I juice my own apples. I juice each variety separately so I can learn the specific gravity of each. Overall average of all of them is exactly 1.045. However the range is 1.031 (Wynooche Early) to 1.073 (tiny decorative crabapples). The best overall cider apples are:
- the ones you can get for free or dirt cheap,
- the most volume of juice per weight of whole apples, and
- the highest original gravity.
Weighing each of these factors, my favorite cider apples include: any crabapples (crabs all seem to hit all the marks highly), Golden Noble, Washington Strawberry, Scarlet Surprise, and good old Honeycrisp (a little expensive but unbelievably juicy, with good gravity at 1.048).
The ones that I might not use so much for juice anymore include: McIntosh, Cortland, Jonathan, St. Edmund’s Pippin, Gingergold, Winesap, Ellison’s Orange, and Wynooche. That being said, I picked a bushel of Cortland and Jonathan this year so I’ll give them another shot. Their juice is extremely aromatic and flavorful so it’s good to blend some in probably, but they also kind of turn to mush when juicing and don’t seem to want to give it up as much as other apples will – low volume yield. A mushy apple is not your friend when juicing. You need a little bit of body to it to be able to squeeze the juice out from between the cracks, so to speak. It’s kind of similar to a stuck sparge in beer brewing – too much goo and the liquid doesn’t want to pass through anymore.
Many other apples fall between these extremes and are fine for juice. Many of your grocer’s apples are probably just fine. What you want is good ripe juicy apples that are still reasonably fresh and not turning too mushy. At least, that’s what’s worked best for me.
I’ve also found that I while I like a few tart apples in the mix, I don’t like it too tart. I also don’t like a ton of astringency. So for example, crabapples tend to be very tart and very astringent. So, as sugary as their juice is (1.060s and 70s!), you can’t use too many a lot of times or the finished cider will be quite harsh.
Cider making is an art. It’s extremely simple to make great cider on your first try. It’s also fun to play with blending, and so it can take many years to master the art. It’s great fun. Love it.