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Posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 17:42:20 :
In Reply to: OT Apple Cider posted by Steve Simon [64.12.116.13] on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 08:15:15 :
I have always had okay luck with just letting it get hard on its own. The trick is to watch for it starting to "work", taste it frequently, and then drink it before it turns to vinegar. I know the pros will sterilize it and then add the appropriate yeast, but everything I've had that was made the "proper" way wasn't nearly as good at what fermented naturally with wild yeasts. I think as a boy I got spoiled by my Oregon pioneer ancestors with their good hard dry smoked salmon, their venison jerky, and their real hard cider (in old mason jars, no less). Everything that's passed off as "cider" nowadays, from filtered apple juice to "hard" cider they sell in bars, tastes watered down and bland compared to the real deal. The best cider I've had in my adult life was pressed into plastic milk jugs and left in the back of my truck until the jugs started bulging.
The only catch with making cider the natural way is that once in a while it will go straight to vinegar without ever being cider in between, and in every case if you don't drink it soon enough, it will go to vinegar in a couple months.
As for "apple wine", the difference between real cider and apple wine is like the difference between, oh say, a 1956 Dodge Powerwagon and a 2008 Subaru Outback. In the first case, they're both made out of apples, and in the second, they're both four wheel drive vehicles. Other than that, there's no comparison.