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Cider Digest #0553
Subject: Cider Digest #553, 14 September 1995
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #553 14 September 1995
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Mead from Pumpkins?? (Peter R. Hoover)
cider yeasts-an experiment (Greg Appleyard)
Cider Making in the UK (wegeng.XKeys@xerox.com)
Re: Cider Digest #552, 7 September 1995 (Ron Sielinski)
cider/perry page/Dabinettes ("Dr. Gillian Grafton")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Mead from Pumpkins??
From: prh4@cornell.edu (Peter R. Hoover)
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 08:30:03 -0500
Steve Hollander writes:
I have about 100 pounds of French homegrown pumpkins and want to make a
big batch(say 50 gallons) of mead and not have to mess with the strainer
bag.
How do you make mead from pumpkins?? Inquiring minds want to know.
Peter Hoover
prh4@cornell.edu
------------------------------
Subject: cider yeasts-an experiment
From: Greg Appleyard <gappleyard@EM.AGR.CA>
Date: Fri, 08 Sep 1995 16:17:36 -0400
I have noted several questions lately on the variety of yeast one might use
to produce hard cider. Last year I ran an experiment to test a variety of
yeasts and wrote a small report for the benefit of the people who helped me
taste-test the products. My findings may be of interest. I have no
connections with the yeast manufacturers and the opinions expressed
within should not be taken as a the results of a proper scientific study.
****************************************
Yeast Selection for the Production of Hard Cider in Canada
Numerous manufacturers sell general purpose "wine",
"champagne", "ale" or "lager" yeasts and local beer and wine supply
stores generally have a broad selection of these yeasts (liquid and dried).
These yeasts are capable of fermenting grain (malt) and fruit (grapes etc)
sugars at various temperatures (4?C to 20?C) and with various
characteristics (top or bottom fermentation), but, a "cider" yeast does not
seem to be widely available. I, of course, feel this is a grave oversight and
is a source of frustration for hard-cider home-brewers.
Yeast variety as an important contributor to any beverage's
mouth-feel, aroma, and winning taste is not to be under-estimated. Just as
a low attenuated lager yeast would be a poor choice in brewing an Imperial
Stout, some yeasts may be poor choices in brewing hard cider (hereafter
known as cider). Similarly, wine makers would balk at making champagne
with a yeast better suited to a heavy red wine.
So what is a Canadian cider home-brewer to do? Well, short of
engineering your own yeast strain, one option is to test the commercially
available yeasts. Conventional wisdom is that wine and champagne yeasts
are more tolerant of the toxic effects of alcohol than beer yeasts and
therefore will produce a drier drink with a higher percentage of alcohol
(given available sugar of course). With this advice, many mead makers use
wine or champagne yeasts to generate potent elixirs or beer yeasts to
produce sweet mellow meads. The alcohol content of cider, however,
need not be that much greater than a strong beer (5-7%) (not including
applejack and apple wine) and so an entire range of beer and wine yeasts
need to be examined for their ability to contribute favourably to a tasty
cider.
This article, therefore, reports on my continuing quest to home-brew
cider in Canada and was built on the foundations of last year's successful
experiment on apple varieties and their contribution to the flavour and
aroma profile of hard cider. Given the best apple variety blend recipe
researched last year, I made 10 gallons of blended juice with which to test
10 yeast strains in 1 gallon batches.
The test batches consisted of 65% Golden Russet, 11% Paula Red,
16% Greenwoods (a wild variety whose location is kept secret!), 2.7%
Tremblett's Bitter (an european cider apple), 5.3% Red Delicious. The juice
was obtained by pressing each variety separately in a hand cranked
wooden apple press and stored frozen for several weeks prior to blending.
The blended juice had a S.G. of 1.057 and a pH of 2.8.
From a local beer supply store I obtained packets of dried Doric Ale
yeast, Cooper's Ale yeast, Lalvin red wine yeast #1116, Lalvin champagne
yeast #1118, Lalvin sherry yeast #1226, Red Star Montrachet wine yeast.
Agar slants of a german wheat beer yeast "mike" and a commercial cider
yeast "george" were donated by friends (to whom I am very grateful).
YeastLabs liquid culture of British Ale yeast was purchased from a
mail-order beer supply company. The tenth gallon of cider was simply
allowed to ferment by the organisms surviving in the blended juice ;"wild".
Following fermentation approximately 1 oz of granulated white sugar was
added to raise the S.G. to 1.005 and 0.02% sodium benzoate was added
as a stabilizer (this is less than the concentration of benzoate used in soft
drinks to keep them from fermenting).
The resulting ciders were subjected to aroma and flavour sensory
evaluation by a panel of people (willing members of the general public, who
also happen to be good friends of mine, but were completely impartial).
Their comments (the polite ones) and preferences were recorded and
tested by rigorous statistical analysis.
