Book Review: Real Cidermaking on a Small Scale

I have recently been flipping though my cider making books, and so I thought I would be more in depth about them.

Real Cidermaking On a Small Scale by Michael Pooley and John Lomax was published in 1999, and it is a book about how to make cider and is very comparable to Andrew Lea’s Craft Cidermaking. Probably the one thing that makes me love this book is the flow diagram to making either still or sparkling cider. Most of the time, cider making is reduced to eight steps, but the flow diagrams include hang ups that can occur. Call me a visual learner, but looking at something like this is when the process clicks in my head.

This book also contains instructions and drawings to create an apple press, though getting them ground up ahead of time is better left to renting a machine.

Andrew Lea does have a few comments on his website about this book, saying, "REAL CIDERMAKING - On a small scale" by Michael Pooley and John Lomax - ISBN 1-85486-195-6 - Nexus Special Interests, Kent. This was published in 1999, and is a good description of how to make cider in a 'naturalistic' manner on a small scale at home (but it does contain a serious typographical error [about keeving]!). This book, like the Proulx and Nichols one, also includes plans for a small scale cider press, in this case of the 'slatted basket' type. See the Shropshire Apple Network website for more details about the book, the press and associated training courses.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cidermaking-Small-Scale-Michael-Pooley/dp/1854861956