How to donate your apples
Don't let your apples fall and rot on the ground. Donate your apples and get FREE cider or apple juice in return. Simply get in touch to be involved and enjoy your very own Somerset craft cider... Be part of something great.
What's in it for you?
As well as the satisfaction of knowing that your donated apples are being used, we will give you some of our cider in return for your support. As a rough rule of thumb we give you 1 bottle of our Cider for every 25-30 kg sackful of apples you donate, up to a maximum of 24 bottles.
What do you need to do?
Simply contact us below to let us know where you are in West Somerset how many apples you are likely to be able to donate and when your apples are likely to be ready to pick (they are ready when they are starting to drop or when they fall when the branch is gently shaken). You can pick up apple sacks from us and if you are able to drop them to us that would be great. Alternatively, of course, if you are not too far away and the volume is enough, we can pick up your collected apples.
For more information please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) below.
Benefits
For every 25-30 kg sackful of apples you donate, up to 24 bottles, you get 1 bottle of cider.
Some of the things we are asked most frequently about!
How long does it take from apple pressing to the cider being ready?
The process of cider making shouldn’t be rushed! I have learnt from painful experience that if you try to push cider on too quickly the results are a poor cider which can be over carbonated if bottled too quickly.
Cider needs time to mature, it is all dependant on the temperatures in the cider house as well as the apples used. Typically cider will take 6 months to mature sufficiently for bottling. So if we are pressing in October it should nearly be ready for drinking in May.
What sort of apples do you use?
We use any apples that are available. They may be dessert, cooking, crab or cider apples. We blend the apples when we mill and press them so to try and get a balance of sweet and bitter to give a great cider. If we don’t achieve the right balance we blend the cider later in the process.
Is there a maximum amount of apples we can bring?
No, there is no maximum amount you can bring but please tell us in good time before bringing a lot of apples so we can plan to receive them. There is a maximum of cider or apple juice we give in return though in order to make it viable. We give 1 bottle per 25Kg sack up to a maximum of 2 case, 24 bottles. We can only take a limited amount of Cooking Apples, so please check before bringing these.
When are the apples ready?
We prefer apples that are ripe. This isn’t necessarily when they are falling from the tree as a tree may shed some apples for many reasons. Please check by cutting an apple in half and checking the colour of the pips. They should be dark brown. In addition, when you shake the branch they should easily fall to the ground.
How careful do I need to be when picking the apples?
Care should always be taken when picking apples but especially when making apple juice. No bruised or damaged fruit can be used to make apple juice. We usually pick the apples we use for juice into baskets to help protect them. For cider making the fruit may be bruised slightly but must not be rotten. We usually pick the apples and put them in string sacks which keeps them in good condition.
Where should we deliver the apples?
You can deliver them to us at Wansborough Paper Mill, Brendon Road, Watchet TA23 0AY. We will be doing all our processing onsite from the Autumn of 2021 onwards.
Please do get in touch first as this is for our apple processing only—we are there by appointment only. For any other matters please get in touch with us at the address on our contact page.