Homebrew Cider

Six months later, the cider is out of the carboy and into bottles! We managed to get just shy of 11 gallons complete and into bottles, and split it three ways. Here is a shot of the Subaru hauling the final catch plus all the gear back home. The day was beautiful, 60˚ and sunny. We took our time and since the weather was nice, did the entire process outside. It is nice symmetry too since the day we pressed the apples was the last nice day of fall and yesterday was the first really nice day of spring!

So how dos it taste? Well, great! Or good anyway. I guess we still wont really tell for a few more weeks while it gets a little sparkle and bottle conditioning. But my first impression is that it is very dry with a nice apple flavor. The spiced half is not too overpowering and will be great in the fall (these are long term projects huh). When I made cider last time it always had this odd off flavor that I was worried might repeat again this time, but thankfully it did not.

So was it worth it? 200+ lbs of apples, about 16 hours of work by three people, $90 in equipment, for 114 twelve ounce bottles? Well, sure! Brewing is an irrational pursuit really. It takes forever and it costs a lot. But if you do it with friends and take your time, it can be a very nice way to spend the afternoon.