Brewing Master

Question:

What is the basic technique for making hard cider from apple mash (American cider )? As I understand it, all you need to do is fill up a bucket with the stuff, add some yeast & sugar & let ‘er rip. Could anyone give a clue on how much of each, preferred yeast, anything? DB

Response:

What the heck, so many people have been requesting cider instructions, I’ll post the set I’ve been compiling: On making ciders and perries: Disclaimer: I am not an expert. This information is based on my own experience (having successfully made cider, perry, various fruit meads, and a wide range of ales), and information gleaned from discussions with other brewers.  For the most part, I will describe what works for me.  In some cases, I will mention alternative approaches and the reasons for my choices. All information should be taken with a grain of salt. Intro —– For the purposes of this discussion, ciders and perries will be defined as relatively low alcohol (closer to beer strength than wine strength) beverages made from the largely unadulterated juice of apples and pears respectively. This discussion will only consider the fermentation of *extracted* juice, not fermentation of macerated fruit. While the procedure for making cider and perry are identical, the wide variety of apples available add another dimension to the making of cider.  In addition, the lower popularity of perry makes information about it scarce.  For these reasons, this discussion will henceforth only refer to apples/cider. Except where the discussion revolves around apple varieties, and elsewhere as noted, it may be assumed that the same procedures apply to pears/perry. Choice of apples Traditionally, alcoholic (hard) cider is made from special varieties of apples that have been bred for this purpose. These varieties are rare in North America, and increasingly so in Europe. To understand what is special about these apples, and to understand how to approximate a cider made from them by blending available varieties, the flavour profile of apple juice must be considered.  The main components are sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and aromatics. The sweetness will be largely absent in the fermented cider since the sugars will be converted to alcohol. The sourness and bitterness are widely regarded as important for providing character to the cider, and the aromatics will make the cider taste/smell of apples. Unfortunately, many of the ciders available at grocery stores, farmers markets, and roadside stands do not have what is traditionally regarded as the optimal balance of these flavour components for hard cider. Many of these ciders consist largely of dessert apples and while this may produce a cider that is sweet and pleasant enough, the flavour may be disappointing once fermentation has converted most of the sugar to alcohol. In the absense of true cider apples, the ideal flavour profile can be approximated by blending:             Desert apples (eg. Delicious, MacIntosh, Pippins, etc.) Cooking apples – for sourness (eg. Paula Red, Ida Red, Northern Spy, Cortland) Crab apples – for bitterness in proportions of approximately 7:2:1. Making one gallon of cider is barely worthwhile except as an experiment.  The standard sized batch (for which the most readily available brewing equipment is designed) is 20 litres. It takes about 2 bushels of apples (~100lbs) to yield this much juice.  Extracting the juice from that much fruit is a fairly daunting task if all you’ve got is a small press or juicer. Unless you have a good cider press, or have the connections to get cider pressed to your specifications, one of the following compromises will have to be made since : a) Simply use whatever cider is available and hope for the best b) Inquire about the blend of apples used in a particular cider and    try to choose one that sounds like it has a decent blend – a    cider containing a wide range of apples is better than one containing    one or two varieties c) choose a cider that comes as close as possible to your desired    blend, and then augment the juice with small amounts of what’s missing    by pressing these apples yourself (with a juicer or small press). d) choose a cider, then augment it with frozen apple concentrate    (typically 1 can concentrate to 1 gallon cider) I haven’t tried    this method yet, but I understand that it can help spice up    what would otherwise be a bland cider. e) choose a cider that comes as close as possible to your desired    blend, and add acid and/or tannin additives to correct the balance.    I have no experience with this approach.  See additives. A very good cider can be obtained with no more effort than method b). Before cider season proper commences, identify potential sources of unpreserved cider. Most apple cider has potassium sorbate added to it, making it unsuitable for fermentation (sorbate is a yeast inhibitor).  You must make absolutely certain that the cider does not contain any sorbates!  During cider season, inquire from these sources about the blend they are using (this will change over the course of the season).  