How to make apple cider drink. Apple cider at home - a simple recipe

Or add them as a filling to pies, but that’s not all. possible options using fruits, so as an alternative, you can try making tasty and healthy cider. What is it and how to make it correctly at home - read on.

Getting to know the drink

Apple cider has been dubbed an aromatic and tasty drink, the strength of which is about 8 degrees. It invigorates, tones and is quite easy to drink.

If you have more pears or garden berries, then you can use them instead of apples, although real apple cider (as cider is often called) is prepared solely on the basis of these.

Most wine connoisseurs believe that apple cider first appeared in France, although they also have opponents who claim mention of it in ancient Egyptian history. Be that as it may, the history of such wine goes back more than a hundred years.

Did you know? According to popular belief, apple cider dates back to the 11th century and was invented by Charlemagne. However, until recently (until the 19th century) it was considered rather a drink for lower strata society, but not for the nobility.

The natural fermentation process helps to obtain the desired result, for which yeast is added to the drink. Depending on their taste characteristics, all ciders can be divided into semi-sweet, sweet, bittersweet or bitter.

At the same time, they are classified into traditional, sweet and dry. Preparing apple cider will not take you much time, and given the great variety of recipes, every housewife will be able to choose the best option for herself.

Beneficial properties and harm of apple cider

Any drink has its own strengths and weak sides, but, above all, it is important to consider its effect on the human body.

As for cider prepared at home according to one of the popular recipes, it simply contains great amount, useful macro- and microelements. That is, all the components of the fruit are not lost during the preparation of the drink.

Even in ancient times, cider was used by folk healers to treat blues (in modern terminology - “ depressive states"), and diabetes mellitus and gastrointestinal diseases.

True, there was a time when healing properties The product was questioned due to its alcohol content, but scientists managed to reassure skeptics by proving the benefits of drinking apple wine in small quantities.

Thus, it activates the gastrointestinal tract, increases appetite, normalizes blood pressure and dilates blood vessels, accelerates the removal of toxins from the body, and also slows down the aging process by blocking free radicals.

Important! The degree of usefulness of apple juice cider depends on the variety and condition of the fruit. In addition, the cooking conditions also affect: home option much more useful than industrial.

However, in addition to positive points consumption of such a drink, do not forget about possible contraindications. The fact is that cider is a completely natural product and may cause allergic reactions, associated with individual intolerance to the constituent components of apples or other fruits used.

It is also worth remembering the strength of apple wine (depending on the recipe, it can range from 1 to 9%), drinking it in moderate doses. Apart from this, no other harmful effects The drink will not have any effect on your body.

Did you know? Some beauty salons offer clients to take an apple cider bath with full immersion bodies. After undergoing such a procedure, the skin becomes silky and soft, and it is possible to smooth out shallow wrinkles.

Cooking at home

As we mentioned earlier, there are a huge number of recipes for making tasty and healthy apple wine, but in this article we will look at only a few of them, paying special attention to the simplest and most accessible.

What you need for cooking

The classic recipe for making cider provides for the possibility of using any of 50, in particular, such well-known ones as “Styre”, “Yantarka Altai” and “Foxville”.

All of them are usually characterized by a high concentration of tannins, which give the finished drink a unique taste. Simply put, you can choose any variety common in your region, the main thing is that they are tasty.

Important! Never use overripe or underripe apples, since such fruits will simply fall apart during processing or turn out to be too sour, which cannot but affect the final taste characteristics of the wine product being made.

Winter ones and those containing a large number of tannins and sugars. In this case, the cider comes out very aromatic, tasty and healthy. Among the others necessary ingredients water and sugar are included, and for 10 kg of apples you need to take up to 1 liter of the first component and 1.5 kg of the second.

Concerning kitchen utensils, then the main thing is to prepare a large pan, and everything else is already in the kitchen.

The easiest apple cider recipe

A simple apple cider recipe is ideal for those who want a tasty drink but don't have a lot of time to prepare it. The secret here lies in the use of wine (), thanks to which it is possible to speed up the process of making cider.

