Making cider

apple tree

Apples and pears mature now, it is time to make cider. On top of my own harvest, I got a few boxes from a friend's garden, I could make a bigger batch this year. 
I like to add around a quarter in total of pear when making cider, so that the resulting drink is not too dry.

1. Clean apples and pears, core, remove bad bits, cut into pieces.

2. Pass the cut pieces in a garden wood chipper to shred into very small pieces.

3. Load the manual wooden press and get the juice out.

4. The pressed remains went into the compost bin.

5. Add a spoonful of wine yeast into the fermenting glass container with an airlock fitted.

cider 

6. They will sit in the cool barn fermenting slowly for a few months, normally ready around December.