Basics of Cider Making: Preparing Apple Cider

To make the best cider, you first need an understanding of the processes and the art & science behind them. Thankfully, world-renowned cider maker Claude Jolicoeur is here to help. Become a cider making expert with help from these preparation tips!

The following is an excerpt from The New Cider Maker’s Handbook by Claude Jolicoeur. It has been adapted for the web.

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Cider Making: Preparing Apple Cider

We could say that the preparation of the cider starts in the spring, because all the interactions between the trees, the environment, and the humans tending the trees influence the cider and its quality. The maturity of the apples at harvest and the degree of sweating will likewise have some effect. But for the present discussion, we will assume that everything mentioned above has been well done and that the apple juice (which we will now call the must) is already in its primary fermentation vessel and ready to be transformed into cider.

1. Preparation for fermentation

• Sanitation
• Density and acidity measurements
• Additives: sulfite and pectinase
• Yeast culture and inoculation

2. Fermentation

• Primary phase
• First racking
• Secondary phase

3. Final racking, bottling, and in-bottle maturation

In the following description, I limit my discussion to a basic and well-proven method of making cider. I try to keep it as simple as possible and obtain a dry, natural cider, with perhaps some effervescence.

My objective is that you, the novice cider maker, will successfully make a good enough cider on your first trial that you will have the desire to persist and strive to produce even better ciders in the future.

Preparation for Fermentation

I recap here what is done to the must (juice) in preparation for the fermentation.

Sanitation

If you haven’t already done so, prepare your sulfite stock solution and your antiseptic solution. (See above on materials and supplies, and section 14.1 on sulfite.) All the materials—utensils, vessels, measuring instruments, siphon tubes, anything that will come into contact with the cider—should be perfectly clean.

Before use, sanitize all equipment by either soaking it in the antiseptic solution or by wiping or pouring some solution onto it. For containers, pour some solution inside and agitate so all interior surfaces get wetted. For a racking tube, pour some solution so it goes through the tube and wets all of the interior. Rinse with clear water and let drain a few minutes. Note that some sanitizers don’t require rinsing.

Density and Acidity Measurements

These measurements are not absolutely necessary and will not make the cider any better; however, I strongly recommend you make them to learn about their influence on the final product. The hydrometer is used to measure the density of the must, usually expressed as specific gravity (SG). This allows you to estimate the quantity of sugar and the final alcoholic strength that the cider will have when fully fermented.

The measurement of the pH is necessary only for the dosage of sulfite to the must (see the following section “Sulfite treatment”). And the total acidity (TA) will give you some clue in relation to the acidity sensation you experience when you taste the cider. For example, if you measure 7.5 grams of malic acid per liter, and you think the finished cider is too sharp, then you will know for next time to start with a blend that has a lower total acidity.

Sulfite Treatment

Sulfite addition to the must is strongly recommended for your first trials at cider making in order to kill or inhibit wild and spoiling yeasts and bacteria. It should be done as soon as possible after pressing. If you have measured the pH of the must, you can add the recommended amount of sulfite as a function of the acidity. If you don’t know the pH and use mainly North American eating apples that are fairly sharp, a dosage of 40 to 50 ppm of sulfur dioxide (SO2) is usually adequate.

For a 5-gallon batch, this level is achieved by adding 1.8 grams (a bit less than 1⁄2 teaspoon) of potassium metabisulfite, first dis- solved in a little water or juice, then mixed with the must. If you use apples that are sweeter and haven’t much sharpness, you may double this dos- age. Alternatively, you may use Campden tablets: four tablets dissolved in a 5-gallon batch will give 50 ppm of SO2. However, be warned that these tablets don’t dissolve easily and need to be broken up into powder before trying to dissolve them in water or juice.

Caution: Do not drink the freshly sulfited juice. Also, avoid smelling the fumes coming from the sulfite solution.

Pectinase Addition

Pectic enzyme, or pectinase, breaks the pectin chains in the juice, and this will help the cider to clear once the fermentation is completed. Most of the time, the cider will clear (or “fall bright”) naturally when it’s done, even if a pectic enzyme hasn’t been used. However, if the must contains a lot of pectin, then this treatment acts a bit like an insurance policy, improving the odds that you will obtain a perfectly clear cider.

