How to Build a Cider Press

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No matter how you look at it, a build-it-yourself cider press is a darn good thing to have around the old homestead!

Applejack

If you do nothing else with your cider press, use it to create the starting juice for a batch of Applejack. The Applejack recipe shown below was taught to me by a retired Marine pile driver named Ade Youngsman, and I can't recommend it too highly.

I've given the measurements in rather large units. Feel free to scale them down or change their proportions as you see fit, because after all, these amounts simply represent my best approximation of what I usually judge by sight and feel.

INGREDIENTS

10 pounds of sugar
water
3 gallons of fresh cider
10 pounds of crushed raisins
yeast (optional)

Pour the sugar into a large kettle and add just enough water to dissolve all of the sweetener. Bring the solution to a boil, hold it there for one minute, then allow it to cool until it's lukewarm. Combine the cooled sugarwater with the cider in a large jug or carboy and stir well. Crush the raisins and dump them into the container too. (You can add a tablespoon of yeast at this point if you want, but it's not really necessary.)

Now cap the fermentation vessel tightly and run a small hose from the stopper to a jar of water. This way, gases which are liberated during fermentation can bubble out through the water in the jar, while air cannot enter into the main jug. (It's important to keep air out of the carboy of fermenting brew, since oxygen promotes the growth of molds and other spoilage organisms.)

Let your Applejack mature at 70° F until you just can't wait any longer, then drink it chilled (in hot weather) or piping hot (at night or on a cold day), and don't forget to eat those raisins, they pack a wallop!

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