Review: The New Cider Maker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers

Cider
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https://www.amazon.com/New-Cider-Makers-Handbook-Comprehensive/dp/1603584730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521300854&sr=8-1&keywords=cider+makers+handbook

I just finished this wonderful book from a fellow Quebecer.

Claude Jolicoeur has been creating cider (fermented) for over 30 years in zone 4 outside Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He has a worldwide reputation and has been invited to present in conferences all over.

This book is a treasure:
You can find a basic overview at: http://cjoliprsf.ca/Documents/OverviewNCMH(Maine2013)lores.pdf
Or a more advanced overview at: http://cjoliprsf.ca/Documents/OverviewNCMH-Pro_pptWeb.pdf

His personal website contains a wealth of information including a fantastic blending tutorial and spreadsheet calculator:
http://cjoliprsf.ca/Documents/AppleBlendingCider.pdf
http://cjoliprsf.ca/wizard.htm

This book gives you everything you could possibly need to know on how to grow and create awesome cider. He covers everything from basics to advanced. From the small backyard orchard with a couple trees to the small scale traditional orchard with full size trees to intensive commercial operations. He discusses tree and variety selection and has vignettists from invited cider experts from across North America providing their tips so that you can chose the information relevant to your growing area.

He then dicusses griders and presses ranging from plans for home-built presses to info and prices and suppliers for hobbies to commercial machines.

Then he goes into great details on blending, fermenting, racking, bottling and the like.

Really this book is your one stop resource to cider making.

Highly recommended!

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I agree, it is a “one-stop resource.” Everything you need–and more!

In order to find what is needed at each phase of brewing, the reader might do well to read the first and last paragraphs of the subject section before re-reading the section in its’ entirety. The formulas and chemistry details can be very complicated and overwhelming, you see, but much of the information is not necessary for the home brewer. It could be simpler, is what I am saying, and by skipping past a lot of the formulas and chemistry lessons–and reading just the first and last paragraphs–you can get all you need from this excellent and thorough resource. It is the book I used to make my first batch of cider, and I was quite pleased with the detail and volume of information. If you only want to buy one book for how to make cider, this would be the one to get. Lots of info on small-scale orchard planning too, including apple cultivar selection and tree size/rootstock selection.

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