OK, well this weekend was pressing weekend. The apples had been sitting for about 2 weeks and they were a bit softer so pressing the apples would be easier now, plus some of the apples were starting to go a bit brown. Some more than others as one box was in the house and one box was in the shed.
Blimey, my first attempt caused me to rethink, even after sitting and softening up for 2 weeks, the apples there was no way that my homemade press was going to give me the pressing power for these apples.
Initially i thought chopping the apples would be the way to go but i thought why stop there? So I threw them all in the blender instead. I've no idea what affects this may have on any of the bacterias needed for the fermenting but the whole lot went into the blender. After that the chopped pulp all went into the press in batches. Making sure the batches weren't too big as the juice would come out the top rather than the bottom.
After pressing the lot which went rather well I've emerged with about 2 litres of juice which I'm quite pleased about.
To keep the flies off, whilst letting the gases out I've attached a ballon to the top of the bottle with a couple of pin pricks in it so that should do the job.
Now we wait I guess.... I've no idea how long so that's what I now need to investigate. I'm not adding any yeasts, instead i'm relying on the fruits of nature to take it's course...... I'll post updates on the fermenting progress.
