I’m planning buy some fresh pressed apple cider from a local orchard to make hard cider. They normally sell their cider to a commercial cidery nearby. Probably gonna buy ~ 15 gallons. For those who have done this sort of thing, what does this juice typically cost per gallon? Haven’t gotten a quote yet. My block of cider trees is 3 years old and is still busy growing above the deer.
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If you can’t find enough, you may be able to stretch it with this:
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Scott Farm Orchard (West Brattleboro, VT) in 2022 sold juice balanced for fermenting for ~$15/gallon if I recall correctly (certainly more than $10/gallon). I think Pine Hill Orchards (Colrain, MA) sold several blends (still balanced for fermenting) for substantially less than that amount. I do not expect either of those to be selling much, if any, juice this year due to the late May freeze killing many apple blossoms.
I would not be surprised by anything in the range of $5/gallon to a little more than $15/gallon (for the most premium blends).
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@Iowa I checked my transactions from last year and I’m no longer sure it was as much as $15/gallon - I think it may have been closer (still over, I think?) to that $10/gallon mark. Scott Farm is priced at a premium because they have a professional orchardist and a wide variety of apples going into their cider.
I called a different orchard (farther up in VT) and they’re guessing their pricing will be ~$9/gallon (give or take).
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Interesting, I never thought about purchasing cider to ferment. Do you know how much they charge for shipping?
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I am not aware of any orchards that ship cider balanced for fermenting. I am also just a hobbyist working out of an apartment, so my lack of knowledge might be more a comment on my ignorance than reality.
Many local orchards (for flexible definitions of local) sell a balanced blend, but I think it’s always on a “call and ask” basis. I suggest calling and asking around, particularly anywhere that lists interesting apples (anything in the bittersweet or bittersharp category for the most part). The local homebrew emporium (closed now) used to sell juice for fermenting, IIRC at quite a markup.
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Looks like it’s gonna be $9 a gallon for me to pick up the day of pressing. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, especially a large part of their blend is a dedicated cider varieties.
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I thought I’d follow up with my cider season acquisitions:
- Cider at one orchard in Western Mass (bulk purchase) of $8/gallon
- Cider at another in Northern Vermont of $9/gallon
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I recently discovered (thanks to an amateur tasting event) that one can buy concentrate in reasonable quantities for home fermenting from (at least) two places:
- BSG Select CiderBase™ - 5 gal | BSG | Bulk Brewing & Beer Supply Company
- https://www.morebeer.com/products/british-bittersweet-apple-cider-concentrate.html
- I swear I saw something one that would ship totes of single varietal juice for blending but I can’t seem to find it, nevermind that a tote is far from a reasonable quantity…
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Thank you!
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I have made hard cider the past 3 years so I will share my experiences. I used a fruit juicer to extract the juice, not the traditional grinder and press. Using campden tablets on the juice while you are extracting may help with preventing or lessening oxidation, as well as knocking back the natural yeasts that are present so you can get a more consistent end result. There are tannin powders and various acids available for tweaking the flavor profile, so you can probably get away with using any apples/juice you have readily available and make an enjoyable cider. When buying juices, just make sure there are no preservatives that might inhibit the yeast; you probably don’t have to worry about small cider operations in that regard. You are probably better off buying dry yeast packets from a homebrewing source for fermenting. I’ve had good results with Belle Saison and Voss kveik,
The first year I made cider I used some kind of aromatic, deep red apple with what I consider a perfect balance of sweet and tart. Wish I knew what kind it was, but at least I know where the tree is. Turned out amazing, but I backsweetened it a little too much. Last year I bought cider from a local orchard and fermented as-is. I may have added a little tannin powder to it. It was good, but not as good as year 1. This year I picked a couple buckets of apples from a friend’s tree. It was a two variety grafted tree…not sure what kind. I rounded out the apples with some yellow delicious from my dad’s tree. Back sweetened with apple juice concentrate and a bit of brown sugar, as I like it solidly in the semi-sweet range. Picture below.
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