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Get Serious About Cider-Making

Like a lot of beer people, I was initially attracted to cider-making when I heard how easy it was: just buy some juice, dump it into a carboy, add some yeast, and two weeks later, keg or bottle it. Easy!

Turns out, that's a good way to make alcohol, but it's not a great way to make cider, especially not great cider.

33 Cider Pressings provides a simple to follow, chronologically-organized make sheet that encourages more sophisticated cider-making, starting at the beginning, with apples.

Great Cider Starts with Great Apples

List the varieties you'll be using, including their key stats: weight, sugar and acid content, when they were harvested, pulped and pressed. Do it yourself with a homemade cider press, or rent one from a homebrew store. If you've got access to great fresh juice from your local orchard, you can list it using the same format.

Next, record any treatments you make to the juice (sulfites, nutrients, etc.) and any additional ingredients (hops, other fruits and/or spices).

Track your fermentation once you've pitched the yeast, noting changes in gravity and pH each time you sample.

Once you're ready to package, there's space to list key stats for your cider, including yield, acidity and alcohol content.

With 33 Pressings, it's easy to keep your notes in one place for posterity, bound in a softcover format that lays flat and wears well.

Designed by Former Home Cider Makers

Living in Oregon, I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by some of the country's best cideries,* most of whom were started by home cider makers who got the bug and eventually turned pro. I worked with three (Reverend Nat's, Cider Riot! and Wandering Aengus) to create the cider make log we all wished we had when we began making cider.

* My studio is actually inside a cidery: Cider Riot! Stop by 807 NE Couch St. sometime and browse my Automated Bookshop and Larder in the CR taproom. And drink some cider, too!

Pint-Sized but Powerful

Don't let its compact size (5 x 7 inches) fool you. 33 Pressings is packed with features to help you manage your ciders, but is just a little bit larger than my cider-tasting notebook, 33 Mugs of Cider.

Secret Ingredient

A teeny, tiny amount of real, home-pressed cider is added to the ink in each new edition, which is cryptically noted on the back.