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Cider Digest #0593
Subject: Cider Digest #593, 21 April 1996
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #593 21 April 1996
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Digests may be erratic (Dick Dunn)
Re: Cider Digest #591, 9 April 1996 (Jim LaFronz)
Methods for bottling cider ("Colin J. McConnell")
Getting a sweet carbonated cider.. (Alson Kemp)
Re: sweet, sparkling cider ("Ben Brinkmann")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Digests may be erratic
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 14 Apr 96 12:44:23 MDT (Sun)
The Cider Digest and Mead-Lover's Digest may be erratic over the next
couple weeks. (I know, I can hear some of you saying "...as if they're not
already!".)
Expect that you may see digests alternately close together and spread out.
Admin requests may take longer than usual.
Things should settle down again in early May.
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cider Digest #591, 9 April 1996
From: Jim LaFronz <jlafronz@tribeca.ios.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 23:18:37 -0400
Thanks to all for setting me straight on the role of Potasium Sorbate. I
didn't realize how ineffective it was as an inhibitor. Sorry for my bad
advice.
Jim LaF.
------------------------------
Subject: Methods for bottling cider
From: "Colin J. McConnell" <ucjm3@sunyit.edu>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 11:36:03 -0400 (EDT)
I'm pretty new here and also to cider making, 2 batches, but from
previous mead and brewing experience I want to share with you how I do my
bottling of cider. I see alot of people want dry cider and others who
want sweet, my methos is so simple you can do both. I buy cider from an
old brewer in Verona, NY, some special blend that tastes great. I then
add some nutrien, tanni, pottasium sorbate, and 5 pounds of corn sugar,
that sets for 24 hours and then I pitch 2 packs of lavin-18 and let it go
for 2 weeks, rack to secondary and forget it for about 5 months. Here's
the part people want to hear, I then pasturize the cider, at that point
no more yeast activity, I rack to a 5gal. soda keg, push it thru my
filter and into a counter-pressure bottle filler. This method wastes very
little cider, I bottle 1 case this way. I then put the rest into a 3 gal
soda keg (you can use another 5 gal) and force carbonate the rest and use
the counter-pressure filler again. I end up with 1 case still cider and
just over a case of sparkling, I have full control over carbonation and I
can add sugar to make the cider sweeter after pasturization. You don't
need to filter but the cider comes out clearer if you do. Just my 2 cents.
- --Colin McConnell
------------------------------
Subject: Getting a sweet carbonated cider..
From: Alson Kemp <kempal@ECE.ORST.EDU>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 09:19:36 -0700 (PDT)
> How's about using some low-alcohol yeast (ale, lager?). Ferment
> until the little beasties stop fermenting, then bottle. There should
Until the little beasties stop fermenting because of the high
alcohol content. Keep adding sugar until alcohol reaches 6-7% and
the beasties settle out. If sugar is added before bottling, a few
yeasties should be able to ferment it, but that'll raise the alcohol level
further and probably shut them down, too....but hopefully, the bottles
will be carbonated!
BOOM, baby, BOOM!!!
- -------------
Alson R. Kemp III kempal@ece.orst.edu
Humanity manages the environment, because Humanity cannot manage itself.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: sweet, sparkling cider
From: "Ben Brinkmann" <bbrink@explorer.mayo.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 10:00:14 -0500
Greetings.
I just thought I'd throw my $0.02 worth in regarding the recent discussion
of how to get a sweet, sparkling cider.
I've tried using medium alcohol-tolerant yeasts to get a sweet, still cider
with very little luck. When the alcohol content of the must approaches the
tolerance of the yeast, fermentation gets _really_ slow. This isn't a
problem in itself, but if you bottle the stuff and let it condition for
a few months, BOOM. Even if you're very patient and measure the alcohol
content of the must, bottling only when it's pretty near the yeast tolerance,
there are no guarantees that all your yeast will die at _exactly_ 8%
alcohol, or whatever, and there are no guarantees that your hydrometer
readings are exact measures of the alcohol content. The result is a
guessing game resulting in either glass schrapnel flying around your basement
or a cider with a wimpy fizz at best. Neither is desirable, if you ask
me...
> Ferment you[r] cider with a medium alcohol tolerant strain of
>yeast in order to leave some residual sugar in the must. Sulfite, rack,
>prime and bottle with fresh yeast for carbonated cider.
I don't see how this method avoids the exploding bottle problem. If you
add a champaign yeast to a brew with residual sugar, you're sure to have
a problem, and if you add the same yeast strain as you just killed off,
what's the difference? In fact, most yeasts require some aeration to
get started, and while they're getting started they don't produce any
CO2. Only when the yeast is well-established and enters the anaerobic
stage are CO2 and alcohol produced. So, it seems that if you added
the same yeast as you just killed, you'd be unlikely to get any carbonation.
There are two solutions to this problem, aside from heat pasteurization,
which seems to be the most viable alternative for homebrewers:
1) brew a sweet, still cider (using sulfites or pasteurization) and then
cap your bottles under high-pressure CO2. (I'm no expert, but I'm guessing
this involves expensive equipment.)
2) Add an unfermentable sugar (lactose?) to a dry, carbonated cider
recipe.
Also, for a sweet, still cider, I've had great luck pasteurizing (160 degrees
F) the must under airlock. (of course, this was a one gallon batch- no
guarantees for a 5-6 gallon carboy, but I think it could be done if one
could comandeer the bathtub or a laundry sink for long enough.)
> Pastuerize the must at 165 dF for 10 minutes to kill the yeast.
My experience has been that an hour is necessary to ensure a thorough
pasteurization.
Ben Brinkmann
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End of Cider Digest #593
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