During the late 1700's to early 1800's members of my family (Beardsleys) moved from Stratford,CT (which they were charter founders in 1633). To Western New York and settled in Hartland, NY. They were gentlemen farmers and dealt primarily in apples. The last Beardsley sold the farm in 1957. I grew up hearing about how it was run and had three great uncles who taught me about grafting. They took me out to three differnt kinds of apple trees my grandfather had in his yard and showed me how to graft. While they had always lived on the farm and had little education, they were so adept at cutting and grafting. They used to make cider (had the pulp in the bottom and looked cloudy). They used a wood press. They made apple butter (it takes a whole lot of apples to make a few jars). They also made hard cider.
You can make your own this way:
4 1/2 liters fresh apple juice (no preservatives)
1/2-1 lb sugar (not more than 2 lbs)
1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme powder
1 teaspoon acid blend
1/4 teaspoon grape tannin
1/2 teaspoon yeast energizer
2 campden tablets
1 packet all purpose wine yeast
10-16 servings 1 gallon Change size or US/metric
1.) Crush and dissolve campden tablets in a cup of warm water and mix well with the FRESH apple juice in your primary fermenter.
2.) Let stand over-night. Mix in all other ingredients except yeast making sure everything is dissolved, then sprinkle yeast over top of juice and cover with plastic sheet and ferment 3 to 5 days.
3.) Rack (siphon) into secondary fermenter and attach air lock.
4.) Rack again in 3 weeks.
5.) When all fermentation is finished, rack into a clean vessel and add 2 oz of white sugar and gently stir well.
6.) (Usually put the sugar into a bit of water and dissolve it first by boiling it in the microwave) When sugar is well mixed, bottle and age 3 months.
7.) This will give you a crisp, carbonated hard cider.
* The more sugar you add, the more alcohol you will get, but the longer it will take to ferment. I would recommend from 1/2 to 1 pound per gal/4.5 l and not more than 2 lbs.
I have included a url of a press one can get today...
http://www.homeciderpress.com/LazyK Pejay