Apple Cider

I post here today with the sad news that our cinnamon wine is not turning out very well after all. Joe and I have decided to dump it. We didn't get the chance today because we spent too much time dealing with apples (I don't want to look at another apple for a week), but we will figure out what to do with it tomorrow. I will explain later.

Since our cinnamon sugar water is biting the dust, we decided to make some cider next. We went and got 51 lbs (that is not a typo) of red delicious apples and 2 lbs of honey. Then we went back to his place and got to work...grueling, awful, appley work. Here are the apples ready for rinsing in the sink, gorgeous looking and perfect for luring Snow White into her sleepy pseudo-grave:

That's 15 lbs right there. To the left is the cheesecloth and cutting board, ready for chopping, juicing, and straining into this gigantic pot on the stove:

POT OF DOOOOOM! We sliced the apples into quarters and put them through this poor juicer from the 80's which seems to use centrifugal force to get the juice out. The leftovers are everything fibrous and look completely disgusting (and according to Joe, they didn't taste that good).

By the time we were FINALLY finished juicing, we had 4-5 gallons of brown apple juice, strained through the cheesecloth and heating to 60-70 C. We were supposed to simmer it for 45 minutes, and Joe might do that later tonight, but he had to get to work so we didn't have time. We had spent all of our time slicing and juicing. That's almost 3 hours of work. By the time we were finished we were soooo sick of apples.

Since he had to get going, we took the apple juice off the stove and threw it in a big bucket to ice it back down again. I added the honey while it was still warm, which might also help to keep it from oxidizing further. I will return tomorrow to rack the strawberry and grape wines, and to finish off the cider.

We are going to try to make this without sulfonation, and part of the 5 gallon batch will be carbonated, the other part not carbonated. The carbonated part is bound to have stuff at the bottom of the bottle when it's ready to drink. We are thinking that in a mass production setting, artificial mechanical means are used instead of natural ones for carbonating cider so no one gets grossed out by the yeast poo at the bottom of the bottle.

Whatever. Whimps.

When it comes time to top up to 5 gallons, I'm going to inquire about using our failed cinnamon wine instead of water. We could have an apple cider with a hint of cinnamon! Or we could boil some of it down into syrup to use for pancakes and such. Or we could just toss it if we suspect it's no good. We'll see - I will keep you posted.