For most Americans, the word cider conjures up images of freshly pressed apple juice. However, in all other parts of the world, the word cider refers to the fermented, alcoholic beverage made from pressed juice.
Hard cider, the American term for the alcoholic beverage, is a light-tasting, slightly sweet drink with approximately the same alcohol content as beer. Hard cider is typically made from a blend of juices from bittersweet and culinary apples.
Cider is produced in four main styles: still cider is uncarbonated, sparkling cider is lightly carbonated, New England hard cider may be still or sparkling, but contains elevated levels of alcohol (over 8 percent) and specialty hard cider is made with added sugar, honey, molasses, or fruit.
Hard cider refers to the fermented beverage made from the juice of apples.
Unfermented or sweet cider is fresh pressed apple juice.
Hard cider can range from sweet to dry depending on the type of apples and yeast used and the length of fermentation. It can be pasteurized and filtered to produce a draft hard cider, or left unfiltered as in farmhouse hard cider.
Hard cider is believed to have developed from wine making technology in the Basque country of northern Spain. Celts then spread cider-making technology throughout the northern coast of Europe as they traveled from Spain to England and Ireland.
The European hard cider industry flourished until the industrial revolution when thousands left their farms for cities and beer became the beverage of choice. However, interest in hard cider continued among the American colonists who brought apples and cider-making technology to the New World.
During the colonial period, hard cider was the beverage of choice. It was cheaper than beer and could easily be made at every farmhouse. It wasn’t until the 1900’s that hard cider decreased in popularity. Prohibition and the mass production of beer during the American industrial revolution led to its downfall. Today, however hard cider is making a strong comeback and there is increasing awareness and appreciation of this traditional beverage.
The United Kingdom leads the world in hard cider production and consumption, but the United States is catching up. There are approximately 60 cider manufacturers in the UK and approximately 30 in the U.S. Of the 30 in the U.S., about two-thirds produce draft hard ciders and the remaining third produces farmhouse hard ciders.
Hard cider produced in England is generally more tannic and ale-like due to their use of ale yeast and bittersweet apples. The cider made in the U.S. is generally sweeter and more champagne-like.
Honey imparts a sweet, smooth, mellow taste and pleasant floral scent to hard cider. It also increases the alcohol content of the cider by increasing the specific amount of sugars available for fermentation.
Honey naturally raises the specific gravity of pressed apple juice and imparts a smooth honey taste to hard cider. The specific gravity of fresh pressed apple juice is approximately 0.050. At this level, fermentation of the sugars present produces a hard cider with an alcohol content of 6 percent. However, contamination by yeast and bacteria is still possible. Therefore, many manufacturers raise the specific gravity of their product to create a hard cider with a higher alcohol content and longer shelf-life.
There are four basic types of apples: sweet apples include Baldwin, Cortland, Delicious and Rome Beauty; acidic apples are Northern Spy, Winesap, Greening and Pippin; aromatic apples include Macintosh and Russet and astringent apples are basically wild apples and crabapples.
NOTE: Honey adds 35 gravity points per pound of honey per gallon of cider.
Cider making begins with apple selection. Most ciders are a blend of juices from several apple varieties. A typical blend of apples would include approximately 50 percent sweet apples, 35 percent acidic apples and 5 percent astringent apples. As a rule of thumb it takes 100 pounds of apples to make 8 gallons of juice.
The cider brewer must decide whether to buy fresh pressed apple juice or press it themselves. When buying pressed juice, the cider manufacturer has no control over the types of apples used and whether preservatives have been added. Milling and pressing can be expensive and laborious, but brewers have more control over the cider processed.
Honey Cider Facts
Once the apples have been selected, they are milled or ground to produce apple pulp, called pomace. The pomace is then pressed to obtain apple juice. Some brewers treat the juice, called must, with sulfites to reduce bacteria and wild yeasts. Some prefer to skip this step and allow wild yeasts present in the juice to begin ferment. If fermentation with wild yeast is not preferred, one to two Campden (potassium metabisulphite) tablets per gallon will kill all unwanted organisms. After adding sulfite, the juice should be aerated for 24 hours before adding yeast to prevent its destruction.