There are many such products on the market, and they don’t all have the same activity, so you will need to follow the dosage instructions that came with the particular product you have bought. Simply add the required quantity of pectinase to the must, making sure you dilute it first in a small quantity of juice, and stir. This addition may be done just after the sul- fite treatment. Other types of treatments that may be done on pectin are covered in the article “The Pectic Substances,” chapter 12.

Yeast Culture and Inoculation

The objective when adding yeast is to introduce a strong population of a selected pure yeast strain whose main characteristics are well known. For cider, there are many yeast strains that will give excellent results, most being wine yeasts, and this is a vast area for experimentation. The use of cultured yeast often goes along with a sulfite treatment. The principle is as follows: with the sulfite, we kill off (or greatly suppress) bacteria and wild yeasts, and then we introduce the selected yeast that will take over the fermentation and give the character we want for the cider. Without a sulfite treatment, the wild yeasts may give unpredictable flavors to the cider. This can sometimes be for the better, but not always.

Caution: After a sulfite treatment, it is necessary to wait a minimum of twenty-four hours before adding a yeast culture to the juice, as a freshly sulfited must is toxic for the yeasts.

For your first trials at making cider, I would recommend a champagne strain of dried yeast. This is one of the most common types and is considered an all-purpose yeast. It is inexpensive, gives excellent results in cider, and is sold in small packages sized for a 5-gallon batch in all wine- making supply stores.

Using Dried Yeast

Dried yeast needs to be rehydrated before inoculation to the must. Instructions are on the package and essentially consist of emptying the contents of the package into a small quantity of warm water (105°F, or 40°C) and letting the yeast hydrate itself for about fifteen minutes. The mixture may then be stirred and poured into the must.

Once you have inoculated the must with the yeast, you need to cover the fermentation vessel. A hermetically sealed cover is not really necessary, because during the first phase of fermentation a lot of carbon dioxide gas is produced, which acts like a blanket and gives protection to the cider by preventing oxygen from coming into contact with the fermenting must. This said, I nonetheless prefer to use a cover that closes hermetically, and I install an airlock on it.

It might appear paradoxical that I recommend a relatively complex procedure for the novice cider maker to take in preparation for the fermentation, while the accomplished cider maker may simply let the must ferment naturally without any cultured yeasts or other and obtain an exquisite cider. However, you have to consider that this experienced cider maker acts with full knowledge of the facts (at least we hope so) and knows about the risks of getting a lower-quality cider. With experi- ence, he or she will be able to evaluate if a must is a good candidate for natural fermentation.

Cider Making Preparation: Fermentation

We generally consider the start of the fermentation to be the moment at which the yeast is introduced into the must. The fermentation phases are described in the article on monitoring and control of the fermentation, section 14.3, so I will give just a very short summary here.

Primary, or Turbulent, Phase

After the inoculation of yeast, there is a lag phase that may last a few hours to over a week, dur- ing which the yeast population establishes itself. Then the turbulent fermentation begins. A foam will form on top that may reach a couple of inches in thickness, white in the beginning, and later turning a brownish color. This foam will vanish after a week or two, leaving some brown deposits on the surface.

During this phase, you should visually check the cider about once a week. When the foam has gone and you can actually see the surface of the liquid, it is good practice to check the density again with a hydrometer and get a feeling for the fer- mentation speed of this particular batch of cider. If you have a fast fermentation, the specific gravity reading at this moment may be at 1.020 or lower, and you may then proceed with the first racking. If you have a slow fermentation, then the SG may be at 1.030 or higher. In this case you could delay the first racking until the SG reaches about 1.015.

First Racking

The first racking consists in moving the cider from the primary fermentation vessel to a secondary fermenter or carboy, while leaving the lees (the bottom sediment) undisturbed in the first vessel. The actual moving of the cider is usually done with a siphon (the racking tube) except in larger operations, where pumps are used.

The vessel from which you rack needs to be higher than the carboy that will receive the cider for the siphon to work. If this vessel is on the floor, you will need to put it on something higher, such as a table, at least a day before racking because you will disturb the lees while displacing the tank and they will need a bit of time to settle back to the bottom.

What to Do Before Racking

Before racking, you will need to sanitize with the antiseptic solution—as you would before any operation on the cider. You may then start the rack- ing process: insert the racking cane (the rigid part of the racking tube with a tip to prevent it from picking the lees) in the primary fermentation vessel, making sure you don’t disturb the lees. The best way to do this is to lower the cane so the tip is a couple of inches higher than the bottom and hold it there (an extra pair of hands or a rubber band may come in handy here).

