HARD CIDER AND CIDER PRODUCTION

HARD CIDER 101• An alcoholic beverage made from fermented apple juice or juice

concentrate

• Sweet, semi-sweet, or dry

• Still or sparkling

• Typically made from blends of various apple juices

• ABV is typically 5-8%

• Cider apples are referred to as ‘spitters’ in the industry

• Cider apple types: sweet, bittersweet, sharp and bitter sharp,

CIDER PRODUCTION IN THE US• In colonial America, hard cider was the most popular alcoholic beverage.

• The vast planting of apple trees made access to apples easy and affordable.

• Prohibition marked the end of an era for hard cider

• Resurgence of hard cider due to the spike in number of microbreweries

• Cider sales increased exponentially (73 percent over the last 5 years)

CIDER PRODUCTION IN VIRGINIA

• First cidery opened in VA: Foggy Ridge Hard Cider in 2006

• More than 10 cideries in operation in VA today

• The soils, plentiful rainfall and temperature during the summer make VA ideal for apple production

• VA apple sales contribute around $235 million to our economy (6th largest producer in U.S.)

• First state to have a governor proclaimed ‘Cider Week’ (Nov 14-24)

MAKING CRAFT CIDER: WHAT KIND OF CIDER ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?• Cider apples impart tannin, acidity and table apples give sweetness

• From there you find which apples give you the perfect balance

• Yeast strains can also greatly influence the flavors in a cider

• Aging, chaptalization (sugar addition), flavorings, carbonation?

PROCESSING THE APPLES• Washing the fruit is extremely important, despite ‘traditions’

• Typically a hammer mill is used to pulverize apple into must

• Various types of presses can be used

• Surface area between sheets in press increases the juice yield

• Enzymes

• The juice is pumped into refrigerated steel fermentation tanks

• Leftover pomace often fed to livestock

FERMENTATION• Unlike barley used for beer making, apple juice is already full of sugar for the

yeast to consume

• The amount of sugar in the juice has a direct correlation with the final alcohol content

• Different yeast strains, temperature of fermentation, and nutrients present affect how long fermentation lasts but is typically 3-4 weeks.

• Fermentation yields alcohol as well as large amounts of CO2

• Proper sanitation during all aspects of the cider making process is KEY!

SMALL BATCH

NOT SO SMALL BATCH….

CIDER RESEARCH AT VIRGINIA TECH

• Effect of crop load on polyphenols in apples

• Levels of varying phenolic compounds in different VA apple cultivars

• Effect of crop load on Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen

EFFECT ON TOTAL PHENOLICS BASED ON VARYING CROP LOAD

• Phenolics come in several classes but in cider these compounds add tannin and astringency

• Apple trees are biennial and require thinning of apples each year to deter a year of non-fruit bearing

• Phenolic compounds of various types are in different parts of the apple (skin, flesh, seeds)

• Countless research available on grape cluster thinning and its effect on phenolics

EFFECT OF CROP LOAD ON TOTAL PHENOLICS

• Crop loads on 14 year old Ramey York apple trees were altered to low, medium and high based on the size of the tree

• Apples were harvested and processed into juice and cider

• Absorbance readings taken by Folin-Ciocalteu Assay Method and compared statistically to find differences in total phenolics between treatments

• The results have been quite encouraging

RESULTS

Treatment (Juice) GAE mg/L

Low 38.8♠

Medium 81.8♠

High 153.6♦

Treatment (Cider) GAE mg/L

Low 336♠

Medium 291♣

High 211.5♦

SO… WHAT AM I HOPING TO DO WITH ALL THIS? • Put VA Ciders at the forefront of the cider movement in the U.S.

• Help farmers in VA maximize labor, crop efficiency and apple cider quality; which in turn leads to great quality ciders

• Change standard cider making practices from simply ‘efforts of tradition’ to practices that are based on scientific research

• Have fun while doing all of this

A FINAL NOTE ON TASTING

• It is a personal goal of mine to abolish ‘wine snobbery’ all together

• Do not be intimidated by long, drawn out tasting notes or opinions of others

• You like what you like and you taste/smell what you smell in your wine/cider

• Despite interesting descriptors of wines or ciders used by ‘experts’ (starfruit, toasted banana leaves, tobacco, anise, whatever)

• We all have different tastes and we are all learning!

AT THE END OF THE DAY, ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT PEOPLE ENJOY CIDER!

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS?

WHAT’S NEXT FOR US?

Sensory Analysis!!!!

(Lets drink

It!!!)