All ciders were very clear regardless of the yeast variety and from
last year's experiment this characteristic seems to be a variable associated
with apple variety. The most pleasing colour seemed to be a golden yellow
colour (mike, george, wild) and not a pale yellow colour (L1226,
RS-Montrachet, L1118, L1226) nor a too dark brown colour (Cooper). The
most pleasing aromas were associated with a tangy, fruity or apply smell
(wild, george, cooper, L1226) but not a musty, heavy, yeasty,
old-mushy-apples smell (British Ale, RS-Montrachet, Doric, Cooper).
Interestingly, the wheat beer yeast "Mike" generated a distinct
butterscotch smell and while interesting, was not considered by most to be
overly desirable even though it fared well in colour and flavour categories.
The most pleasing flavours were associated with crisp, apply, fruity,
slightly acidic or sharp tastes (wild, L1118, george, Doric, Cooper, mike).
Mild, flat, too bitter or wine-like flavours were not scored highly (British Ale
,
L1226, L1116, RS_Montrachet). The after-tastes which scored highly were
crisp, slightly bitter or complex (wild, L1118, mike) while too acidic, yeasty,
or cloying after-tastes were found disagreeable (British Ale, RS-Montrachet,
Doric).
Average score, out of 30 possible points resulted from numerical
evaluations of pleasing aroma, colour, taste, acidity, after-taste and
mouth-feel and voting results for the top three most drinkable ciders are
listed below.
Score (30) votes
wild 23.9 13
L1118 21.9 11
mike 21.2 2
george 21.1 11
Cooper 20.4 2
Doric 19.0 0
RS-Mont 17.8 0
L1226 15.4 5
L1116 14.2 1
YL-Brit 11.8 0
Since the juice was all from the same blend, fermented and stored
under the same conditions, these observations may be attributed primarily
to the workings of the individual yeasts.
Several lessons can be learned from this experiment. Wild yeasts,
generally despised by home-brewers but abundantly available on fresh fruit
and in unpreserved juice, can be used successfully to brew delicious cider.
I believe I shall be following techniques outlined in previous Newsletters on
culturing yeasts to try and preserve this isolate(s). A word of caution, wild
yeasts are notorious for variability. One year the cider may be
award-winning but could equally be putrid.
No one group of yeast (beer or wine) was more successful at
producing a tasty cider than the other. The top scoring three ciders were
produced by a wine yeast, a beer yeast and wild yeasts. To generalize
though, the beer yeasts tended to produce off-smelling musty ciders more
so than the wine yeasts.
Although light in colour and faint of aroma, the cider produced by
L1226 received favourable comments by those drinkers who liked a
champagne style of cider. The "george" yeast was a proven cider yeast
from an american cidery and so is not surprising that it fared well in scoring.
It was interesting that the commercially available yeast L1118 performed
nearly as well as the specifically cider-adapted yeast "george". The two
yeasts produced very different flavours and aromas but were judged to be
equally pleasing. The wild yeast(s) produced a complex cider with a crisp
flavour and clean after-taste, "a roller-coaster of flavour".
To conclude, home-brewers need not fret about the availability of
yeasts with which to make great cider. It just takes a bit of
experimentations to find the one that suits your tastebuds best.
------------------------------
Subject: Cider Making in the UK
From: wegeng.XKeys@xerox.com
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 10:10:41 PDT
I was skimming rec.crafts. winemaking today, and thought this message might be
of interest to readers of the Cider Digest. I'm forwarding it w/o permission.
/Don
Originally-From: John Houghton <JOHN@hough.demon.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 00:33:47 GMT
Cider, in fact, is the cheapest way of getting a hangover.
It is a strong drink, producing an intoxication which has something
incommon with some truth drugs. You feel at one with the earth and
very quickly aware of your own insignificance.
It produces memorable dreams, but if you know how to drink it you
can wake up with a clear head. If you don't, you can experience the
fiercest 'morning after' imaginable.
A proverb I can personally confirm is :-
Cider on Beer makes good cheer;
Beer on Cider makes a bad Rider.
Special apples are used for making cider, sweet, acid and tart. They
should be dry with a high tannin and sugar content.
Between September & October the cider orchards are picked, the apples
shaken down in bulk & sent for processing where they are washed, cut
up, squashed ,pulped & spread on coarse cloth in layers under the
press. After several pressings the juice poured into vats where it is
left to ferment for 2 or 3 weeks the time it take for the sugar to be
converted into alcohol.
The resulting liquid is a rough, dry cider. This is then filtered to
remove all sediment acquired during fermentation & sugar added to
make sweet cider or blended with others to suit different palates.
Conditioned cider is known in the West of England as Scrumpy,
a name which covers a multitude of sins if made at home, but if
manufactured means simply that a quantity of yeast has been added to
each cask to produce further fermentation.