Then prime the siphon by sucking the air from the end of the flexible tubing to create a vacuum: the cider will start to flow into the empty carboy. Some cider makers object to sucking air for priming the siphon, preferring either to use a small priming pump or to fill the flexible tube with clean water. However, there is no evidence that the microorganisms present in our mouths can survive in the cider, and most cider makers don’t bother with pumps. In any case, after a bit of practice, you will develop a racking procedure that works well for you.

Let the end of the flexible tube go all the way to the bottom of the receiving carboy. When about three-quarters of the cider has been transferred, you may slowly lower the cane, always making sure the siphon doesn’t collect lees. Fill up the carboy completely and install the airlock. Don’t forget to fill the airlock with some sulfite solution or alcohol. The carboy should be filled to the neck, with the minimum possible headspace between the cider surface and the bottom of the rubber stopper holding the airlock. Note that this headspace will in- crease with time because there is a slight reduction in the volume of cider as fermentation proceeds.

Once the carboy is filled, if there is still some cider left over the lees in the primary fermenter, you may put some aside and freeze it or fill a small jug, also with an airlock, to continue fermenting. This extra cider could be useful if you need to fill up the carboy later. And there is absolutely no harm in having a taste of the cider at this point! Actually, this is part of the fun.

Racking: Secondary Phase

After the first racking, the cider will enter a mode where the fermentation is much less vigorous. During this period of secondary fermentation, the cider will develop its flavor, aromas, and bouquet. The cider maker really doesn’t have much to do except be patient. The cider shouldn’t be rushed, and in order to obtain a high-quality cider, it is desirable to have a slow fermentation at this stage. A low temperature will help, and ideally it should be around 50°F (10°C). Some monitoring is useful, and recording the density about once a month is good practice. You may plot these density readings on a graph and see how fast your cider is reaching dryness.

As the cider approaches dryness, the fermenta- tion slows and eventually stops completely; at this point you shouldn’t see any more bubbles rising in the carboy or the airlock. Or at least there will be far fewer bubbles, because some phenomena may still cause a bit of carbon dioxide to escape. The cider will probably still be opaque at this moment, and some time is required before it clears itself. This is a period of maturation, and again patience is required.

Some ciders will take their time to clear, sometimes as long as four months, and others will be clear after just a couple of weeks. If you have made the pectinase addition at the beginning of the process, it should help you to get a clear cider in less time. During that period, you need to check the airlock regularly and change the antiseptic liquid in the reservoir about once a month. All in all, this phase of fermentation may last anywhere from three months to a full year, depending on the type of apples, the amount of nitrogenous nutrients present in the juice, and the temperature.

Potential Problems During the Secondary Phase

During the secondary fermentation and maturation of the cider, there are a few problems that may arise. The most common are:

• A “stuck” fermentation. The density stops dropping while still at a level substantially higher than dryness. You then have the choice of either making a sweet cider or restarting the fermen- tation. (See the articles on sweetness and fer- mentation monitoring and control in chapter 14.) Before settling on this diagnosis, however, you need two SG readings at the same value that have been taken at least one month apart. Keep in mind also that if the temperature in the cider room is very low (below 45°F, or 7°C), the fermentation will be very slow, to the point you may think it is stuck. Slightly raise the temperature before you diagnose a stuck fermentation.
• A cider that doesn’t clear. If the cider hasn’t cleared four months after the fermentation has stopped and it has reached dryness, you might have some sort of haze. Fining might be required. See the article on cider troubles, chapter 16.
• A film yeast. If you see a thin, whitish film on the surface of the cider, it is probably a film yeast, which was caused by some air coming into contact with the cider. Check the airlock, as this is probably the culprit in letting air in. This is a quite minor problem. See the article on cider troubles, chapter 16, for a cure.

When you notice that the cider is becoming more translucent, this is a sign it has started to clear. I generally put my hand in the back of the carboy, and if I can see the movement of my hand through the carboy, it means it is ready for bottling. Another test is to use a flashlight: if the ray of light goes through, the cider is ready. The color may be more or less dark depending on the varieties of apples you’ve used.

Final Racking & Bottling