Homebrewing
I brew cider and fruit wines – small scale of course.
How it started
When we moved into our house in 2019, we suddenly owned a number of large apple trees, and I hate seeing stuff go to waste..
Many people, my parent included, juice their apples and freeze the apple juice until they need it, but I don't have enough freezer space for that. So I figured it would be fun to let nature conserve the juice by letting it ferment.
Methodology
Brewing cider is super easy. You basically press the juice, then leave it to ferment. When it stops bubbling you bottle it and voila.
In reality there's more to it, of course. But really, this hobby is only as difficult as you make it. You can produce great cider with minimal equipment if you know what you're doing.
Equipment
It's practical to use some basic equipment during fermentation to ensure the quality is better, e.g.:
- A fermentation vessel
- An air lock/bubbler
- Maybe a commercial yeast
When bottling you also need some equipment:
- Bottles – I reuse champagne bottles I source from restaurants
- Some way to get the cider into the bottles
- Corks & muselettes
Raw materials
You need apples to produce cider. You need fruit or berries to produce fruit or berry wine. So much for complexity, huh? There's a bit more to it, though.
Good apples will have a good balance of sugar, acid and tannins. Typically this is found in cooking apples like:
- Belle de Boskoop
- Ingrid Marie
You can also use dessert-apples like Discovery if you then add the missing components in other ways. I like to keep my brews relatively “clean” and add the tannins via e.g. paradise apple juice. I also like to add oak chips to a cider during fermentation to balance out the high acid content of Danish apple varieties. Oack chips add a sort of sweetness to a brew as well, even though the cider is bone dry.
Selling your cider or wine
To sell your homebrew in Denmark you need to go through lots of red tape. I haven't done this, and tbh the only reason I can think of to do it is because it would be cool to see it served in restaurants.
I've had some positive feedback from chefs, but I am not sure I have the energy to set up a whole thing for it. Still, it's something I'd like to look into.