Hard Cider Tip #12: Counter-Pressure Bottle Filling

Bottling: Using a counter-pressure bottle filler.

As a homemade hard cider maker, I keep finding myself looking for new and maybe better ways to make and process my hard cider. Most of my hard cider recipes are based on my current method for making hard cider, which entails using kegs. Kegs have given me more flexibility in managing my process for … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #12: Counter-Pressure Bottle Filling

A Perfect Pairing: Grilled Cheese and Hard Cider

A Perfect Pairing: Grilled Cheese & Hard Cider

With stay at home orders in place, I noticed that I’ve been using my wild sourdough starter to make a lot of sandwich bread loaves. I even made a multigrain variant that we used for egg salad and buns for smash burgers. The cool thing is that it is an easy recipe to make and … Continue reading A Perfect Pairing: Grilled Cheese and Hard Cider

Modern Hard Cider

Modern Hard Cider Title

What is modern hard cider? I think that’s a loaded question. It’s like asking someone what is a traditional hard cider, which will depend on your tradition. If you had asked me 6 month ago, I would have told you that modern hard cider meant hard ciders boldly featuring adjuncts. This was because modern is … Continue reading Modern Hard Cider

Making Garden Cider

Garden Cider: Plum and Ginger Hard Cider

Some of our favorite memories are often centered around food. Most major events in our lives include food and when that food is exceptional, it elevates the entire experience. As a result, food Aromas and tastes can often be a trigger for great memories. My wife has a saying “Make a memory”, which is her … Continue reading Making Garden Cider

Apples of Unknown Origin

Apples of Unknown Origin

I talked about how old some apple varieties really are (How old is that apple tree?). But America wasn’t settled using grafted apple trees from Europe. It was settled with apple trees grown from seeds and those seeds were often of unknown origin. However, it’s from this time period where many of the heirloom varieties … Continue reading Apples of Unknown Origin

A Feast at Home!

Quattro Fomaggi Pizza and Julien a Thurel Cidre

I previously wrote about a feast we had at a local restaurant, Feast, with seafood and French hard cider. However, with social distancing in full swing and no restaurants open, my wife and I decided we needed to create our own feast. We are known for putting together some awesome pizzas so for this “Feast … Continue reading A Feast at Home!

A Day at the Orchard: Grafting

Early spring at the orchard.

I love going to the orchard. Besides being the place I get wonderful fruit to craft hard cider, it’s located on a beautiful hill overlooking the valley. It’s an extremely peaceful place, and the flora and fauna in the area are always amazing. The owner and I have established a good relationship and he has … Continue reading A Day at the Orchard: Grafting

Hard Cider Tip #10: Stuck Fermentation

Stuck Fermentation

What is a stuck fermentation? When making hard cider, a stuck fermentation refers to a situation where the juice or partially fermented cider has sugar present but the yeast is unable to process it. Sometimes, this might have been your plan. Other times, this is your problem. This hard cider tip is intended to demystify … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #10: Stuck Fermentation

Making My First Hard Cider

My First Hard Cider Label

This post is not so much a hard cider recipe as it is a simple and low cost method to making hard cider. It’s focused on providing a basic foundation for making hard cider my way. My way means organic and no sulfites. However, if that’s not your way, it can easily be adapted to … Continue reading Making My First Hard Cider

Hard Cider Tip #9: Bottle Sanitizing

Sanitation Process: How to sanitize bottles for hard cider.

In my last tip, I talked bout how critical cleaning and sanitizing were when you are making hard cider. However, I only covered the cleaning part. This tip covers the sanitizing step. Again, I’m focusing on bottles, but the process is the same whether you are cleaning and sanitizing bottles, fermenters, utensils, or any equipment. … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #9: Bottle Sanitizing