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Cider Digest #0645
Subject: Cider Digest #645, 5 February 1997
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #645 5 February 1997
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
re: Cider gone bad. (Dick Dunn)
Re: ACE Ciders (Greg Troxel)
Re: Cider Digest #641, 23 January 1997 (_Ralph Reed)
Commercial Cider Jack (T.J. Higgins)
dry-hopping (Philip DiFalco)
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Subject: re: Cider gone bad.
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 1 Feb 97 09:57:46 MST (Sat)
DRUMM@tiny.uwec.edu tells about a bad batch...
> This year I put so much time into building a grinder and a press that I
> rushed through the process of pressing, and took very little care in
> cutting out the bad parts of the apples. The result? not quite cider,
> not quite vineger, but bad (spoiled) enough to make it undrinkable.
>
> How can I complete the vineger process?
Careful. "Vinegar" is not the same as the result of spoiling a cider.
Just to explain the process: Vinegar, when made intentionally, is made by
first fermenting to produce alcohol, then letting vinegar bacteria turn
the alcohol into acetic acid. Once the bacteria (acetobacter) get started,
they normally finish the conversion and there's very little you can do to
stop them. This suggests you've got something else going on. Also, bad
spots on apples aren't normally connected (directly) to causing the cider
to go to vinegar. Flies commonly carry acetobacter, though.
Sounds like the first order is to figure out what's actually happened. You
may have cider spoiled by some other process, in which case the best thing
would be to get rid of it, cut your loss, and clean up all your equipment
very carefully. (I am puzzled, though, at what sort of spoilage you could
have gotten.)
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd at talisman.com Boulder County, Colorado USA
...Simpler is better.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: ACE Ciders
From: Greg Troxel <gdt@work.lexort.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 12:03:20 -0500 (EST)
I stopped by Nashoba Winery in Bolton, Mass. (between Boston and
Worcerster) a while ago. They had a product labeled 'Sparkling Pear
Wine', I think, which is a slightly fortified pear cider, around 7%.
I liked it a lot, and thought their regular apple cider was good too
(not very sweet, apple flavor). They said they would have an
English-style cider soon, but I haven't tasted that yet.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cider Digest #641, 23 January 1997
From: _Ralph Reed <reedr@ava.bcc.orst.edu>
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 09:10:19 -0800 (PST)
One must be careful about boiling corks. I ruined ten cases of
chardonnay a few years back by improper cork usage. I steamed the corks
first; then, when I put them in the bottles, the corker squeezed "cork
juice" into the wine and it had such a corky taste that it was
undrinkable. Wineries use corks that they receive at a defined moisture
content. One could use a quick rinse of bisulphite followed by a water
rinse, but don't let the corks stand in water. Better yet, just use
bottle caps.
-Ralph Reed, Corvallis, Oregon
>
> I am getting ready to bottle my first batch in wine bottles with #9 corks
> because I intend to sit on it for awhile. It's a real cider. Is there
> anything beyond basic good sterilization of the bottles and such that I
> need to worry about? Do I need to boil or otherwise sterilize the corks?
> Much obliged.
>
> Ethan
>
------------------------------
Subject: Commercial Cider Jack
From: tjhiggin@alpine.b17a.ingr.com (T.J. Higgins)
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 97 19:16:06 CST
While beer shopping at Harry's Farmers Market in Atlanta last weekend
I saw a product called "Cider Jack Hard Cider" by The American Cider
Company, Middlebury, VT. Never having tried it before, I picked up a
4-pack. The ingredients list American and French hard cider, sugar,
and preservatives (so I guess it's really a cyser). The label states
"100% hard cider, 6% alc by vol." I was quite amazed at the taste;
it tastes more like my own hard cider than any other commercial
product I've tried. That probably puts this stuff at the lower end
of the scale!
I've been shooting for a Woodchuck Dark and Dry type of cider,
without much luck, but I'm getting closer. There's a local orchard in
production here (rare in Alabama), so fresh cider is available; I
have no idea what kind of apples they grow.
Anyway, it was quite gratifying to find a commercial product that
bears a faint resemblance to my own ciders; at least I know I'm in the
ballpark.
- --
T.J. Higgins
tjhiggin@ingr.com
Huntsville, AL
------------------------------
Subject: dry-hopping
From: Philip DiFalco <sxupjd@fanniemae.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 97 11:34:11 -0500
I have a eight 5-gallon batches in secondary fermentaion, and was thinking of
experimenting by dry-hopping one batch (with perhaps 1 1/2 oz. of Saaz).
If you have ever dry-hopped your cider or cider-wine, I'd like to hear about
your results (post or private email).
Thanks.
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #645
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