A while back myself and my roommate were given two gallons of very delicious apple cider from a family at my church. This stuff is top notch cider, in my opinion, but I had a problem: I can’t really drink much of it—a few ounces at a time is about my limit. It’s not because I’m diabetic, I just can’t handle the sweetness of it, it’s too much for me.
While I could dilute it with water, and so also extend it’s life, I decided to try something I’ve always wanted to do: Ferment it! The fermentation process consumes much of the raw sugar in the cider, leaving it lighter and easier for me to drink. Also, if made correctly, different flavors are brought out, and the apple taste can be enhanced.
One of the key things to know about fermenting cider is that the sugars are “free”, that is, it costs nothing for the bacteria to get at them. What this means is that, unless some countermeasures are taken, all the sugar in the cider will be consumed, leaving the cider “dry”. I confess my tasting experience of cider is rather limited, so I’m not exactly sure what this “dry” cider would taste like, but a similar process occurs with dry champagne, and since I don’t really like that style I am going to attempt a slightly sweet final product.
The process I am planning on using is detailed below, for educational and reference purposes, and I’ll add pictures as the process continues.
The Process
This is a description of the fermentation process used to produce hard cider.
Many excellent resources are available online, but one of the better ones is HomeBrewTalk.com.
Apples
We begin with the noble apple, a fruit with a long history and an exquisite and well known flavor. Different breeds of apples will, of course, produce a different flavor, and people will argue forever as to what flavors are the best.
In my case, I was given the fresh cider as a finished (not pasteurized) product, so I had little control over what was put in it. However, I did talk to the man who put the cider together, and his process was: They are basically given a huge pile of second-class apples, but they go through them all individually, discard the bad ones, and cut off all bruises and bad sections.
This cider is a known ratio of different breeds of apples, although I forget the types now. I’ll update if I figure it out.
Yeast
While the yeast consume sugar, they leave a waste product of ethanol (the alcohol) and create a unique flavor. Bread yeast does similar, and has a unique flavor, but produces less ethanol. The discussion of which yeast to use is also never ending, but a Lager yeast is generally considered a good choice. Champagne yeasts are also used, but generally will produce a dryer cider.
You can actually use bread yeast, and I have had success with it in the past, but it’s apparently highly likely to make your cider taste bad, so you probably shouldn’t risk wasting your time. Anyway, good yeast only costs 1-2$ (US) for a pack that will produce 5 gallons, so you may as well do it right.
Currently I am using some general Lager yeast from a local home-brew store, but my next batch I may purchase something more specific.
Fermentation
There are many many different processes you can use, but the basic idea is that you make the environment of the cider favorable for yeast growth. If you are using bought yeast, you should really pasteurize the cider to kill off any other bacteria. Doing this will make sure that your results stay consistent each time you brew, and you can adjust factors knowing that stray yeasts aren’t giving you different results each time. Sterilization of all utensils and containers used during the process is critical for the same reasons, especially because stray bacteria are very likely to ruin a batch of cider.
Yeast bacteria consume the sugars and produce ethanol alcohol, so the final alcohol is almost entirely dependent on how much sugar is available during the fermentation. Measuring sugar content directly is actually a rather difficult process, but thankfully science and chemistry come to the rescue, giving us a method of measuring sugar content indirectly: The Hydrometer.
Hydrometers work off of the basic principal that liquid with more sugar is more dense, so it can support more weight. You measure the density of the liquid, and use that information to infer the sugar content. This isn’t an entirely accurate measurement, but if you are aware of the factors that can cause measurement error, it is a pretty reasonable idea. Also: It’s a pretty cheap tool, you can buy a reasonable one for under 10$. This link has a table of information with converting measurements of specific gravity (basically the density of the liquid) to a measurement of sugar content.
