Important Do's and Don'ts !
Just bring common sense!
We may be in an orchard, but this is a food preparation area. A good cider relies on good cleanliness from tree to bottle.
Collecting your fruit for Cider
We will be relying on the natural yeasts in the
fruit to complete the fermentation process.
The cleaner the fruit the better the cider.
Plan to collect your fruit a few days before you press it. Where possible and practicable pick the apples from the tree. If you do collect windfalls leave behind those that are mouldy or have areas of brown bruising (and look out for wasp or slug holes!)
Collecting your fruit for Apple Juice
We need about 20kg of apples to pasteurise 14x75cl
bottles. Fruit for juicing needs to be hand picked and
blemish free - your most perfect fruit!
Please don`t bring apples from orchards where livestock has been grazing. To reduce the risk of the patulin toxin we also request your apples are less than 80mm in diameter. The fruit for juice will be pressed first so we can re-check quality and size of fruit prior to pressing.
Pressing your fruit
Please remember basic hygiene, wash you hands before and after you eat and after visiting the rest-rooms.
This is a hands-on process so warm clothes, a PVC apron, hair ties, clean Wellington boots (no farmyard muck please!) and rubber gloves are requested.
The first step at the Little Cider Press is fruit washing to ensure the outside of the fruit is as clean as possible. This is another opportunity to remove any rotten fruit.
Please don't drink the juice pre-fermentation or pre-pasteurisation. It may look good to drink but unwanted microbes and a toxin called patulin could be present in the fresh juice. We want you to be around long enough to enjoy the results of your labours!
Taking the cider and apple juice home
We provide sterilised 25L containers to transport your juice safely home without spills. All you then need to do is make a hole in the cap to fit the airlock we give you.
To transport the apple juice home, please bring a wine carrier with you.
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