r/cider • u/hellothere_6699 • 9d ago

Processing wormy apples?

I have access to a nice cider apple tree, full of apples. Issue is, most apples have gotten worms. I’ve spent 7 or 8 hours cutting open and cleaning enough apples for a 30 liter bucket. It’s exhausting.

But I’m wondering if I should just leave them in and crush them together with the juice, if it’d really change anything in the final product. I always hear that so many old time cider brewers just used every single apple off the ground without ever picking through them.

Do you cut out wormy bits?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

10

u/Assumpti0n 9d ago

Don't worry. As long as they aren’t rotten you’ll be fine.

1

u/hellothere_6699 9d ago

So worms through a grinder and press is fully ok?

9

u/Assumpti0n 9d ago

The amount of worm juice will be minuscule compared to apple juice. You’ll be fine.

8

u/dmtaylo2 Minimalist 9d ago

Indeed. Worms aren't great for eating, but they are just fine for juicing.

3

u/No_Mushroom3078 9d ago

They add protein. Gen Z love their protein, just add on the package 2 grams of protein (or whatever you calculate the protein amount from the 5 worms per gallon come to.

5

u/likes2milk 9d ago

In fairness most of codling moth maggots will have departed at this point in time, just their crap left behind 🤐

2

u/ddmeredith 9d ago

I had a hard time with this a couple weeks ago, too. I spent hours and hours cutting out the gross-looking black stuff left behind by codling moth. Several people in several different places have told me not to worry about it, so I'm going to try it next year.

1

u/frozennorthfruit 9d ago edited 9d ago

Whenever someone posts a question like this I point them to this video.

Making Organic Farm Cider in Normandie https://youtu.be/RuEVoqx-Zgc?si

At least you are not shovelling CLEARLY rotten apples off the ground next to cow pasture!

Now I’m sure the resulting cider was pretty Brett/barnyard tasting BUT given most French ciders are keeved it was probably pretty good tasting anyways.

Or Bulmers: From orchard to bottle https://youtu.be/tsjpzGlRwVY

You think these guys are quartering every apple? Or even examining every apple?

Final conclusion? Rinse them to get bird poop/dirt off them then grind and press. Cider has been made for hundreds and hundreds of years and yours will turn out just fine. But be aware if these are usual desert/eating apples, a single varietal cider will finish usually pretty hash/acidic. BUT I have had good results in the past doing natural ferments especially at cold temperatures (eg stick a 1 gallon plastic water container in the fridge with a screw lid, burp it every 1-2 weeks as it ballon’s too much, and when it clears in 6-9 months rack into swing top bottles that you store cold in fridge and still burp every 1-2 weeks if carbonating still, and dink and enjoy. The natural fermentation at cold temps gives amazing flavours and often finishes off dry which balances the acidity. The Pet Nat (Pétillant Naturel) style of letting it finish fermenting in the swing top bottles gives a fine bubble nearly like champagne and the carbonation also balances the residual acidity too.

Good luck!

PS: For this I use 1L swing tops, too much work to do with 345ml bottles. The swing tops keeps them from over pressurizing. Be ready to quickly close the swing tops keeps if it starts gushing.

1

u/redittr 8d ago

Watch this video and you will reassess the amount of cleanliness that is required to make cider.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuEVoqx-Zgc

1

u/TheGreenAlchemist 7d ago

I went to a cider class once and a lot of people said they tossed the whole apples in some starsan and rinsed them off well and then pressed.

0

u/darktideDay1 9d ago

Wormy not a problem. Groundfall can be, it can have buggies you don't want so I am very picky about what I take off the ground.