Apple basher thingy!

[raine]

Hi all, a couple of daft questions. How do I sterilise my apple press ready for making cider? And the apple bashing thingy ( in my case, a large bit if two by four) - do I need to sterilise that? If so what do I do? Any help gratefully received!

[burnie]

I don't sterilise mine, it was all given a good wash after the last use and also before the next just with hot soapy water. If you wanted to make cider using only the wild yeast, any sterilising solution could wipe out said yeast, all the fermenting vessels also need to be treated the same way for wild cider. If you plan to add yeast or drink the juice fresh, then sterilising would do no harm. If you ever saw how farmhouse cider used to be made, you wouldn't drink it(and that's before the dead rat went in!!)

[raine]

Thank you!