A squeeze of apples, which is used to fill a three-liter jar exactly one-third full, is well suited to serve as the basis for a future drink. Next, you need to add a little white raisins, a glass of sugar and half a teaspoon of yeast, and then pour it all over cold water, filling the jar to the brim.

After completing these steps, all that remains is to put the container in a dark place and leave it there for 5-6 days. Once fermentation is complete, the finished cider is filtered and is considered ready for consumption.

When using this or any other apple drink recipe, you need to remember a few simple rules:

Important! The smell of fermentation, hissing and foam appear within 8-16 hours after adding applesauce.

• Apple cider, which is prepared at home, should ferment at a temperature of +18...+27 °C. But if, after 50 days from the moment it was placed for fermentation, the process does not stop, in order to avoid a bitter taste, it is necessary to drain the cider into another jar using a straw, leaving it to ferment under the same conditions for some more time.

Other popular recipes

Besides the recipe instant cooking apple cider, there are other, no less popular options for creating the described drink: for example, without sugar or with gas.

Sugar-free cider is considered classic version preparation often used in England and France. It is characterized by simple technology and will certainly please true connoisseurs of all things natural, and to get that much useful product, need to:

Important! If you don't plan to saturate the drink carbon dioxide, then close the container tightly and place it for 3-4 months in a dark room with an air temperature of +6 to +12 ° C.

After the specified period, it is necessary to filter the cider again and, after bottling, seal it tightly.

Now consider the option of creating carbonated apple cider. All the main manufacturing steps remain the same as in the previous, “quiet” recipes, but at the same time there are some differences.

So, after removing the drink from the sediment and sterilizing the bottles (glass or plastic) where it will be stored after bottling, sugar should be poured into the bottom of each of them at the rate of 10 g per 1 liter of volume. It is sugar that will provoke weak fermentation with the release of that same carbon dioxide.

– one of the popular tonic low-alcohol drinks in many countries around the world. In European countries (England, France, Spain, Germany), a culture of consumption of these drinks has historically developed. Moreover, it was noticed that low alcohol drinks cider apple varieties help improve digestion, have an anti-alcohol effect, and have a therapeutic and preventive effect on the human body.

Referring to T. Bergfelt, Professor A. S. Lukanin and S. I. Bailuk in 2003 reported a constant increase in cider consumption in the USA, Canada, China, the countries of Northern, Central and of Eastern Europe. According to the Association of Cider and Fruit Wine Producers, the most of these drinks are consumed in England (50 million decaliters per year), South Africa (14 million decaliters), France, (12 million decaliters) in Germany. Approximate ratios of cider consumption volumes in Europe are shown in the diagram (Fig. 87).

In the classic cider-producing countries, special cider apple varieties have been developed over the centuries. They are valued for their low acid content and high tannin content.

Below in the table. Figure 28 shows generalized requirements for four groups of cider apple varieties.

Table 28. REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLES TO PRODUCE CIDER

Professor A. S. Lukanin and S. I. Bailuk for the first time conducted a technological assessment of apple varieties growing in the Polesie and Forest-Steppe regions of Ukraine for their suitability for cider. It was found that more than 75% of the studied varieties belong to the “sour” type and up to 20% to the “sweet” type of apples. Very few cider varieties have been found, and yet the authors proposed 3 varieties of apples for cider (2 Antonovka and Doneshta), as well as 7 semi-cultivated varieties (crabs) that breeders can use.

Cider technology consists of two stages: preparation of cider materials and blending, processing, carbonation, bottling.

Preparation of cider materials

Cider materials in France are produced in two ways: technological schemes. The basic classical scheme was proposed by the French scientist Varcollier (Fig. 88).

Rice. 88.. Scheme of cider materials technology.

According to the second, more modern scheme, apples of the corresponding varieties are pressed after crushing, separating the juice of pressure I and pressure II. The combined juice is treated with enzyme preparations to hydrolyze pectin substances, then clarified using a centrifuge. Before fermentation, the juice is pasteurized, cooled, nitrogen-phosphorus nutrition and yeast fermentation are introduced.

The cider material removed from the yeast (fermented juice) is coated with gelatin and filtered, and sometimes pasteurization is used. Cider materials are rich in organic acids and amino acids, glycerin, minerals, biotin, inositol and other vitamins.

