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Cider Digest #0967
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Errors-To: cider-errors@talisman.com
Reply-To: cider@talisman.com
To: cider-list@talisman.com
Subject: Cider Digest #967, 2 May 2002
Cider Digest #967 2 May 2002
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
ATF cider definitions (Tim Bray)
Baldwin Cider (Tim Bray)
Web site (Roy Bailey)
[forwarded] a fun/horror story from Herefordshire (Cider Digest)
sulfites in cider ("Benjamin Watson")
Sulfite (Andrew Lea)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: ATF cider definitions
From: Tim Bray <tbray@mcn.org>
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:12:46 -0700
Concerning ATF regs:
> Also, that a
>cider must be less than 5% alcohol.
And:
>Wine, by definition, starts at 7% alcohol. Hard cider maxs out at 5%
Where are these limits found? I have been corresponding with ATF, and they
have not indicated anything like a 5% abv limit for cider. (Of course,
they have also very helpfully forwarded me a lot of material which turned
out to be out of date, so maybe I'm just not getting the right info.)
There is a special tax rate for hard cider, which is defined as a still
wine of less than 7% ABV, made primarily from apple juice or concentrate
with no other natural or artificial flavors. Those restrictions are
applied solely for the purpose of the special (lower) tax rate - you can
make any kind of cider you want, but if it doesn't meet those criteria then
it does not receive the special tax treatment.
This is a big issue for cidermakers in the US, by the way, as the tax rate
for a sparkling wine is MUCH higher, and the permit requirements are more
onerous. If your cider is naturally carbonated, you are supposed to pay
something like $3 per gallon in Federal excise tax, versus a rate of $0.226
per gallon for still cider. Ridiculous.
Of course, I still have yet to figure out what the definition of
"sparkling" and "carbonated" actually means: it is given as more than 0.392
grams of CO2 per hundred milliliters. That's 3.9 grams per liter. But I
have no idea what that corresponds to in physical terms - is that the
saturation point at a certain temperature and pressure?
Cheers,
Tim
"For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism."
------------------------------
Subject: Baldwin Cider
From: Tim Bray <tbray@mcn.org>
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:15:56 -0700
>This past winter we made a totally dry Baldwin Cider.
From pure Baldwin juice, or a blend?
I'm curious because Baldwin apparently is a low-chill variety that might do
well here. If it is good enough to make a varietal cider, then maybe I
should plant more of it.
Cheers,
Tim
Albion, CA
------------------------------
Subject: Web site
From: Roy Bailey <info@lambournvalleycider.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 19:09:46 +0100
I have upgraded our web site with some new information and latest prices, etc.
- - and not before time.
I think it is a great improvement and there is more to come!
- --
Roy Bailey - Proprietor, The Lambourn Valley Cider Company
(Real cider from the Royal County)
The Malt House, Great Shefford, HUNGERFORD, Berks RG17 7ED, UK
Tel: 01488 648441 Fax: 08700 522514
URL: http://www.lambournvalleycider.co.uk/
------------------------------
Subject: [forwarded] a fun/horror story from Herefordshire
From: cider@talisman.com (Cider Digest)
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 16:41:30 -0600 (MDT)
This one was sent by a subscriber in the UK who asked that his name not be
used. I've seen at least the Bulmer's part of the story reported elsewhere
and I expect it's all reliable.
- -yer janitor
| From the Hereford Times. The managing director and three directors of
| the UK's third biggest industrial cidermaker, Aston Manor, have been
| arrested and charged with trying to poison Bulmer's cider. They are due in
| court on July 9 and their full trial is set for 2003. Currently there is a
| price war in the UK industrial cider sector. It does not look good for the
| image of cider.
------------------------------
Subject: sulfites in cider
From: "Benjamin Watson" <bwatson@monad.net>
Date: Wed, 01 May 2002 07:18:27 -0400
Tim Bray wrote:
> This reminded me that I am still confused about the actual role of sulfite
> in cider. Perhaps I need to go back and read more carefully, but it seems
> to me that I have seen conflicting and contradictory statements about what
> sulfite does for cider making. Does it:
> a) Stun or kill wild yeasts? Seems I have read that it does, but also that
> it does not;
> b) Stun or kill harmful bacteria? Doesn't seem to - Acetobacter is
> immune, at least. But it does seem to kill beneficial bacteria -
> specifically, Leuconostoc (MLF culture). It does seem to stun, but not
> kill, mold;
> c) Affect the performance of pitched Saccharomyces yeast? Seems to; I had
> a batch fail to start fermenting when I pitched too soon (24 hours, in a
> glass jug) after sulfiting.
