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Hi everyone! What a great forum!! I wondered if you helpful people could help me with a query. I have a big apple tree in my garden and wouldn't normally harvest the apples for a while yet, but unfortunately I am moving. If I harvested some now (there'll be plenty left for the new owners!), what would the taste be like in homebrew? They are good apples for cider or wine so if you know which might turn out the best I would be grateful for your knowledge. Many thanks!

You know, I haven't the foggiest idea about this. I tasted one of my eaters this morning and it turned my face inside out. Strictly speaking, I suppose, it should just be a matter of sugar content - the riper the apple, the more the sugar. If that's the case, then picking your apples now would be OK but you'd need to use a tad more sugar in your recipe (about 5% of the weight of the apples at a guess). On the other hand, if there are other chemical changes between now and full ripeness, you may end up making a complete mess.

Whatever the case, you certainly can't poison yourself. I'd go for it, make a single gallon as an experiment, and freeze the rest (chopped). If it works, you can make a lot more. If it doesn't, you know exactly where the stuff to bin is.

Best of luck ... Mike

EDIT: I'm talking about wine, by the way. I think trying to make cider with unripe apples would be a bit pointless.

Best cider is made with fully ripe windfalls as they have the best aroma and full sugar potential.
You could have a go but will need add sugar and will probably have quite a sharp cider as an end result.

If you pick them early (pulp then freeze to keep long term) they'll end up being sour but later you could add them to a super sweet batch and make a nice medium dry cider ;)