Getting started - first steps

From Ukcider

To clean or not to clean

Hi, my name is Peter. May I first congratulate you on this excellent resource! I am just getting into cider making at home and am unsure about 1 area in particular. When making cider do you normally wash the apples? Do I need to do anything in particular to avoid getting the cider contaminated? If you don't wash the apples do you use anything like campden tablets? Do you use naturally occuring yeast on the apples or do you add ale yeast or something similar.

I have read so many conflicting views it is hard to make the right choice. Basically I want the most natural additive free final product possible but want to balance that against the risk of contaminating the cider with harmfull bacteria and other nasties.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Peter

Hi Peter. Inspect the apples carefully and discard any that are rotten or covered in mould. Some bruising is fine, but look closely at any brown areas - is it a bruise or is it rot? Some areas of rot or damage can be cut out. Likewise insect damage, ie. Codling Moth. Some folks insist on cutting all insect damage out, some folks just cut out the worse - some don't bother at all.
The apples should always be washed to remove any unwanted muck, mud, bird-droppings, insects, slugs, etc. etc. We use a plastic bath that we clean thoroughly and then fill with fresh water; the apples are left to soak for 15 minutes or so and rolled around periodically. As they are removed from the bath to drain (we use a plastic washing basket with extra holes drilled in the bottom) we look over the apples to discard any that don't meet the grade.