Doing your bit for God and country in the 1700s meant drinking apple cider instead of wine in England.

At Reidsdale near Braidwood in southern New South Wales, Welsh-born Garry Sully is not doing it for patriotism.

However he is carefully using centuries-old apple varieties to produce cider in the way that it was traditionally made.

The process includes using netting to sieve the crushed apples into several layers of what are called "cheeses".

The layers are stacked about eight-high and are referred to as a "wedding cake."

Loading...

Mr Scully works in what was a cheese factory dating back to the 1920s. It ceased operations in 1957.

It was one of three cheese factories that operated at different times in southern NSW, an area populated largely by Irish settlers with dairy and horticulture farms.

"It's like a little apple museum. We collect different apples. We now grow all the known cider varieties in Australia," Mr Sully said.

"We have also been collecting from cider factories and cider orchards from 1840 onwards and we have found quite a few that weren't known to be found in Australia."

The different varieties which flourish on the grounds of the former cheese factory originate mainly from France and England, which once dominated cider production.

The English apples include a Kingston Black and Foxwhelp, which was thought to no longer exist in Australia.

Legend has it that it was discovered growing from a fox den in Britain.

"Cider in the 1700s was the drink of Europe, particularly northern Europe because grapes weren't grown that far up in those days," Mr Sully said.

"It was drunk in stately homes out of mainly fluted engraved glasses. It was a very posh drink.

"During the wars with France it was very unpatriotic to drink wine, so cider became very popular in Britain."

How to make apple cider

With apples ready, Mr Sully tips the fruit into the top of a machine which crushes the apples.

The rough fibre is forced out through an opening at the bottom of the machine and collected in buckets.

These are carried across to a disc measuring about one metre in diameter with a large pouring lip.

As the crushed apple piles up, Mr Sully works them into a circle with a hole in the middle like a life buoy.

Out of this rises a solid steel stem from the disc centre and stands about two metres tall.

When the "cheeses" are approximately the height of his palm, Mr Sully wraps mosquito netting around them and then repeats the process, gradually building the stack.

While this is happening, apple juice is already seeping from the "cheeses" onto the metal disc then flowing out from the pouring lip, to a bucket placed below.

As each bucket fills, Mr Sully replaces it with an empty one.

He then takes the full bucket and empties the golden liquid into the fermenting barrels.

Once the "wedding cake" is around eight "cheeses" high, it is time to exert real pressure, to squeeze every available drop from the crushed fruit.

Wooden slats held together by metal braces to make two half circles are then placed on the edge of the disc.

On the top "cheese", wooden blocks are placed, and then pressure is exerted downwards through a hydraulic press.

Once all the juice has been transferred to the barrels, they are left open for several days to allow natural yeast that has built up to begin fermentation.

"Then they are sealed, and if the weather stays warm it will be two or three months. If it goes cold it will be six months. Then a second fermentation occurs," Mr Sully said.

"We then allow it to sit in an oak cask for six months to a year just to settle down."

Mr Sully then bottles the finished product, although this is not done in one hit.

"Some are done earlier which is a rougher cider, a more agriculture-style cider. Then we also bottle some that is not finished fermenting, which will then finish in the bottle so you will get a fizzy cider."

Another version is along champagne lines.

"We bottle with champagne yeast," Mr Sully said.

"We have the bottles upside down for six months. Quarter of a turn each day until the yeast hits the cap. Pop the yeast cap out. Put the champagne cork on and that gives you crystal clear sparkling cider."