It is much drier and more potent
In early winter newly-made cider is quite harmless, but the same
cider drunk the following summer can have a totally different effect.
Successful cider making depends on the raw material-the apple.
If all the solubles were extracted from the apple only 4% of hard
matter would be left - but this is a difficult process & usually only
75% of juice can be extracted at the 1st pressing & 10% at the 2nd.
With unripe apples the proportion is naturally less.
It is essential to use ripe fruit for quality & economical reasons.
There are about 500 varieties of apples in England alone, half of
which are useless in making of cider.
The table variety of apple contains far more acids than the cider
varieties. Rough flavoured apples are believed to be the best for
cider making in the west country there are a large number of unnamed
apples ideal for this, but the most popular are the Cherry Norman,
Kingston Black, Red Streak & Hagloe Crab.
Cider used to be made from one variety at a time only, but now
various types are mixed to make different blends.
Cider apples are improved by being wheathered & in some regions are
piled exposed to sun & wind until the skins are yellow & wrinkled.
Temperatures are also important in cider making. The colder the
better, the longer the delay the better. The best time for ripening
apples is not the best time for making cider.
Cider making at home is no more complicated than making other country
beverages, but the apples should be crushed before they are pressed
so that the juice can run free of the pulp.
The apples should be pounded into a coarse mash & set aside for 24 hr
at the end of which time the juice should run freely.
If a wine press is used the pulp should be put in a coarse linen bag
so that unwanted matter does not get mixed up with the juice.
The juice should be put in a open vessel filled to nine-tenths
capacity
covered over and placed in a warm place. Depending on the store &
ripness of the fruit, fermentation will start within a week, in ideal
cases within 24 hours. The fermentation throws up a crust of lees
which can last between 4 & 14 days.
Cheers.
- --
John Houghton.
john@hough.demon.co.uk
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cider Digest #552, 7 September 1995
From: Ron Sielinski <sielinr@cris.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 23:13:46 -0400
Jonny Miner writes:
>I want to make a sparkling sweet cider and have read that ale yeast
>was the way to go. The question is, which one. I'm partial to Wyeast,
>but will use dry in a pinch. What do you recommend?
This from Cider Digest #332, over 200 digests ago (still out there, Greg?):
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 93 16:24:42 EST
From: Greg Appleyard <UGG00081@vm.uoguelph.ca>
Subject: Yeast Survey
Thanks to all those that contributed to my informal cider yeast survey.
The results are as follows:
2 votes wine yeast
6 votes chapagne yeast
2 votes mead yeast
5 votes beer/ale yeasts
1 vote native yeast
The comments were very consistant. The chapagne yeasts produced a drinkable
product that was invariably too dry. Many brewers added back sugar in one
form or another but the most common was concentrated apple juice. Red Star
chapagne yeast was a popular choice but made a very dry cider which could be
"horrid" if the cider were too acidic.
Favourable comments were recieved for Whitbread Ale and Wyeast Irish
(a Guinness-like stout yeast) yeasts as well as a german wheat beer yeast.
The Wyeast Irish was reported to produce the ever elusive "appley" aroma.
Seria Nevada yeast was also recommended.
One unfavorable report was received regarding Cooper Ale yeast which may have
been responsible for a very nice vinegar.
YeastLab's Sweet Mead yeast is being put to the test as we speak and the one
vote for native yeasts was very favourable. Indeed,the native yeasts were
responsible for a prize winning brew.
Thanks again for everyone's comments.
Greg Appleyard
PS. What's Mother Nature waiting for? Bring on the apples!
- ------------------------------
------------------------------
Subject: cider/perry page/Dabinettes
From: "Dr. Gillian Grafton" <GRAFTONG@novell2.bham.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 16:10:13
Hi all
Roger mentioned the UK-homebrew Real Cider and Perry Page. The
URL is:
http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/GraftonG/cider/homepage.htm
Watch the capital letters, it's running on a UNIX system.
There are articles on cider making, perry making, apple varieties,
pear varieties, there's one plan for a cider press, and several
recipes.
Steven mentioned Dabinette apples. Here in the UK they are the
major cider apple variety. Jim Franklin of Franklin's cider and perry
fame (they regularly win CAMRA prizes) uses Dabinettes for his cider.
Also Dunkerton's cider makers use this variety both in blends and in
their single varietal ciders. There's a link to Dunkerton's home page
from the cider and perry page. Also on the cider and perry page is a
recipe from Ifor Williams for a cider using Dabinettes following Jim
Franklin's instructions. Dabinettes are readily available in the UK and
I have an address for a tree nursery which will supply them. Whether
you can import them into the US is another matter!
Gillian
//=\ Dr. Gillian Grafton
\=// Department of Immunology
//=\ University of Birmingham
\=// Birmingham, UK
//=\ Email: GraftonG@novell2.bham.ac.uk
\=// www: http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/GraftonG/
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #553
*************************