Classic cider technology

Professor Z. N. Kishkovsky, describing the preparation of cider in France, reports that in 13 departments western provinces countries annually process up to 3 million tons of apples. A significant part of the fruit is used for the preparation of confitures, fresh and concentrated apple juices, and for the production of Calvados.

On private farms and cooperative enterprises, apples, after being thoroughly washed, are placed in willow baskets to drain, then they are crushed and crushed. The resulting pulp is placed in closed vats for infusion without air access in order to obtain cider with a more intense color and better aroma.

The pulp is infused, depending on the temperature, from 6 hours to several days, after which it is pressed in hydraulic pack presses, removing 70-72% of the juice. The pomace is filled with water (50 liters per 100 kg) and pressed again after 6-12 hours.

The peculiarity of preparing classic cider on farms is obtaining naturally stable product at 4-6 g/100 cm3 of sugar due to depletion of the environment in nutrients, primarily nitrogenous substances.

To do this, freshly squeezed juice is allowed to sit for several days until a brown foam – a “cap” – appears on the surface. To better purify the juice, a “defecant” is added to it before settling - a powder consisting of a mixture of calcium carbonate (3 g/dal) and sodium chloride (4 g/dal). The calcium salt of pectic acid falls out, which is formed as a result of the hydrolysis of pectin substances under the influence of apple pectase or artificially added pectolytic enzyme preparations. Coagulation Pectic substances are accompanied Flocculation colloidal albumins and polypeptides. They are reduced by 50%. Microbiological purification of apple juice also takes place.

Fermentation lasts very slowly in cold cellars (10-12°C) in almost full barrels under water seals. Saturated with carbon dioxide, unkindness with a small content of sweetness is homemade (farm) cider. It is carefully poured into champagne bottles under a cork, strengthened with a bridle. This cider is stored in cold cellars. It contains 4-6 g/100 cm3 of natural or added sugars.

In large cooperative enterprises, the juice is purified by centrifugation and filtration, before adding pectolytic enzyme preparations to the pulp. This juice is fermented in large tanks at low temperatures to the specified sugar standards and achieving an excess CO2 pressure of 3.0 bar. The resulting cider is cooled to -1°C, kept in the cold for up to 2 days, filtered through a sterilizing filter and poured into champagne bottles sealed with a crown cork with a cork gasket. Bottle pasteurization of cider is sometimes used.

Industrial cider technology

Modern cider technology in the CIS countries can only be based on real raw materials - sour and sweet varieties of apples of moderately tart and moderately sour subtypes. According to S.I. Bailuk, Antonova, Renet Bumazhny, Grushovka, Borovinka, Umanskoye Zimneye, Doneshta and several other proven varieties are recommended.

To increase the concentration of phenolic substances in ciders, A. S. Lukanin and S. I. Bailuk proposed using plant tannin-containing raw materials - grape comb must and finely ground oak wood. In cider materials, the mass concentration of phenolic substances must be ensured in the range of 1.0-1.2 g/dm3 with an optimal range of titratable acids of 6.0-7.0 g/dm3.

Based on the real possibilities today in the CIS countries, it is possible to design the production of only carbonated ciders with the saturation of prepared blends in acratophores. At the same time, three brands of domestic cider can be prepared in Ukraine: dry, semi-dry and sweet with a mass concentration of sugars of up to 0.3 g/100 cm3, 1.5-2.5 and 4.0-5.0 g/100 cm3, respectively.

All brands of domestic cider must have an excess CO2 pressure in bottles at 20°C of at least 2.0 bar, a mass concentration of volatile acids of no more than 1.3, and titratable acids in the range of 4.0-8.0 g/dm3 . Biological stability finished products can be achieved by cold, sterile filling into new champagne bottles with cider membrane filtration. Bottle pasteurization – second real way production of domestic cider. And finally, the third method of producing Ukrainian cider, which was adopted in the USSR in the 50s of the last century - in the usual way with two to three weeks guaranteed stability.

How useful food product, cider deserves the attention of our state and our society.

