Hard Cider

Everything You Wanted to Know About Cider Fermentation
(The Quick Version)

Hard Cider is, perhaps, one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man. There are references to apple orchards in the Nile region dating back to 1300BC that were used exclusively to make hard cider. When the Romans invaded Britain they found cider to be quite popular and wide spread. The Normans had their own champagne like version and Henry VIII himself promoted the growth of cider mills.

The enjoyment of hard cider (fermented apple juice as opposed to sweet cider which is just freshly pressed apple juice) remained constant until the 19th century: Increased taxation on cider in Europe severely cut back on production. An influx of German immigrants to America stepped up the production of beer in this country, which could be produced in larger quantities, at lower prices, almost all year round. Hard cider continued to be a popular drink in those areas around apple orchards.

It surprises many people that Hard Cider is nothing more than fermented apple juice. I think that something doesn't want to click in their brains that something as sweet and as pure as what they use to drink as babies could become alcoholic. It is true, though. Hard cider is apple juice that has gone though two stages of fermentation: Yeast fermentation and bacteria fermentation.

The yeast converts the sugar in apple juice into ethanol and higher sugars such as Maltose and Amylose. The second stage is done by bacteria which are normally found in the apple juice and they convert malic acid to lactic acid and produce carbon dioxide. Both fermentations can happen at the same time but for the most part the bacteria fermentation doesn't start until the temperature of the cider reaches 60 degrees F or 15 degrees C.

Cider has always been popular because it is far easier to make than making beer, ale or even mead. No simmering required, no boiling, no mashing or sparging and it only takes a few minutes to do the actual work. And let’s not forget: money may not grow on trees, but apples do. My favorite method of making hard cider is to buy a gallon of cider and leave it in the basement until I forget about it. Then, a couple of weeks later, I notice it as I'm doing laundry and see that the plastic container has bulged out due to CO2. That tells me that I now have a gallon of yummy hard cider.

Where Does It All Begin?

Well, with picking the apples, of course. Most hard cider is made from apples with the unlikely names of McIntosh, Golden Delicious and Big Red, which are very sweet apples. But, as my mother used to tell me when she baked apple pies, there's more to a pie than just sweet apples: Newtons, Northern Spys, and Kingston Blacks are good examples of the bittersweet varieties, which have higher levels of tannin and higher acid contents. If you have access to a variety of apples, use two-thirds sweet apples and one-thrid bittersweet for the best taste combinations (the same goes for apple pie). And if you are fortunate enough to live close to a King David orchard, yum!

The apples should be ripe and not too bruised. Once you pick the apples, let them sit and
"mature" for a week or so in a cool, dry place. The maturing will soften the skins. Crush the apples to a pulp and squeeze the pulp out of them using a wine press, fruit juicer or other handy hardware. Or just buy a few gallons of apple cider. Once you have extracted the juice, check the pH. Most modern cider recipes call for a Ph of around 4.0; add malic acid to raise the pH or precipitated chalk to lower it. Or if you are like myself, take your chances and ignore the pH all together. Taste the juice, if it tastes too acidic, use wine or champagne yeast, which can handle the lower pH.

Pour the juice into your fermenter and drop in one campden tablet per gallon of juice to kill off any wild yeasts that might have remained on the apples. Slap on an airlock and let the campden work for 48 hours. You can skip this step is you use store bought pasteurized apple cider or if you want to ferment with the wild yeast. Then pitch your yeast: you can use a variety of yeasts for making hard cider, just like mead and beer. And like mead and beer, different yeasts give you different tastes: Ale yeast will give you a traditional English style cider; Wine yeast will give you a Normandy style; Champagne yeast will give you a very pleasant taste; and if you have the refrigerator space for it, lager yeast give indescribable results.

Or, take the chance on wild yeast. As I have mentioned, the best hard cider I make is made with whatever wild yeast manages to survive the pasteurization process. There is a chance of ending up with funky tasting cider. If so, discard it. Apple cider is cheap and there is no reason to keep funky beverages. There is also a chance that you will end up with cider vinegar. This has happened to me a number of times. I generally don't use enough vinegar to keep a whole gallon of it, but you can bottle it and give it to friends and family. Or use it to make sekanjabin or oxymel.

Many recipes call for the primary fermentation to run until it hits a specific gravity; you can use campden tablets or other methods for killing off the yeast to stop the  fermentation. Rack the cider over to a glass carboy. If you don't like cloudy cider (nothing is wrong with it, but some people like to drink clear cider) you can add pectolase at this point. One teaspoon per gallon should do the trick. Let the cider age in the carboy for at least two months. The longer you at the cider age the better it will be. When you are ready to bottle, you have a choice of flat or fizzy cider. For flat cider, do nothing. For fizzy cider, toss in 4 tsp of brewer’s sugar per gallon right before bottling and bottle it in champagne bottles. Below are a few examples from my database.

Basic Cider

Ingredients:
1 gallon pasteurized apple cider
1 package ale yeast

Procedure:
Pour the cider into a two gallon (or larger) fermenter, pitch the yeast and put an airlock on it. Rack it over to the secondary fermenter two weeks later and let sit for at least four weeks to mellow. Prime the bottles if you like fizzy cider and bottle.

Lazy Cider

Ingredients:
1 gallon pasteurized apple cider

Procedure:
Leave un-opened in a cool basement for two weeks or until the container starts to bulge outwards. Open and sample. If it tastes like hard cider, drink.
Granny's Cider
Ingredients:
1 gallon pasteurized apple cider
12 ounce can 100% Granny Smith apple juice concentrate
1 package Champagne yeast

Procedure:
Pour the cider and the concentrate into a two gallon (or larger) fermenter, pitch the yeast and put an airlock on it. Rack it over to the secondary fermenter two weeks later and let sit for at least four weeks. Prime the bottles if you like fizzy cider and bottle.

Cranberry Cider

Ingredients:
1 gallon, pasteurized apple cider
12 ounces, Ocean Spray Cranberries, chopped in the blender
1 package Champagne yeast

Procedure:
Blend the cranberries in the blender with a little bit of the cider until smooth. Then pour into a two gallon (or larger) fermenter, along with the cider, pitch the yeast and put an airlock on it. Rack it over to the secondary fermenter two weeks later and let sit for at least four weeks. Prime the bottles if you like fizzy cider and bottle. I would not recommend using ale yeast for this one: the added acid of the cranberries might be too much for the yeast.

As with all brews, you can use potassium sorbate or campden to kill off any living yeast once your cider has hit the alcohol/flavor level you wish. Or you can cold crash it in the 'fridge or freezer. Filter your cider or use Irish Moss to clarify it, if you wish. And always, clean and sterilize your brewing equipment before use. Just because there is less equipment and steps involved doesn't mean that your cider doesn't need to be treated the same way as beer, wine or mead.

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This was a article that I wrote for both Scum and for the newsletter for my local brewing supply shop back in 1999.