It's ZOIDER Time ;P

[craeg]

The kids n me collected easey 6 carrier bags full of various apples from around and abouts ere and set to making the zoider.

I started by sterilising my daughter's old ikea toy box which is a perfect size for a fermentation vat. It was going on freecycle but I rescued it for this purpose Then I washed the apples.

Ikea Toy Box

I stood for about 2 1/2 hrs feeding apples into out juicer. After about a ton of fruit pulp I ended up with about 20 pints of apple juice which was a somewhere between sweet to sharp but quite paletable which is probably a good sign. Our juicer is really good and the pulp is quite dry so hardly any juice was left. I may, in time invest in some time to make a carjack press.

The Juicing Set Up

As we had various varieties of apples including one red variety that had red flesh, hence the juice colour

Red Juice

In the Vat

Anyways, I thought I would share it with you guys.

Time will tell and I will let you know how it tastes

Cheers
Craeg

 

[MaximumJpeg]

What brand is your juicer? I do a bit of homebrewing myself and was dabbling with the idea of getting a juicer. If yours managed to keep going for 2 1/2
hours it must be good!

 

[Matt.S]

Oi does loiks a drop o zoider! Tha stuf looks gurt lush!

For those without juicing facilities, supermarket ownbrand/basics apple juice makes a very tasty brew. Just make sure there's no additives (concentrate is fine). Pectic enzyme might be desired as the Pasteurisation process activates the pectin in the juice and makes the cider cloudy.

 

[Stew]

Looks like fun!

My old man was putting together a cider press but I don't know where he's up to with it.

 

[craeg]

What brand is your juicer? I do a bit of homebrewing myself and was dabbling with the idea of getting a juicer. If yours managed to keep going for 2 1/2
hours it must be good!

It is a Breville with a dectent 0.75kW motor. It wasn't switched on solid for 2 1/2 hrs because I had to stop every 50 or so apples to empty the bag of pulp. Even so though, it performed really well. We got it in tesco when it was in a sale, £70 down to £30, if my memory serves me well

Cheers
Craeg

 

[telwebb]

I've seen and heard several ways of doing this - how do you proceed Craeg?

 

[Tengu]

Yes, I got a juicer today and there seems to be a lot of apples about.

I have my mango chutney jars for brew tubs....what do I do?

 

[craeg]

I have my mango chutney jars for brew tubs....what do I do?

I wouldn't stick the juice in glass dude as the fermentation process generates gas which could at the worst case, explode the bottle :yikes:. There are plenty of guides on tinternet for exactly how to make it properly.

I just started with everything sterilised, +80 C soapy water, then let nature take it's course. After about 2 weeks, hey presto you got yerself zoider.
Finally filter it through muslin into sterilied plastic coke bottles and enjoy

Have a go

Cheers
Craeg

 

[Beardy Adam]

So did it actually taste good then? Cider is my main tipple of choice so I'd love to get round to making myself some one day.

 

[craeg]

So did it actually taste good then? Cider is my main tipple of choice so I'd love to get round to making myself some one day.

Time will tell, Beardy. It's a bit soon yet but hopefully next week.

Craeg

 

[pete79]

You'll defo succeed in making something. I have brewed mind-bending alcohol from many a different fruit, and all have produced alcohol.......taste has been something I have found a lot harder to achieve; mine have ranged from very nice to something akin to paint stripper (cheeky, with a fiery aftertaste). Get it sterile (as you have done). I also used to sterilise the mash using campden tablets. 24 hrs after sterilising the mash, add the yeast (the yeast also does well with a bit of citric acid in there so I would add the juice of 6 lemons for every 5 gallons). Sit it in an bucket, or ikea toybox, in a warm location and cover with clingfilm. It'll kick off in around 24hrs and start to bubble. Remove clingfilm and stir every day for 3 days, make sure to re-cover every time to limit the bacteria entering the mix. I would then siphon off the lovely beverage into a barrel with airlock and let it run it's course until the alcohol content had risen enough to kill the yeast (around a week to 2 weeks under airlock). It really gets going once under airlock. When it has stopped bubbling and releasing gas, siphon into bottles and let the sediment settle to the bottom, and then resiphon or pour to remove sediment (I didn't mind a bit of cloudiness in mine). Alcohol content varies according to the amount of sugar, and the type of yeast used (if you're letting it sit and collect wild yeasts from the air or surface of the fruit, then it could be anywhere from 3 to 6 %, I made some jailhouse hooch once......whilst not in jail.......using bread as my yeast starter, and that was really strong).
If you get the chance, and can harvest enough of the little blighters, I recommend that you try to make a bit of blackberry wine........very, very tasty.

 

[craeg]

Just been into the 'toy box' and was quite pleasantly surprised There is a definate zoidery taste to the liquid and the colour is a fantastic reddish. I got rid of the remaining floating mash and gave it a bit of a stir. I will put it into a demi-john today with an airlock then bring it into the house to see how it develops.

Craeg

 

[DaveBromley]

they have some great recipes on Here Ive done quite a few and they usually work out great!! the ginger beer ones are very tasty too

Dave

 

[R.Lewis]

Great, looking good dude! I make my cider from cloudy apple juice from Tesco, so no pressing involved (not got the kit for that). Usually its well potent, last batch was 10%! Went a little mad with the sugar, see.Make homebrew red wine from grape juice too, that always works well. Next on the list to try is Tea wine....

 

[craeg]

Great, looking good dude! I make my cider from cloudy apple juice from Tesco, so no pressing involved (not got the kit for that). Usually its well potent, last batch was 10%! Went a little mad with the sugar, see.Make homebrew red wine from grape juice too, that always works well. Next on the list to try is Tea wine....

I like the sound of that !0% would know yer socks off It is looking good my end for stives if you are up for it? Have any of the other cambs dudes said anything? or is it a bit too wee for a bigger group?

Cheers dude

Craeg

 

[R.Lewis]

No one else as said anything! Its wee, but not that wee. limited on hammock spots where I go, but other places there too. hoping to have some new kit to play with...