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Cider Digest #1375
Subject: Cider Digest #1375, 22 March 2007
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1375 22 March 2007
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
RE: applejack risks and intensified ciders (Benjamin Watson)
a cidermaker's passing (Benjamin Watson)
Re: Cider Digest #1374, 16 March 2007 (Denise Elliott)
Sweetnerrs with preservatives ("Margevicius, Joe")
Re: sterilizing crown caps (Robert Marshall)
Sanitizing Caps ("Richard Anderson")
Force carbonation (Andrew Lea)
American Homebrewers Association 29th Annual National Homebrew Competit ("...)
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Subject: RE: applejack risks and intensified ciders
From: Benjamin Watson <bwatson@worldpath.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 08:38:37 -0500
Charles McG. has thrown down the gauntlet, in the last issue of the CD,
but fortunately I could just read Andrew Lea's later comments on
applejack and say "Yeah, ditto."
I think the dangers to the human system of applejack (aka "cider oil")
are probably real. It is not my imagination that I can drink a very
little bit and that my leg starts twitching nervously like a teenager
taking a midterm exam. Does this mean I don't have an occasional glass,
or use it for "experimental" blending purposes. Not at all. The reason
I don't make a little bit each year is that, frankly, the climate is
getting warmer here in central New England, and it's rare that we get
the really, really cold, prolonged sub-zero weather that makes the
best applejack. In those years that the forecast does call for such
weather, I generally "waste" a gallon of fermented cider by putting it
outdoors and gradually drawing it off the ice matrix, over several days
- -- pouring the liquor into a half-gallon growler, and eventually
concentrating it down to about the volume of an Imperial pint (22 oz.)
or so.
Filtering it is probably a good idea, since I have had breakage after a
year or so in the bottle and have had to rebottle. And it seems to
improve with age.
In terms of the risks, drinking large amounts of alcohol at one time or
habitually isn't great. Applejack simply requires extra restraint. I
don't know why anyone would drink it in preference to ice cider or
cidre fort. I suspect a lot of its appeal came from Prohibition, when
it was an easy way to foil the revenuers in rural New England (no smoke
from the still, it just freezes in barrels). In Russia/Siberia they
make a vodka-jack by fractional crystallization, and I can't believe
they aren't all blind or twitchy up there. Maybe they know something we
don't.
Anyway, Andrew is absolutely correct -- the "heads" of the typical
distillation process are acetaldehydes and the "tails" are the fusel
oils. Both are discarded in making good liquor. Both are present and
concentrated in applejack.
It doesn't make sense to me that applejack would be chemically
equivalent to ice wine or cidre fort, because both of those are made by
primary fermentation processes on concentrated must or juice -- whereas
applejack is concentrated from already fermented "hard" cider. Thus it
is more akin to the distillation process, as described above.
In terms of references, I'm sure there are lots, but the best layman's
explanation I've found is in Sanborn C. Brown's book, "The Wines and
Beers of Old New England" (Univ. Press of New England, 1978)
Ben Watson
Francestown, NH
------------------------------
Subject: a cidermaker's passing
From: Benjamin Watson <bwatson@worldpath.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 08:46:28 -0500
I wanted to mark the passing of one of our fellow cidermakers and apple
enthusiasts last Saturday, March 10.
My friend Dan Chaffee, with whom I made cider for the past 10 years,
died after a rather brief battle with terminal cancer, surrounded by
family at his home in Newton, Mass. Dan's legacy will live on, though,
since he had purchased and cleared land in Antrim, NH (my neck of the
woods), and erected an impressive deer-proof fence for this orchard.
His wife and I, along with our friends, will be topworking and
transplanting trees according to Dan's strict instructions starting
this spring. In fact, I understand that planning for the orchard gave
Dan something really positive to focus on in his final days. That
probably holds some lessons for all of us -- keep looking forward even
in the last extremity.
I'm only sorry that Dan didn't live until the 100-year anniversary of
the cider mill where we press cider, which dates back to 1908. That
centennial will be held in his honor.
Ben Watson
Francestown, NH
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cider Digest #1374, 16 March 2007
From: Denise Elliott <delliott1@rochester.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 10:35:01 -0400
> Subject: Off flavors
> From: Jason MacArthur <rotread@localnet.com>
> Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:04:07 -0400
>
> Every few years we get a batch of cider with a slight evergreen/minty
> flavor- not a terrible flavor, but certainly a distracting one. The
> first batch we made with this was from an old crab apple tree on a
> nearby abandoned farmstead, so we attributed the flavor to the
> fruit. This year, however, this off-note has showed up in a batch of
> 100% Kingston Black cider fermented with Pasteur Champagne yeast.
> Interestingly, I stumbled across this same flavor while drinking a
> beer at a local microbrewery. It wasn't dominant in the beer, but it
> was noticeable, unwelcome, and distracting.
> From this small pool of evidence I have developed a preliminary
> hypothesis that this is a yeast fault, but I am open to suggestions.
> Could it be from the lees, or poor sanitation in the fermenting
> vessel? Has anyone else been thus afflicted and known why?
>
> Jason MacArthur
> Marlboro, Vt.