Rice. 89. Technological scheme for the preparation of domestic cider

The technological scheme for the preparation of domestic cider is shown in Fig. 89.

As can be seen from the diagram, in cider production, apples are washed only after inspection and removal of rotten fruits and foreign objects.

Almost from the feeder hopper, the apples end up on the TSI sorting and inspection belt conveyor or on the T1-KT 2B roller inspection conveyor. Then the apples are thoroughly washed and rinsed in a unified washing machine KUM or KUV.

Rice. 90 . Hardware and technological scheme for preparing cider using the improved technology of A. S. Lukanin and S. I. Bai Luka: 1 – feeder hopper; 2 – inspection conveyor; 3 – washing machine; 4 – “Gooseneck”; 5 – crusher; 6 – pump; 7 – collection of pulp; 8 – press; 9 – tank with stirrer; 10 – cooler; 11 – tank for settling juice; 12 – fermentation tanks; 13 – post-fermentation and clarification; 14 – sulfite dispenser; 15 – crushed oak wood; 16 – infusion on wood; 17 – bathing tank; 18 – clarification of the blend; 19 – acratophor-saturator; 20 – membrane filter.

Using the Gooseneck elevator, apples are fed to a R3-VDM-10 hammer crusher or a VDR-5 disc crusher. On the hardware and technological diagram (Fig. 90), proposed by S.I. Bailuk, these machines are designated by numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The pulp is sulfated to 100 mg/kg with K2S2O5 (potassium pyrosulfite) or H2SO3 (SO2 working solution) and accumulated in a collection (7), where pectolytic enzyme preparations are added.

The authors of the scheme propose an ideal option for pressing apple pulp on a basket disk press from the Swiss company Bucher. High quality apple juice is ensured by more affordable batch presses 2P-41 and ROK-200S, manufactured in Ukraine (Dneprpetrovsk) and Poland. The apple pulp productivity of the first is 1.3, and the second is 3.3 t/h.

Apple juice is clarified by settling in stationary containers at a temperature of 8-10°C, for which the freshly squeezed juice is cooled on a tubular cooler (10). For better clarification, bentonite (2-4 g/dm3), AK-50A silicon dioxide and other flocculants are added to it. After settling, the apple juice is removed from the sediment, if necessary, filtered on a cloth filter and sent for the preparation of wort.

The wort includes clarified apple juice, sugar syrup calculated to increase the sugar content to 12% if necessary, nitrogenous nutrition in the form of (NH4)HPO4 and NH4Cl in the amount of 0.3-0.4 g/dm3 and 3-5% pure culture yeast dilution races Yablochnaya 7, Sidrovaya 101, Minskaya 120, etc. To raise acidity and increase the content of phenolic substances, you can add up to 20% juice of wild apples. Fermentation is carried out at a temperature no higher than 20-23°C.

The fermented cider material is removed from the yeast sediment, sulfated to bring the total SO2 content to 120 mg/dm3, and 1-3 g/dm3 of finely crushed oak wood (15) is added for infusion in a tank (16) for 3 to 10 days. Cider material is stored in filled and hermetically sealed enamel containers at a temperature not exceeding 10°C.

When settling the juice of wild apples, to normalize the taste of apple cider at the time of blending, you can introduce (according to A. S. Lukanin and S. I. Bailuk) up to 8% by volume of pre-prepared grape must.

The blend intended to produce semi-dry or semi-sweet apple cider is sugared with expeditionary liqueur with a sugar content of 70-75%, made from cider material. As shown in Fig. 89, instead of beet sugar, concentrated apple juice can be used to bring the cider to the standard of the finished drink. To do this, in the tank (9) with the help of prepared water or cider material, the concentrated juice is diluted to a consistency convenient for use in a blend. When using low-acid materials, no more than 2 g/dm3 of citric acid is added to the blend.

The prepared blend is treated with clarifying agents and filtered on a plate or precoat filter. It is recommended to pasteurize the blend at a temperature of 80-85°C for 2 minutes before filtration. The usual sulfite regime adopted in secondary winemaking is maintained.