Once the juice has been pressed, the specific gravity, pH and tannin level must be checked with a hydrometer and enough honey should be added to reach a specific gravity of approximately 1.060. However, the amount of honey added depends on the preferred alcohol content of the finished cider. The more honey added, the higher the alcohol content will be.
The pH of the pressed juice should be in the range of 3.9 to 4.0. To lower the pH add malic acid (the principle acid in cider) and to raise the pH add precipitated chalk. The correct level of acid is essential because it balances the alcohol in the cider and helps protect it from contamination. Tannin is found in crabapples and is what gives them their astringent taste. In cider it provides long-term structure and a pleasant dry taste.
The tannin level of the juice will need to be adjusted if the juice was pressed from sweet apples such as Red Delicious. One teaspoon of tannin powder for every five gallons of pressed juice is needed when sweet apples are used. However, if the correct blend of sweet, aromatic, acidic and astringent apples are used, acid and tannin will not need to be adjusted.
After honey has been added and any adjustments have been made, the juice
is ready for fermentation. Cider undergoes two different kinds of fermentation.
The first is carried out by yeast which have either been added or are
naturally present. This fermentation converts sugars to ethanol and
alcohol. The second fermentation involves the conversion of malic acid
to lactic
acid and carbon dioxide by lactic acid bacteria.
The temperatures necessary for primary and secondary fermentation are often different. Temperatures for primary fermentation depend on the type of yeast used, while secondary fermentation should occur at temperatures below 55° F (13° C).
Many types of yeasts can be used to ferment cider. Yeasts that add little character and flavor and do not mask the delicate apple taste are typically preferred. Champagne yeasts which are capable of converting more of the natural fruit sugars to alcohol and which do not impart flavor are often used by cider manufacturers. Fermentation action usually stops within two to three months when acid and alcohol levels build up in the juice. After
Honey Hints
To produce a more alcoholic and dry honey cider, the honey added should
be allowed to ferment to completion. However, the final product will
only have a slight honey flavor. To produce a sweeter, less alcoholic
and more honey flavored cider, fermentation should be shortened to prevent
the entire consumption of honey by the yeast.
fermentation subsides, the cider is left for the yeast to settle and is
either coldfiltered, centrifuged or simply siphoned to another bottle to
separate the dormant yeast from the juice. Cider can be stored in any type
of bottle that can be sealed with a cap or a cork. Capped bottles may be
used to store still (uncarbonated) cider or cider that has been primed
to become sparkling cider (carbonated). Corked bottles are only used with
still cider because the pressure that builds inside a sparkling cider would
pop the cork.
The cider should be stored for at least six months in a dark place to age. The cider should be stored at 65 to 72° F (18 to 24° C) to let the flavors mellow and the edges soften. However, the length of aging depends on the style of cider being made. Light, sparkling ciders require less time, while stronger ciders may take anywhere from three months to a year to fully mature.
The Art of Cidermaking, by Paul Correnty
provides step by step instruction on the production of cider. The honey cider recipes on the following pages have been taken from Correnty’s book with permission. If you have access to the Internet, two interesting Web sites are:
The Real Cider and Perry page (http://web.bham.ac.uk/GraftonG/cider/homepage.htm),and
The Brewery page (http://www.brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/11_toc.html).
Also, a quick search on the Internet can provide you with a wealth of information.
To create a sparkling cider, a small amount of sugar must be added to
the cider before it is capped and stored. This process is called priming.
To prime five gallons of cider boil half cup of cane or corn sugar together
with a pint of water for five minutes. Let cool before mixing with your
cider. Then pour into a large container before racking the cider. The sugar
syrup will activate the dormant yeast still alive in the unfiltered and
unsufited cider. With no escape from the capped bottles, the carbon dioxide
from the yeast will be absorbed by the cider to create sparkling bubbles.
©2007 National Honey Board
www.honey.com | www.honeylocator.com
