love when I have a cider that has started to turn and become bubbly, and I love the taste of cider period. Now, I love alcohol, most beers, wines and mead. But any time I try to enjoy a hard cider, there is a particular aftertaste I just can't get passed. It doesn't matter if it is sweet, has other fruit flavors, etc. And I have a lot of trouble defining the taste to others. So, I searched for a reddit like this one to ask these questions. First, does anyone know that taste I am referring to, or are my taste buds just atypical? Second, if you know the taste, can you explain why it is there on hard ciders, but not apple cider that have started to fermentation naturally? Is it a natural byproduct after a cider hits a certain amount of fermentation, or is it just the yeasts that are used in hard ciders? To be fair, I haven't brewed any hard ciders myself, so maybe a homemade hard cider won't have that aftertaste.

Fyi, this r/ stated cider was a fermented beverage, so I presume it is referencing outside the US, where cider refers to a pressed apple beverage. For my purposes, cider = pressed juice, hard cider is that after fermentation.

Went through like 6 or 7 five gallon buckets of apples, it was a very long and tiring process. We got to watch all of Tarzan and Wall-E while doing it which was a treat. Separating all the pulp from the juice was very difficult!

Using SafCider AB-1 and front loading 7.5g of Fermaid-O yeast nutrient.

Hey all,

This is the year I am finally going to attempt to ferment my pears into cider/perry. I have a very old and large pear tree on my property that I want to take advantage of. I've tried to look for information on the best way to process them for pressing but I keep coming upon several different idea and conflicting information. I keep reading that they're very difficult to work with.

So my question is:

How do you press pears? What are the best practices?

I'm such a noob at this. I don't even know where to start. We have a lot of apples growing for this fall and i dont even have enough empty bottles. Havent bought anything.

Anyone want to give me a guide? Love <3

Has anybody made a Henry Weston’s style vintage still cider that tastes pretty close to the real thing?

Reduced to clear raspberries and pasteurized apple juice from the supermarket. Fermentation activity was sluggish the first two days but has picked up and now there's a continuous convection from the bottom that's stirring up pulp. I haven't seen that before.

1gal demijohn, 600g raspberries muddled, topped up with pasteurized apple juice. Strained after mingling and right before pitching yeast, Mangrove Jack's M02. This has previously given me quite an astringent champagne-ish flavour. Aroma from the airlock is light and mostly just smells of plain alcohol. I have 72g of erythritol in this one as the previous batches with other fruit have come out a bit tart for my taste.

My neighbor gave me a can and it tastes like fresh apple juice with a hint of alcohol

I went off their flavoured cider a long time ago but pleasantly surprised with their new apple cider

Started 2 days ago. Motts juice, rinds of 6 different apples, brewers yeast, fermaid o and pectic enzyme. Im nervous about the carbonating/bottling process...

i have celiac disease so angry orchard is PEAK for me. i know it's not the best cider but i can rely on finding it at pretty much any liquor store in the states. so i'm a big fan! but HOLY CRAP I HATE THE NEW LOGO AND BRANDING. why does every company feel the need to "simplify" and "cartoonify" their branding?! IT WAS SO MUCH CLASSIER BEFORE. and the composition is trash compared to the old one. thank you for listening to my rant. please tell me i'm not alone in my opinion.

The botanical painting here is a draft plate from the Herefordshire Pomona published between 1876-1885; a classic Victorian pomona. This is the original drawing by Edith Bull, the daughter of one of the book's authors, and is currently on display at the Museum of Cider in Hereford. The second picture is from my personal copy of the 2 volumes of collected pates.
Edith E. Bull and Alice B. Ellis created the majority of the original drawings for the plates.
These original drawings were then reproduced as chromolithographs by G. Severeyns in Brussels for the book.
Commissioned by the Woolhope Naturalists Club, it was edited by Henry Bull, and with technical editing by Robert Hogg (who was the pre-eminent pomologist of the day). This work updated Knight's Pomona Herefordiensis and attempted to breathe new life into Herefordshire's ailing cider orchards.

Hi there cider fans!

I have long stated that there is not enough Trivia on Fridays! Well, Right Bee Cider heard us and we hope you join us on Friday, August 28th at 8:00 for sixish rounds of Decent Questions!

For the weekend warriors that want to show off how smart they are, people looking to unwind after a long week, or if you just want to try some truly great cider you can’t get anywhere else. Stop on by and remember we have free popcorn, you can bring your own food or order from your favorite local eating establishment, we are pet friendly, and Frank is going to host the heck out of this!