Knowing the sugar content of the cider gives a knowledge of the predicted alcohol content in the finished product, which can be adjusted by changing the sugar content. It is very common to add sugar to the cider before brewing, so the final alcohol content can be increased. Sugar content can be measured throughout the fermentation process, so that the cider can be modified during the process to achieve a desired final alcohol and sugar level.
Stopping the Fermentation
As mentioned earlier, the sugar in cider is freely available, so if the yeast are not stopped mid-fermentation the cider will be very dry. To stop the fermentation process it is necessary to stop the yeast from eating the sugars. There are several ways to do this, but I will only mention three.
Cold Shock
One common and simple method of stopping the yeast is by chilling the cider to a low enough temperature that the yeast become inactive.The main advantage of using this method is that it is simple. You just take your bottles of cider and put them in your fridge.
The difficulty here is that the yeast are not killed but instead become dormant. Because of this, you’ll need to store the cider somewhere colder than a root cellar, and if you transport it to a friends house you’ll need to keep it on ice. The yeast will become active and possibly begin affecting the flavor of the cider within an hour or less, depending on their conditions of course. Usually it is okay to let the cider warm up a bit, but the main point is that you probably can’t just store this in your basement/cellar, you’ll need to keep it in the fridge.
Pasteurization: Method One
Another way to stop the yeast process is by pouring it into a pot and heating it on the stove until it hits 160F (pasteurization temperature), then immediately bottle it up in the final bottles. This has the benefit of completely killing off the bacteria, so you can leave them in your cellar or on a shelf (out of the sunlight!) and not worry about the yeast continuing to change the flavor and alcohol/sugar content.
Of course the main difficulty here is that it’s a pain and a lot of time. There is also a danger of contamination, since you’ll be exposing the cider to multiple open surfaces. Additionally, this method will make your final cider product rather flat, with no bubbly action, and that makes me sad. There are ways around this dilemma, but they are difficult, and there is an easier way:
Pasteurization: In Bottle
The way which I will be using is a sort of “canning” method, which heats the cider while it is inside a capped bottle. The cider is monitored carefully and when the alcohol, sugar, and carbonation level are correct, the bottles are placed in a pot of heated water for a long enough time to get the cider into the pasteurization temperature.
Benefits of this approach are many: Besides the bottles that get opened for testing purposes, the bottle stays completely sealed so there are no problems with contaminants. Since the bottle is sealed, an exact carbonation level can be produced and maintained (pasteurization will not remove it), so a nice bubbly cider can be made.
Since the bottles are slightly pressurized to begin with (carbonation) and then heated to pasteurization temperatures, they are under some reasonably high pressures, so the caps must be made very secure and the bottles should be moved only gently.
Another thing to know is that you’ll be opening a bottle every so often, so you can detect the carbonation level and decide when to stop the fermentation. A greater familiarity with the process and timing of the process will help you here, but once you open the bottle you can still recap it, just make sure you open a different bottle each time, and be sanitary so you don’t contaminate that opened bottle.
Resting Time: Maturity
When I first read about making mead, another of my favorite drinks, I found out that the flavor of the mead is affected greatly by how much time you let it mature after the fermentation process is complete. Cider is no different, from that general perspective at least. A good mead may be drinkable in a month, but if you give it a year it will be like the nectar of the gods. I hope cider doesn’t take that long, but you’ll certainly want to give it a month or so before you bother drinking it.
I am bottling up this next batch in single serve bottles, the standard 11.5 oz size, so I’ll be able to sample the cider without losing too many if it’s not ready. Smaller bottles require more time and effort to prepare, but the smaller size is good for initial experimentation.
Final Notes
If you made it this far I am impressed. This is mostly meant as a beginning reference for myself, explaining the basic concept of apple cider fermentation.
The basic idea of making cider is so simple anyone can do it: Buy a gallon of apple juice, add some yeast, let it sit for a few months, enjoy!
Getting into cider making is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and I plan on approaching it in a scientific manner, so that I can reproduce excellent quality cider every time.
“And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.” (Psalm 104:15)
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