The processed blend is cooled to 0 - minus 2°C, saturated with carbon dioxide in acratophor (19) to an excess pressure of 3.5-4.0 bar and bottled into new champagne bottles with an expeditionary cork and muzelle.

How to make cider at home? This question interests almost everyone who has tried this aromatic drink at least once. Yes, modern chemical industry is so developed that you can achieve any taste with the help of flavorings. But this doesn't suit us. A drink made independently has completely different qualities.

It is especially useful to know how to make this drink if you have a summer house (garden, vegetable garden) and an excess of apples. Therefore, below we will tell you how to make cider at home.

The history of cider dates back to the Middle Ages. This drink was especially popular in Britain and France. However, due to the fact that apples are inexpensive raw materials, cider for a long time in Europe it was considered a drink of the lower classes. Indeed, ordinary people loved cider very much. The fact is that a properly prepared drink does not cause a hangover; it has a pleasant taste and aroma.

So, how to make cider at home? We will give a recipe for an apple drink, although sometimes there is a pear and quince version. Cider is one of the types, although it is less strong - a maximum of 4-7 degrees.

Answering the question about how to make it at home, it should be noted that it is very important to choose the right raw materials. In our case, these are apples. So, contrary to popular belief, green fruits are not suitable for cider at all. It is best to find something between under-ripe and over-ripe apples. There is something else to remember. Before you start working with the products, carefully review the apples. There should absolutely be no rot. If you miss a rotten barrel somewhere, the drink will taste and smell very similar to meat broth that has not yet been cooked. Agree, this is not the most sophisticated drink. What to do next? Now the apples need to be cut into several parts and twisted through a meat grinder. Please note that here you also need to know when to stop, since instead of pulp you will end up with just juice. The resulting mass can be distributed into vessels.

Choose a container like this: if you have 2 kg of raw materials, then take a container with a volume of 3 liters. Accordingly, for 8 kg of cake, a vessel with a capacity of 10 liters is suitable. Now you can add sugar. The proportion is 1:10, that is, for 1 kg of apples you need to put 100 grams of sugar (150 if you like sweet drinks). Here's another plus if you know how to make homemade cider, since you can completely control the taste of the drink rather than taking a pig in a poke from the store. After all this has been done, cover the vessels with gauze and place in a warm place.

So, the first stage is completed. After a couple of days, the drink can be strained. In this case, the degree of cider readiness is determined by the volume of cake separated from the juice. After straining it, you can add sugar again. The proportion remains the same - 1:10, but now we take into account the resulting juice. Having done this, you can close the drink and leave it for 2-3 weeks to ferment.

Now there are little things left, since the cider can already be bottled. But the faster you cork the bottles, the tastier the drink will be. Here is the answer to the question of how to make cider at home. If everything was done correctly, the drink will turn out golden, with a characteristic apple aroma, which cannot be confused with anything. Now you know how to do

Classic cider is a weak alcoholic drink with a strength of no more than 8°. Despite such a low degree, it can be put on a par with even the most exquisite wine without hesitation. And all thanks to the alluring apple note with honey taste.

1

Disputes over the discoverers of a particular drink are not uncommon in history. This situation has not spared cider either. The title of the true homeland of the drink was awarded to France, England and Spain at different times. To do this, they even came up with different legends about how the world first learned about the apple temptation. One of the most famous stories is the story of Charlemagne’s “lucky sitting,” who had the imprudence to sit on a bag of rotten apples after squeezing out the first liter of cider. According to the second, no less famous legend, the history of the appearance of the drink began with sailors who simply loved to take apple juice with them on sea voyages. In their opinion, this particular juice perfectly quenched thirst. All the crew members were amazed when they saw that their favorite apple juice began to ferment under the influence of high temperatures, gradually turning into apple wine.

But if you dive deeper into the history of cider, you can see that the drink appeared even earlier. Experts say that for the first time, the famous ancient Greek scientist Pliny shared with the world a description of the taste of fermented juice, reminiscent of modern cider. In his writings, he noted the popularity of the drink among residents of the banks of the Nile, who did not pour out the fermented juice, but, on the contrary, drank it in the heat instead of water.