Andrew Lea is much more qualified to give you the whys and wherefores from a
chemical perspective, but here's my pennysworth of knowledge:
1. Sulfite added to juice before fermentation suppresses the activity of
wild yeasts like Candida and Kloeckera, etc.
2. Unless you've oversulfited your juice, 24 hours should be a decent
interval to wait before pitching a Saccharomyces yeast strain. These yeast
strains have been selected for sulfur tolerance; in fact I find that red
wine strains like Pasteur Red and Montrachet are particularly tolerant
(though they aren't usually used for cidermaking).
3. Sulfite also suppresses bacterial activity, as you suggest. Acetobacter
should not be a problem if you uncover the top of primary fermenting vessel
only while the cider is in its most vigorous initial fermentation phase --
at that time, the fermenting must needs oxygen, and the copious amount of
CO2 produced should guard against acetobacter infection. After things settle
down, of course, you need to top up the vessel and put everything under an
airlock filled with a sulfite solution.
4. I don't always use sulfites. In fact, I usually make at least one
"control" batch, and my 2001 wild cider is the best yet. But I also have a
very high-acid must (around 0.9 acid), which protects against bacterial
infection or other problems. I have also made some pretty funky wild cider.
And, when I do use sulfites, I generally use sparingly (50-60 ppm. per
gallon) adding them only before fermentation, and at no other time (racking,
bottling). This is because, in my understanding, the initial sulfiting does
its job (suppressing the wild yeasts and giving a "competitive advantage" to
the commercial yeast) early on, and then it "metabolizes" (my unscientific
term) or chemically binds in the fermenting cider -- which means that, if
you tested the finished cider, I suspect you would find little or no free
residual SO2. Andrew may well correct me on this point.
5. As to malolactic fermentation, some commercial cidermakers try to avoid
this at any cost -- though it can sometimes sound like the Holy Grail for
home cidermakers. I'm pretty casual about MLF; sometimes it happens,
sometimes it doesn't. I tend to encourage it whenever possible by leaving
cider on its secondary lees, because my juice is so acidic. But I have not
found that sulfites added before primary fermentation affect MLF, which
occurs later if at all, in bulk storage or in the bottle, after the added
SO2 has become bound to other compounds in the cider.
6. Unlike wine, in which you want to protect the must during racking and
definitely halt fermentation before bottling by stabilizing with sulfites,
minor bottle fermentation is not a problem with cider. In fact, many of us
like to add a dosage of sugar at bottling to make a fully fermented cider
effervescent. (Another reason not to exclude the use of sugar in "real
cider"?)
7. Finally, as has been said ad nauseum elsewhere, the use of sulfur in
winemaking -- of which cidermaking is an offshoot, in my mind -- has been
common since at least Roman times. Though they also used lead plumbing,
which I wouldn't recommend. . . . My decision has been to use sulfites
sparingly and only prefermentation, unless I suspect some problems in my
cider. Even my use of sulfites in wine has gone down since my first year of
production.
Ben Watson
Francestown, NH
------------------------------
Subject: Sulfite
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 07:27:30 +0100
Tim Bray wrote:
>
> ... I am still confused about the actual role of sulfite
> in cider. Perhaps I need to go back and read more carefully, but it seems
> to me that I have seen conflicting and contradictory statements about what
> sulfite does for cider making. Does it:
> a) Stun or kill wild yeasts? Seems I have read that it does, but also that
> it does not;
> b) Stun or kill harmful bacteria? Doesn't seem to - Acetobacter is
> immune, at least. But it does seem to kill beneficial bacteria -
> specifically, Leuconostoc (MLF culture). It does seem to stun, but not
> kill, mold;
> c) Affect the performance of pitched Saccharomyces yeast? Seems to; I had
> a batch fail to start fermenting when I pitched too soon (24 hours, in a
> glass jug) after sulfiting.
