Start with the right apples

Dry cider is not made from dessert apples alone. Eating apples give juice that ferments to something thin, sharp and vaguely wine-like; what you want is the tannin and body that come from proper cider varieties. In Britain these are grouped as bittersweet and bittersharp, and they are the backbone of any traditional West Country or Herefordshire blend. Look for Dabinett, Yarlington Mill, Kingston Black, Michelin, Harry Masters Jersey or Tremlett's Bitter if you can find or grow them.

A useful starting blend by weight is roughly 60–70 per cent bittersweet, 20–30 per cent sharp (Bramley, Worcester Pearmain, Ashmead's Kernel) and 10 per cent sweet or aromatic. If you only have access to a mixed old orchard, don't overthink it — a rough mix of unknown trees usually works better than a monoculture of eaters. What matters most is ripeness.

• Pick late, when the pips have gone dark brown and the flesh gives slightly.
• Leave windfalls aside unless they are sound; bruised and mouldy fruit taints the whole batch.
• Let picked apples sweat in a cool shed for a week or two to soften and finish ripening.
• Aim for fruit at 12–14°C when you press it — cold apples yield less juice.

Milling, pressing and the first sulphite

Scratch or mill the apples to a pulp — a coarse crush, not a purée, so the press can still drain. A clean bucket and a stainless or plastic scratter will do; never let the pulp sit exposed to the air for hours, as it browns and picks up off-flavours. Press in small batches and strain the juice through a coarse nylon bag into a fermenting bin.

Take a hydrometer reading. Cider apples typically land between 1.045 and 1.060, which will ferment out to around 6–7.5 per cent alcohol. If you're below 1.040, add a little sugar solution; if you're above 1.065, dilute with a mild dessert-apple juice.

Now treat the juice. Add one crushed Campden tablet per 4.5 litres (one imperial gallon), which gives roughly 50 ppm of sulphite — enough to knock back wild yeasts and bacteria without stopping your chosen yeast later. Leave it covered for 24 hours, then add a teaspoon of pectinase per 20 litres to help the juice clear.

Fermenting slowly and cool

Pitch a dedicated cider yeast after the sulphite has gassed off. A white wine or cider strain ferments cleanly and leaves the apple character alone; wild fermentation in the same shed can be lovely, but it's a gamble for a first batch. Keep the vessel at 15–18°C — a cool garage or north-facing room is ideal. Warm ferments throw fusel alcohols and strip the aroma.

Fit an airlock and leave it alone. You'll see a vigorous krausen in the first few days, then a slow trickle of bubbles for two to four weeks. Resist stirring, tasting with dirty utensils, or topping up with tap water. Oxygen is your enemy from here on.

When the bubbling drops to one every minute or so, check the gravity. You want it down to 1.005 or below and still creeping downwards. Dry cider finishes somewhere between 0.998 and 1.002 — bone dry, with no residual sugar to hide behind.

Racking, maturing and the malolactic rest

Rack the cider off its lees into a clean, sulphited demijohn or carboy, leaving the sediment behind and filling the vessel right up into the neck to minimise headspace. Add a further quarter Campden tablet per gallon if you want a safety net against oxidation.

Over the following two to three months, a secondary fermentation often kicks in — malolactic, which converts harsh malic acid into softer lactic acid. It's what gives traditional cider its roundness. A slow, sparse bubble and a slight silkiness in the mouth tell you it's happening. Rack again after another month, then again before bottling, until no more sediment drops.

• Mature for at least three months; six to nine months is better.
• Keep the vessel topped up, dark and around 10–12°C.
• Top up with a little reserved, sulphited juice rather than water, which dilutes the body.
• Taste monthly. If it's thin, blending with a small amount of fresh sweet juice at bottling will lift it.

Bottling, priming and patience

When the cider is clear, still and tastes balanced — tannin, acid and fruit in roughly equal measure — it's ready. Decide whether you want it still or sparkling. For still cider, bottle straight and use strong corked or swing-top bottles. For a gentle sparkle, prime with 5–7 g of sugar per litre, dissolve it in a little warmed cider first, and mix gently without splashing.

Use proper pressure-rated bottles: crown-cap beer bottles, champagne-style bottles or swing-tops. Thin wine bottles will shatter. Fill to within 2–3 cm of the top, cap, and store somewhere cool and dark for at least a month before drinking.

One last caution: if the gravity was still above 1.005 at bottling, you risk over-carbonation. Let it finish completely. A dry cider that has taken nine months from orchard to glass tastes of the apples it came from — and that's the whole point.