Once candidates are identified, if it is feasible, you might want to purchase a jug from each so that you can compare the ciders and choose the one you think tastes best before purchasing the whole amount required. Alternatively, you may want to ferment a gallon of each, keeping track of the sources so that the best source will be identified for the following year. If you do have access to a small press or juicer, while pressing the whole batch may be impractical, it may be feasible to press a basket or two of crab apples to add to a purchased cider. Helpful hint: juice extraction is greatly enhanced by freezing the fruit for a few days and then thawing it.  Put the fruit in a good freezer bag to avoid freezer burn and to contain the juice that will ooze out upon thawing. Additives Additives fall into a number of possible categories: Fermentables – sugar, honey, apple concentrate, other fruit Spices – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc. Yeast Nutrients Sterilizers/stabilizers Acid blend/Tannin The number of combinations and variations that are possible with the first two categories is beyond the scope of this basic introduction. Some cider makers add yeast nutrients to ensure a strong fermentation.  While apple juice may not be as rich as beer wort in the trace elements required for healthy yeast metabolism, neither is it as poor as mead must.  I have never found it necessary to add yeast nutrients to my ciders, and have obtained clean, vigorous fermentations. Your mileage may vary. Metabisulphite (campden tablets) will be covered in the next section.  Since most people want their ciders carbonated, the use of stabilizers is inappropriate. Acid blend and tannin can be added to bring the flavour profile of the cider in line with what is regarded as optimal.  Without test equipment, this is something of a hit and miss affair. Test kits are available at brew supply stores, as are books containing instructions on this approach.  In some respects, this is an alternative to obtaining a good blend of apples. Sterilizing the Must Well, when you get your fresh cider (assuming nothing has been added in the pressing process) it will have a certain amount of wild yeast, bacteria, mold spores, etc.  in it from what was on the apple skins, the press, etc. at pressing time. This flora will vary from region to region, season to season, and perhaps from orchard to orchard. There’s basically 4 things you can do: 1) Just let the juice ferment as is using the indigenous yeast.    While there’s a certain amount of risk involved with this approach    (it’s really hard for a beer brewer like myself to follow this route),    many cider makers report good results with this method. 2) Do nothing about the indigenous yeasts, but add a brewing yeast in the    hope that the larger population of added yeast will dominate.    Risks of approach #1 are somewhat mitigated by the strong initial    fermentation that will result.  Still some risk of problems down the    road, but again, many cider makers report good success with this    approach. 3) Add potassium metabisulphite (campden tablets) to kill the indigenous    flora, then add a brewing yeast.  This approach reduces the risk of    uninvited guests spoiling the cider down the road.  I’ve always found    that the residual SO2 from the sulphite lingers for a long time and    slows the onset and vigor of the initial fermentation (I’ve done A/B    comparisons).  I find that a ’sulphur’ taste seemed to linger far    down the road.  Some people are alergic to sulphites. Still, many    people go this route. 4) Heat the juice up to pasturizing temperature (about 160F for 15min)    to kill *most* of the indigenous flora, then pitch your desired    yeast.  In this case, you have a bit of work involved in heating/    cooling the cider, and you risk setting the pectin (which will    cause a haze – although adding pectinase will fix that).  The main    disadvantage is that the heating may adversely affect the flavour    of the cider. I think beer brewers and mead makers are more inclined    to go this route since they’ll have the equipment and familiarity.     The main problems with approaches 1 and 2 are that down the road, small amounts of nasty organisms will cause the cider to spoil.  If sugar is added to boost the final alcohol level, this might help (perhaps this is how people who go this route get away with it as often as they do?). I have not been happy with my results using method 3.  I typically use method 4, although I am currently dabbling with method 2. Procedure As I don’t recommend the use of sulphites, I won’t discuss this method any further. In the following procedure, steps 1 to 3 may be skipped (see Sterilizing the must). For those with no brewing experience, it is recommended that a book on beer, wine or cider making be consulted for basic brewing/sanitation methods.  ’The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing’ by Charlie Papazian, though a text on beer making, can be used as a reference for basic equipment/techniques. 1) Heat in a big canning pot (may have to do in … read more »

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