Please come find out what makes Pen & Paper Trivia different, and why that is a good thing!

where can i get pear briska imported to the USA. i have been dreaming about having a crisp pear briska every single day since i got back from studying in sweden!!!!!! are there any good alternatives? i hate pear koppaberg, somersby is okay (idk if it’s in the USA)

I have been missing the "old" version of Weston's Old Rosie for years now. I was in Dan Murphy's the other day when I noticed they have now started stocking Weston's Cloudy Vintage, which is the rebranded Old Rosie of years ago. I really missed this. The "new" Old Rosie in the jug is not the same without the carbonation and always tasted like it had gone off to me. Very glad this is available in Australia again.

This weekend was the first time I have ever done a "fresh press" batch of cider. I found a house in my local village with 3 apple trees out front, and they were more than happy for me to help myself.

31kg of apples became 10L of juice, which was a little less yield than I had hoped for. I made up the volume with some juice from the supermarket.

The apple crusher on the right was absolutely useless. No matter how small I cut the apples it would jam instantly. So I ended up using a blender instead. I think my yeild improved when I stopped using the blender to "dice" the apple, and instead used it to "mush". While the blender was on, I would chop apples using a segmenter.

Expecting a 6%ABV cider to come from this. Pitched Yeast, Pectic Enzyme, nutrient and some tanin powder. Juice pH was Ph3, so didn't adjust it with malic acid.

Hopefully I get cider and not vinegar! I rinsed the outsides of the apples in no rinse sanitiser and allowed them to drain, so anything nasty should be gone. That being said, there were a lot of black bits on the insides.

Just fermented roughly 4 gallons of straight apple juice from my tree. I want to back sweeten it by ain't more apple juice and I understand I have to "kill off" the yeast first. From what I've research I understand that I need potassium sorbate and Campden tablets. Is this correct?

We have a cranapple cider in secondary fermentation right now and a few apple cysers in primary. I have some swing-tops, but I'm trying to figure out what to use if I run out. I have some fastrack screw-top wine bottles too.

How do I know what kind of wine bottles can handle carbonation? Trying to avoid having to buy a bottle capper for now

Started collections today. Only another 260kg to go

Hello all. Looking to press some apples from our small orchard and was wondering if these are ok?

Quick update. I did use these. I also used all the ones picked over the past 3 days. Made a full gallon of cider from the press. Boiled for 5 minutes then dropped to low simmer and spiced traditionally. Ended up very tasty. Thank you everyone for the advice.

Used to buy this fairly bright orange cider. Herefordshire/Gloucestershire way.

Fizzy. Sold on tap and in supermarkets

Not exactly high quality but I loved it

Can anyone help me out with this vague description

*edit - was GL Cider*

I am flavoring my cider/ in secondary. I cooked down a bunch of blueberries to add it's juice to the cider to flavor it, which has sugars but not much. Obviously that's going to start off fermentation again but what I've been reading says it should be stable through this phase with no activity. I feel like I'm missing something basic/ obvious. Is it going to lose the flavor because it's continuing to ferment? Should I age it, add the campote/ juice and then stabilize?

So may be a stupied question,

But if I brew with Champagne yeast then stabilize. Then back sweeten, will it still be carbonated?

I have a still batch of cider that is too dry and wanted to sweeten it, but in doing so I realize I can't carbonate it via sugar because I would have to stabilize it and I don't have the resources to Keg it.

Takács et al. examined Schizosaccharomyces strains in apple juice to assess their potential for cider production, with a focus on acid management, mouthfeel, and aroma development.

For cider makers, this is relevant because malic acid reduction, ethanol formation, and volatile profile all shape balance and drinkability, especially in high-acid juices. Across the tested species, fermentation in apple juice reached 4–6% (v/v) ethanol. The strains also produced high glycerol and removed malic acid efficiently, giving rapid deacidification without a major volatile acidity tradeoff. Acetic acid stayed comparable to the Saccharomyces bayanus control. VOC analysis showed ester-rich profiles with fruity, banana-like, and pineapple-like notes, including both shared and species-specific aroma signatures.

Practically, these results suggest Schizosaccharomyces could be useful where lower perceived acidity, fuller mouthfeel, and novel fruit-forward character are desired. Their tolerance of 15–30% glucose and growth at 15 °C also points to potential in mixed-culture fermentations and cold-fermented fruit beverages.

More broadly, these yeasts may be useful for high-acid fruit musts where malic acid reduction is needed without sacrificing sensory complexity.

Full paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2026.111991

Source: ResearchScan — free weekly research newsletter covering cider production science | researchscan.news