A lot of confusion regarding the action of sulfite in ciders and wines
arises because its chemistry is really complex. It _does_ stun/kill wild
yeast, it _does_ stun/kill acetic and lactic acid bacteria and mould,
and it _does_ generally leave beneficial Saccharomyces unaffected. But
there are exceptions to all these statements if it ain't properly
handled.
For instance,
A. The action of sulphite is highly pH dependent. This is because it is
not sulphite which does the job, it is the so-called molecular S02 which
is in pH-dependent equilibrium with sulphite. There are relevant
graphs in a paper on my website (Ref 2) but,in summary, at pH 3 it is 6%
in the required form while at pH 4 it is <1% in the required form. Hence
100 ppm sulphite at pH 3.8 gives a molecular SO2 of about 1 ppm which is
just about enough to stun most non-Saccharomyces yeast and bacteria. At
higher pH you really can't get enough of it into the required form so,
pragmatically, pH 3.8 is taken as the upper limit of its effectiveness
in a juice, cider or wine. At a lower pH it is exponentially more
effective and indeed will even inhibit the 'trained' Saccharomyces
yeasts. So if you add 150 ppm SO2 at pH 3.2 you have 4% i.e. 6 ppm
molecular SO2 which is enough to inhibit even a good strong fermenting
yeast for several weeks, maybe for ever! But at a higher pH the lag
phase for a newly pitched fermenting yeast will only be a few days.
Hence the effective SO2 dose must _always_ rely on a knowledge of the
pH (Refs 2,3). Otherwise you are shooting entirely in the dark!
B. Sulphite is rendered ineffective by 'binding' to carbonyl
components in fermenting beverages, which lock it all up so that no
molecular SO2 can be formed (Refs 1,2). The principal binder is
acetaldehyde. In a fresh juice before fermentation begins there is no
acetaldehyde so this is not a problem. But if you add sulphite to an
active fermentation, the yeast will already be making plenty of
acetaldehyde (hundreds of ppm) and this will simply bind up the sulphite
immediately and it will have no inhibitory effect on the active yeast.
The same would be true were there plenty of acetobacter present
e.g a vinegar plant in full cry. Strong binding compounds (di-keto
sugars) are also produced in _juices_ made from poor quality fruit
which has any mould or bacterial infection and these can negate
the effect of sulphite totally,which is therefore a good reason
for using washed and graded fruit at all times!
C. Sulphite is also oxidised chemically to sulphate by the air and
therefore rendered ineffective by this means too. But this effect is
slower and and may take several days to occur in an unstoppered
container.
>
> I think Paul Correnty advocates sulfiting *after* fermentation, to
> prevent... something. Can you use sulfite to kill off an actively
> fermenting yeast culture, thereby obtaining a finished cider with residual
> sugar?
No, for the reason given in (B) above. But you can add it (typically 50
- - 100 ppm) to a fermentation which has finished, where the acetaldehyde
level is back to normal, and so the SO2 has a chance to do its job.
Here it will very effectively prevent storage infection by film yeasts
and bacteria. It also acts (in a purely chemical sense as a reducing
agent) to prevent oxidation and darkening of the cider. But it goes
without saying that all stored ciders should be well closed to prevent
extra air getting in. SO2 is not magic and it can be oxidised away by
mechanism (C) if care is not taken to restrict access of air.
So, the rules are, if using sulphite:
ONE. Add it _before_ fermentation, at a rate appropriate to the pH.
Then wait 12 hours before pitching to allow the wild yeasts and bacteria
to be killed (if you want a 'pure culture' cider), or be prepared
to wait a couple of weeks if waiting for wild Saccharomyces to multiply.
[Or add sulphite at a lesser rate if you want some non-Saccharomyces
to establish, but that is a story for another time!]
TWO. Add it after fermentation is finished, to stabilise cider in
closed containers for storage. This will inhibit film yeast and
bacterial growth and will prevent oxidation, hence preserving
'freshness'.
THREE. Do not ever add it to an active fermentation, or to juice
from poor quality (rotting) fruit.. It will simply get mopped up
and will do no good at all!
Sorry to be so long-winded but I hope this helps!
Andrew Lea
References:
1. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea/ciderbind1.pdf
(300K PDF download)
2.http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea/ciderbind2.pdf
(400K PDF download)
3. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea/part3.htm#SO2
- ----------------------------------
Visit the Wittenham Hill Cider Page at
http://www.cider.org.uk OR
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #967
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