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2

Before you begin the recipe for making cider, you should pay special attention to the choice of apple variety, because the future taste of your drink depends on them. Factories that produce cider use about forty-eight varieties of apples during production. Of these, a special place is occupied by: Bitter Tremlett, Yarlington Mill, Black Kingston, Dabinnett. Preference is given to these apples primarily due to their high tannin content, characterized by an astringent taste. For a homemade recipe, it is not necessary to scrupulously look for these particular varieties of apples in stores or markets. You can simply use apples picked in late fall, or use winter varieties.

As for the taste of apples, they should not be too sweet or sour; the ideal option would be a balance of flavors, so it is best to stick to sweet and sour varieties. Also pay attention to the ripeness of the fruit. The apples you choose should not be green, unripe or, on the contrary, overripe, since it is the latter option that contains a large amount of pectin, which makes the apples less juicy in taste. Suitable apples should be filled with juice.

3

Before making cider at home, apples should be carefully inspected to ensure there is no rot or mold. If there are black spots on the surface, they must be removed along with the core. Most important point in preparing apples - washing. Typically, all fruits are washed thoroughly to prevent bacteria from entering the body. But in this case, it is the yeast microorganisms on the surface of the peel that will serve as the natural catalyst that will allow the apples to ferment faster. Therefore, in this recipe, the apples are not washed, but simply wiped with a clean, dry cloth.

Next, cut the fruits or pass them through a meat grinder, you can also use food processor without peeling. The crushed mixture should be transferred to a glass container with a wide neck and poured over the resulting juice. Ideal option will become normal glass jar volume 3 l. To speed up the fermentation process, you can add half a glass of sugar and a small handful of raisins. From this volume you should get half a liter of fermented juice.

4

The simplest and most reliable water seal in the recipe is an ordinary rubber glove. It will prevent oxygen from entering the container, which means eliminating oxidation and molding of apples. Using a glove you can easily determine the degree of fermentation. This glove should be worn on top of the neck of the jar. Do not try to close the container with a lid; during the fermentation process, carbon dioxide and pressure will gradually push it out and in the end it will simply fly out.

Leave the container with fruit in dark place for five to seven days at a temperature of 22-30°C. If such temperature regime cannot be achieved, it is better to place the jar near an electric heater or battery. But make sure that the container does not overheat. A simple thermometer can help in this situation, which should be placed next to the heated container and periodically monitor the temperature.

After a week, the glove should rise up and fill with carbon dioxide. By homemade recipe the cider turns out slightly cloudy, significantly different from the factory analogue, but this is quite acceptable. If after 7 days the glove is not filled with gases and does not rise up, then the fermentation process has not begun. Don't be upset, try again.

5

The alluring notes of cider are already floating in the air, just a little remains to be done and soon the drink will captivate you. But before this sweet moment, let’s filter and pour the drink into a clean glass container. The first stage is very simple, take regular gauze, fold it in several layers and cover it with the container into which you will strain the cider. After filtering, the apple pulp should be thoroughly squeezed and discarded. Place the homemade cider in the refrigerator and let it brew for another 4 days, without shaking the glass vessel so that the desired sediment remains at the bottom.

You need to pour the cider carefully so that the sediment formed during infusion does not get into the drink. For convenience, use a hose when pumping the top of the cider. It is advisable that the container into which you will pour the drink matches the volume of apple alcohol, since the remaining space inside can provoke oxidation and spoil the taste of the long-awaited pleasure. Cider according to this recipe can be stored for 1 year in a cool place under a tightly closed lid.

6

Cider is one of those rare alcoholic drinks, which you shouldn’t stare at for hours, twirl the filled glass in your hands, watching the contents flow, inhale the alcohol vapors and savor it one sip at a time. Everything is completely the opposite - cider should be drunk in one gulp. The only nuance with which you can experiment is foaming the drink. Of course, when pouring normally, the cider foams quite poorly, but if you lift the bottle a meter higher than the glass, the streams of apple alcohol will hit the walls of the glass vessel hard, fill with oxygen and form that famous foam in the glass.

In Spain and France, the tradition of pouring the entire bottle of cider into several glasses at the same time has been preserved, however, here you will need a small company. Apple cider should be served chilled within 12-14 °. It is this temperature, according to many gourmets, that allows the drink to reveal its taste.

