MAKING CASSELS CIDER

The process of cider making starts with the Apple harvest which begins in mid-September and runs through to mid-November. As Cider apples tend to mature later than normal eating and cooking apples the season is extended which assists us in spreading our production. Cassels' apples are sourced both locally in Cambridge in small private orchards and also from the more traditional cider making areas in the south and west. This season we picked apples from Wilburton, Shelford, Leominster and Pewsey. It takes about 12-14 tonnes of apples to make 1,500 gallons of different Cassels Cider depending on type and juice/sugar content of each apple variety. We blend around 70% pure cider apples and 30% cooking and dessert apples for our stock cider.

The apples are collected from the orchards and they may be bruised and battered, particularly if there are a lot of windfalls included. They will also have leaves, stalks and even soil attached. The process starts by tipping the apples into a large washing vessel and then scooping them out into a hopper that feeds the crusher. The shredding process is traditionally known as scratting.

The crusher is part of the press set up which allows the apples to fall onto a rotating drum fitted with blades which shred the fruit. The resulting pomace falls through the shredder into collecting tubs. As these fill they are pulled to the press side of the machine and the 9 cheeses of pomace pulp are built up. Loading cloth squares with the pulp makes the cheeses and these are stacked up between acacia slatted boards to build up the final cheese for pressing.

Crusher Brown attempting to build cheeses

The built cheese is then pushed into the press and the fruit pulp is squeezed to extract the apple juice. The juice runs out of the press into a storage vessel and from here it is pumped into our main fermenting vessels. The cloths used act as a filter to stop pips, skin and any grass or twigs from getting into the juice. A simple but effective method. 

We press single variety apples separately but mix the various apple types together to make our stock cider.  After the 24 hours settling we add a sulphide solution to kill off any wild yeasts. This is important as wild yeast activity is uncontrollable and can cause problems in fermentation and quality. Some small producers are happy to let this happen but we prefer to be more stringent in our process to maintain taste, flavour and consistency. After the wild yeasts are suppressed we add high quality champagne yeast. This not only gives a vigorous fermentation but also works at low temperatures, which is important as fermentation takes place through the winter months. Fermentation takes upwards of 12 weeks and after it is finished the cider is ready for drinking.
Our press is a Voran grape press from Austria and runs extremely well. It is electrically powered to drive a hydraulic pump the moves the press piston. The press is double sided, meaning we can build a second cheese while the first is pressing. This makes for very efficient working. It takes around 6-8 hours to press 2 tonnes depending on the apples and the operators.

For our stock ciders we pump the juice into 310 gallon fermenting vessels and allow them 24 hours settling time. At this time we adjust the blend of the mixed apple varieties with reserved single variety juice, this allows us to change the strength and flavours of our stock cider. We also test for acidity and strength to allow us to change the blend to our needs.

For the single variety ciders we use smaller 50-gallon plastic vessels, or wooden barrels from the spirits trade. This season we are fermenting some varieties in rum and whisky barrels as well as our normal vessels.

Jim filling a Strathclyde whisky barrel with juice	This season's single variety ciders fermenting in rum and whisky barrels

This season we pressed our first apples from a small local orchard in September and our final pressing was in mid November. We intend to extend our season of pressing to increase production and have new ciders available earlier in the year.