Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Cider Digest #1853
Subject: Cider Digest #1853, 20 February 2014
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1853 20 February 2014
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Brix in cider and carbonation (Andrew Lea)
Re: Cider Digest #1852, 17 February 2014 (Claude Jolicoeur)
GLINTCAP ("Richard Anderson")
New England Cider Dinner (Eden Ice Cider)
GLINTCAP and judge training (Dick Dunn)
NOTE: Digest appears whenever there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to cider@talisman.com.
Use cider-request@talisman.com for subscribe/unsubscribe/admin requests.
Archives of the Digest are available at www.talisman.com/cider#Archives
Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Brix in cider and carbonation
From: Andrew Lea <andrew@harphill.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 11:43:40 +0000
On 18/02/2014 04:23, Keith McCanna wrote:
> to a level of approx 6.5 % Brix ( I do realize now that this reading is
> innaccurate due to the presence of alcohol somewhere about 8-9 % in the
> cider)
>
It is not just inaccurate. It is totally useless and is leading you up
quite the wrong path.
> i) If I have a residual brix of 6.5 % how much priming sugar should I be
> iii) If my residual Brix is about 6.5 % do I have a stuck fermentation
You DON'T HAVE a residual Brix of 6.5%. Get yourself a hydrometer to
measure SG. You cannot use a Brix refractometer to measure residual
sugar in the presence of alcohol. Once you know the SG you can calculate
pretty much the residual sugar level (eg from Claude's equation on page
171). Then you can calculate how much more sugar you need for
carbonation. In practice you probably have an SG < 1.000 which means
effectively no residual sugar. You can then work on the basis that in
mass terms, x grams of sugar gives pretty much x/2 grams of CO2. You
then need to look in the Henry's Law carbonation tables to
back-calculate the amount of sugar needed for the pressure you want (eg
http://cider.org.uk/carbonation_table.xls). Or you can look at Claude's
book pp 266-273 where in his table 15.3 an allowance has also been made
for existing dissolved CO2 from the fermentation.
So, that bit is easy. It tells you the maximum potential carbonation (or
the sugar you need) if everything ferments out in bottle. But you don't
know the amount of residual yeast, its activity, its nutrient status,
its response to added sulphite, response to temperature etc etc. Even if
you add a yeast you don't really know. So as a consequence you don't
know how long carbonation will take or how far it will go. As you have
implied, that's the hard part. Nobody can tell you that and you can't
easily measure the relevant parameters, so from there on it's down to
trial and error and experience.
Andrew Lea
nr Oxford, UK
www.cider.org.uk
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cider Digest #1852, 17 February 2014
From: Claude Jolicoeur <cjoliprsf@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 10:18:05 -0500
In Cider Digest #1852, 17 February 2014
>From: "Mc Canna, Keith" <kmccanna@dresden-is.de>
>Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:03:48 +0100
>
>I have done my research & some readings such as the new book by Claude
>Jolicoeur The New Cider Makers Handbook (excellent addition to my cider
>book collection by the way)
Thanks for the appreciation...
>Here's the problem, during these experimental batches I only had access to
>a Refractometer (still trying to acquire the correct Hydrometer range 1.000
>- -1.070 with a resolution of .0005) and the brix in all batches only dropped
>to a level of approx 6.5 % Brix ( I do realize now that this reading is
>innaccurate due to the presence of alcohol somewhere about 8-9 % in the
>cider)
This is a big problem, because your Bx reading done with a
refractometer gives us absolutely no clue of the actual SG you have
there - is it dry or not? A Bx reading done with a hydrometer
calibrated in Brix would be good however...
I suggest that, while you wait until you find an accurate hydrometer,
you get yourself an inexpensive one for the time being (in beer
country, you certainly can easily find a beer hydrometer which would
be good enough for the purpose), and test it in distilled water - at
least with such an instrument, even if not very accurate, you might
have a better idea of where you are standing, i.e. is the
fermentation completed or not???
Claude
------------------------------
Subject: GLINTCAP
From: "Richard Anderson" <richard@westcottbaycider.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 12:23:47 -0800
Back in the day, when I first started making a "craft cider" in 1999 there
were no US judged events for just cider and perry, yes it was added, likely
as an afterthought to many wine competitions, however I think there were few
wine judges who understood cider. The first, all cider event in North
America for commercial craft ciders was in Seattle 2003 sponsored by the
Northwest Cider Society. The judges that I remember were Gary Audey, Dick
Dunn and Peter Mitchell and Jon Rowley. I was awarded a gold, mind you
there was not a lot of entries perhaps 6 - 7 total.
After two years, the Northwest competition faltered and sponsorship was
taken on by the Great Lakes Cider and Perry Association in 2005. I remember
the first competition well because several judges who came from the BJCP
program said that my cider was "to dry". Needless to say I was miffed and
shared this with the Cider Digest community. During the previous year Dick
Dunn and Gary Audey with several others had rewritten the BJCP rules for
judging cider but the judges were still on a page that said "Woodpecker" was
the standard by which to judge. The following year Gary established a cider
sensory evaluation for the judges at what is now GLINTCAP and started
building the foundation for the current GLINTCAP competition. GLINTCAP has
grown into a international event and judging has improved significantly over
the years.
The point of this digression is to encourage all of you to participate in
the upcoming GLINTCAP. GLINTCAP if nothing else, confirms how your cider
is perceived by your peers and may even give you some bragging rights! Best
of all it helps promote cider and we have come a long way from our humble
origins in the 1990's.
------------------------------
Subject: New England Cider Dinner
From: Eden Ice Cider <leger@edenicecider.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 17:15:42 -0500 (EST)
Ben Watson, Steve Wood and I are presenting at a Cider
Dinner at Claire's Restaurant in Hardwick Vermont this
Sunday at 5:30PM. If you've ever had questions about cider,
apples or cider making, this is a great opportunity to ask
them! The menu looks delicious and each course has a cider
pairing. Here's a link to the description. Call for
reservations 802-472-7053.
http://clairesvt.com/events/dinner-with-eden-ice-cider/
<http://clairesvt.com/events/dinner-with-eden-ice-cider/>
Hope you all can join us!
Eleanor
- -------------------------------
Albert & Eleanor Leger
Eden Ice Cider Company
150 Main Street
Newport, Vermont 05855
+1.802.334.1808
leger@edenicecider.com
------------------------------
Subject: GLINTCAP and judge training
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:16:42 -0700
If you're volunteering at GLINTCAP, as a steward or especially as a judge,
PLEASE try to attend the training and sensory-analysis workshop on the day
before the actual judging.
The training covers many styles of cider and many attributes and faults
which you may encounter while you're judging. It will help you judge
"to style" rather than simply to your own personal taste. It will give
you a common vocabulary to describe a cider--one which can be understood by
your fellow judges and by the entrants.
Moreover, it's not just theoretical chalk-talk; you'll be tasting many
ciders which illustrate particular styles, characteristics, and faults.
I don't know of anywhere else you can get so much tasting and judging
experience/knowledge, let alone so quickly.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #1853
*************************