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September and October are traditional apple harvest times. Main question- what to do with this great wealth. Some summer residents make jam, others make compotes. Not the most obvious option - producing cider on its own site in the village of Toksovo (Leningrad Region) - was chosen by legal consultant Alexey Beletsky. Together with like-minded people, he processes more than a ton of apples per season and has already gone beyond home production, and a month ago he quit his job in large company to get serious about your still small enterprise. The founder of Toksovskaya Cidreria told The Village where a newbie should start, how to choose equipment, where to find apples, how to cooperate with bars, and explained why cider still has little chance of repeating the success of craft beer.

How it all began

The story with cider began in an apartment, and then, after buckets, cans and bottles no longer fit there, it moved to country cottage area. The idea of ​​squeezing juice and making cider came to mind on its own about four years ago: there was another disastrous apple harvest, and endless bags had to be carried home to the fifth floor: you can’t throw it away, mom won’t understand. I wasn’t ready to process it any other way. Cider is a more liquid product; in fact, it is quickly made and consumed quickly.

And away we go. At some point, my friends started arriving with trunks full of apples, and it turned out that I already had 500 kilograms. This year we announced the apple harvest for the first time, posted an announcement on the Internet and on fences in villages. On the one hand, we help people cope with the harvest, on the other hand, we ourselves are interested in doing this, because the more we do, the better.

It's not about capturing the market, it's about enthusiasm. People who want to run cider as a business buy concentrated apple juice, process it technologically into cider and sell it, rather than work all day on the site, covered from head to toe in apple scraps. This is the lot of slightly crazy people. Now I am increasingly finding out that my friends have started crushing apples and making cider or even Calvados - many people are attracted to this.

About apples

There are countries with a traditional cider history. IN individual regions Spain, France and Britain have an established cider culture, orchards in which special varieties of apples are grown, and, accordingly, cideries in which people are professionally engaged. Traditionally, cider is made using both sweet apples as a base, sour apples to give the drink a sharper taste, and bitter, tannic apples to add astringency. As far as I know, there is one cider producer in Russia that has its own gardens - St. Anton.

We collect local apples that grow in people's dachas - all the varieties are quite diverse, and the result is a complex balance. Country apples are very different in taste and aroma from dessert apples that are sold in stores; you won’t find sour or bitter varieties there. At dachas, apple trees often run wild, and as a result, each time something new is obtained, perhaps not entirely correct from the point of view industrial production, but appropriate as a local project.

Technology

In principle, the technology here is the same: there are apples that do the bulk of the work for you, that is, they provide taste and aroma. In the country cider we make, everything comes from nature. You just need to wash everything, maintain sanitation, maintain the temperature, and so on. The strength of Toksovskaya Cidreria is that it is possible to store and process apples and cider in one place: in addition to the site itself, there is a basement and the second floor of the house.

It all started with a simple water bottle into which the juice was squeezed using a regular household juicer. In addition, there was a sieve, a colander, a funnel and a water bottle into which a water seal is inserted so that carbon dioxide comes out and air does not enter. Some people use rubber gloves instead, but this is wrong, as they still allow air to pass through. Later they began to use special containers for fermentation.

In general, I was surprised to discover that in order to learn something new, it is not necessary to read long instructions, but you just need to type into YouTube “how to do something” in English. Americans have made millions of videos for all occasions. Among them you can find general videos (such as how to make cider) or very specific videos for solving certain problems (for example, how to make an apple press).

Of course, there are some nuances. It is advisable that the juice be without pulp, because during fermentation it can lead to the appearance of more complex ethereal aromas, roughly speaking, paint-like aromas. The clarity of the juice depends on the juicer. We first use a crusher, and then immerse the chopped apples in a press - the juice turns out completely clear, since they are filtered through themselves. On household juicers, the juice is obtained with pulp, but you can simply strain it through the same colander. I don’t want to impose any particular method of making cider; it’s better to try it, especially since it’s a fairly pleasant process - unless, of course, you fall into fanaticism.