> USA
>
Jason,
About the only thing I can think of is called "Phenolic" , mentioned
in many beer troubleshooter articles as having an off flavor
sensation similar to a medicinal taste. It is attributed to wild
yeast or bacterial contamination or chlorinated water (in the case of
beer). Here is an article relating to beer, but maybe it will help
http://byo.com/mrwizard/743.html There are many more articles
describing the problem if you do a google search.
Hope this helps some
Denise
------------------------------
Subject: Sweetnerrs with preservatives
From: "Margevicius, Joe" <jmargevicius@walbridge.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:24:17 -0400
Does anyone have experience back sweetening their cider with
commercially available sweetners with preservatives,ie, corn syrup,
etc.? My goal is to have a slightly sweet, yet carbonated cider. I would
like to sweeten with grocery store corn syrup with preservative, and add
priming sugar to develop carbonation. The corn syrup will sweeten but be
kept from fermenting, and the priming sugar will ferment. Will the
preservative "leach out" of the corn syrup into the rest of the cider
and keep the priming sugar from doing its job?
Thanks,
Joe Margevicius
------------------------------
Subject: Re: sterilizing crown caps
From: Robert Marshall <robertjm@hockeyhockeyhockey.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:29:36 -0700
For my sterilizing I use a light iodophur solution. Just make sure the
caps are submerged in the stuff for a minute. Then pour the iodophur
out. You could even shake the container a bit to break loose any
iodophur that might be inside an inverted cap. Once I'm happy with the
"dryness" I usually cover the container losely with some plastic wrap.
Haven't had a problem since I started using that method. Some people
boil their caps. If you do that make sure to pay attention. There's a
good chance you can ruin the plastic liner if you use lined caps. If you
choose the latter method I better idea would be to bring the water to
boiling, pour it in a pot that you hadn't used for boiling the pout the
caps in and let them "blanch" for half a minute, or so. Then pour the
hot water out. I suppose its sort of like pasturizing.
Hope that helps,
Robert
------------------------------
Subject: Sanitizing Caps
From: "Richard Anderson" <baylonanderson@rockisland.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:53:01 -0700
The advice I have had is not to rinse crown caps, that it creates more
problems than it solves. Having capped and sent to market a fair amount of
cider, we have never detected a problem that attributed to cap
contamination. We purchase caps by the 70 gross and stored them in a dry
covered storage bin in the manufactures packaging. For smaller quantities
coming from secondary source, it occurs to me that you could try low dry
heat, say 140 - 145 F or a microwave. However, you would need to make sure
that the heat does not break down the seal material inside the cap.
------------------------------
Subject: Force carbonation
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:12:19 +0000
Timothy wrote:
> As a first time cider maker, I decided to force carbonate using 5
> gallon stainless Pepsi kegs and a CO2 tank. I'm pressurizing the
> tanks to 30psi for a week or two in hopes of seeing carbonization,
> then reducing to 10psi to dispense. Are these pressures too high or
> low?
A pressure of 10 psi at sea level 50F (10C) (let's assume you want to
drink the cider slightly chilled) is 2 vol carbonation (or 4 grams per
litre). That's a pretty good target value to give a light sparkle. I had
some of my cider professionally carbonated and bottled recently to that
value, and it suits me.
I have to say though I'm not entirely clear whether the operating
parameters you give will actually result in that value. If you've
already pressurised to 30 psi and allowed the system to attain
equilibrium, you will have 3.5 vol (7 grams per litre) of CO2 actually
in solution - a good bit fizzier! Do you vent off the excess gas and
allow it to leave the liquid for a good while before dispense?
Andrew Lea, nr Oxford UK
- --
Wittenham Hill Cider Page
http://www.cider.org.uk
------------------------------
Subject: American Homebrewers Association 29th Annual National Homebrew Competit
From: "Gary Awdey" <gawdey@att.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:34:17 -0500
For anyone who might be interested, information about the AHA National
Homebrew Competition may be found via links at
http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/index.html. According to information
available at that website entries are due between April 2 and 13. Cider
judging will be done at a single site on Sunday, April 22. According to
cider judging site organizer, Frankie Flynn, location is the Derby
Restaurant at 96 Main Street in Poughkeepsie, New York, 12601 (at the
corner of Main & Clover). Telephone: 845-454-5200. Start time is 10AM.
If you're interested in judging (experienced cider tasters are especially
welcome) contact Frankie Flynn at fflynn@optonline.net. In the tradition of
homebrew competitions new judges are paired with more experienced judges.
This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about formal evaluation of
cider and share what you have already learned.
There will also be a cider tasting workshop the day before judging.
Location is Party Creations Homebrew Shop at 345 Rokebey Road., Red Hook, NY
12571. Telephone: 845-838-3552 Start time is 11AM. Feel free to contact
Frankie or me offline if you think you may be interested but need more
information. Also, if
you're from a significant distance away and may be interested in hooking up
with other cider enthusiasts to share accommodations please let me know
offline and I'll compile an informal contact list.
Although the name of the competition says "National" please note that
according to the site linked above international entries are eligible.
Gary Awdey
Eden, New York
gawdey@att.net
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #1375
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