The cider has brewed out, and so Anzac Day became Bottling Day. So I’m calling this Anzac Cider.
Of course, the first thing to do was to wash and sterilise the bottles. I bought a funky bottle tree to dry them overnight. Pretty cool, huh?
The Bottle Tree
Once the bottles were taken down from the tree, I put 2 tablets of dextrose in each one so the cider will carbonate, because who wants to drink flat cider? Cider has to sparkle.
Then I set up the bottling workstation. Actually, the kitchen bench is exactly the right height, and it was really no effort to fill all the bottles.
The Bottling Station
When I removed the lid of the fermenting vat, the smell was powerful, and very nice. So the brew didn’t go off, as I feared it might. I had a taste of the cider as I bottled, and it was quite dry, which suits Chris but not me (I’m a sweet tooth). Next time, I might bottle before it ferments all the sugar and see if I can get a sweeter cider.
The end result is 60 bottles of home grown, home extracted, home brewed cider.
The End Result
Then came the cleaning, of course. Lots of hot water, lots of disinfectant, anti-septic detergent, and lots of scrubbing. Here’s hoping the Anzac Cider is worth it. We’ll see when we crack it open in mid-August.
‘Til then, cheers!
Good result!!
Leave some for us!