Active fermentation (when the juice gurgles) lasts approximately one to two weeks. The period depends on several factors: firstly, on the temperature, secondly, on how sweet the juice is used, thirdly, on the type of yeast that was used. If we use wild yeast, which is in the juice itself, the process will take longer. There are also many varieties of cultural yeast that can be used - there is nothing bad or harmful about it.

After fermentation, post-fermentation occurs - this is a slower process that can take two to three weeks. Optimal results begin to appear in the second month. You can, of course, start drinking cider immediately after it stops gurgling, but the longer it sits, the more interesting it later becomes.

Next stage: pour the cider into bottles and seal tightly. Since the carbon dioxide has nowhere to escape and saturates the cider, it becomes carbonated and tastier. "Still" still cider is more like white wine. After bottling and gassing, bottles of cider are placed in a more or less cool place.

Cider can be stored indefinitely. The advantage of home production is that the yeast from the drink does not disappear anywhere and the cider matures in the bottle. Yeast, combined with alcohol and carbon dioxide, is an environment in which other microorganisms cannot grow. The longer you store the cider, the better. This season, for example, we drink last year's cider.

The strength of cider is usually around 4-6%. Any indicator is optimal taste is more important, and it is already indirectly related to how sweet the juice was and to how many degrees it fermented.

We constantly update our equipment. Together with Pasha Brik from the Verstak workshop, we made a press and a crusher: you can quickly process your garden harvest in them. Next you need equipment to bottle the cider and wash them - all this can be found in home brewing stores. You can also purchase presses of various sizes there.

On cooperation with bars and legalization of production

Homemade cider, in theory, can only be distributed among friends. Of course, some kind of shadow market exists, but it is very small and therefore invisible. In general, commerce is a natural development of any such activity. At first, everyone asks you to try the cider, and you give it away just like that, and then people who are no longer close and dear come and ask you to sell it. I don’t want to do it completely for free either - it still takes a lot of effort and time. To move from home production to the legal level requires large investments. Therefore, alcohol producers exist for some time in a semi-legal form, and then they draw up documents.

We supply bars with cider that is made under a contract with the brewery. We come with our idea and technology, but formally it is done by the brewery. She frames it as her product and handles sales, and we tell familiar establishments about our cider. This is a completely legal story.

Toksovskaya Sidreria team (from left to right): Timur Yunusov, Konstantin Shmoldaev, Boris Brevnov, Alexey Beletsky, Anton Yarunichev

First of all, we started collaborating with those bars that we visit most often: for example, I Believe Bar, “Chronicles”, Beergeek. Liza Izvozchikova from the “Products” bar helped a lot in the beginning, she was excited about this idea and told many people about us. Then word of mouth started. Now we constantly cooperate with several dozen places, plus something opens all the time. In general, St. Petersburg bars on weekends are an abyss that cannot be filled. In addition, we often ship cider to other cities.

I try to experiment in small homemade batches in order to somehow improve and learn. Conscience does not allow you to make large volumes for sale without knowing exactly what will happen in the end. Besides, home production is more about fun and hanging out with friends. Cider that goes into a bar requires a careful and responsible approach. That makes two different directions, and one supports the other.

The prospects are great. Many people love cider, and a drink made by local guys from local fruits, with a unique smell and taste, unfiltered, a little cloudy and smelling of homemade apples, is much more interesting than a mass product.

Could cider become the new craft beer?

The craft beer story was predictable - every country goes through it with a lag of a few years. In the US, what we call the craft beer revolution was a slow and organic process, but we borrowed the finished product. Because of this, everything happens faster. Those who want to compete are looking one step ahead. The beer production technology is much more mature, all the ingredients are available from suppliers, recipes are easy to come up with if you have a head on your shoulders and a good technologist. With cider, in this regard, everything is more complicated: you need to reinvent the wheel - come up with some kind of press, look for tons of apples somewhere.

Craft fashion for local cider production is also emerging, but it is not here and will not be ready-made scripts that will allow you to quickly achieve success. First of all, farming should develop and Agriculture. Malt and hops are easily shipped from abroad, but apples are a product that is best grown and processed locally.

Photos: Vasily Jonga