Making cider at home is as rewarding as making your own beer, and you’re in luck if you own an orchard or know someone who does. The rest of us, however, have to do the best we can with what’s available, and most of the time that means buying juice. We reached out to cider experts Diane Flynt of Virginia’s Foggy Ridge Cider and Aaron Fodge from Colorado’s Branch Out Cider to learn how home cider makers can get the most from what’s available.
Use the Best Juice Possible
“To make good cider at home you will need to make the effort to obtain juice that has a balance of tannin, acid, and sugar, all of which are essential for a good, or even passable, cider,” advises Flynt. “The best option is to visit farmer’s markets or contact orchards that sell freshly pressed juice.”
Home cider makers who live in apple-growing regions can speak directly to farmers in the autumn and obtain freshly pressed juice. Some orchards even freeze juice for sale throughout the year. Pasteurized juices make perfectly good cider, but some enthusiasts maintain that the heat of pasteurization drives off volatile aromatics and results in a less complex finished cider. It’s up to you to weigh this against the very small, but nonzero, risk of_ E. coli _infection.
If you opt for a shelf-stable product, it’s important to seek out juice that is free of preservatives such as sorbate and sulfites, as these inhibit yeast activity and will interfere with fermentation. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is an acceptable additive, but the less processed the better.
You can use off-the-shelf grocery store apple juice as a last resort, but such products aren’t built with cider in mind: They’re meant to be consumed as-is and will be made from a blend of apples of unknown provenance.
Whatever juice you choose, remember Flynt’s advice: “You will put a lot of effort into your made-at-home cider, so start with the best ingredients you can find!”
Take Measurements and Make Adjustments
Cider is built on a three-legged stool of sugars, acids, and tannins. Sugars deliver fermentables and residual sweetness, acids offer sourness and crispness, and tannins deliver astringency and dryness. In a well-made cider, these three work in balance to complement naturally occurring and yeast-derived aromatics.
Sugars
Just because you’re not mashing grain to create wort doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check the original gravity. It’s important to measure the original gravity of your juice so that you can estimate attenuation. While ciders usually ferment to lower final gravities than do beers, taking gravity measurements throughout fermentation lets you track the process, and the final gravity reading can offer valuable clues should you need to adjust acidity or tannins.
Acidity
Acidity creates a sharp, sour sensation on the tongue, which is an important part of cider’s flavor profile. Late-season apples tend to be higher in sugar and lower in acid than their early-season counterparts, so you may have to adjust the acid in your juice depending upon when it was pressed. Homebrew shops typically sell powdered malic acid, which can be added to juice according to the package directions to increase acidity.
Acidity can be measured with pH strips or a digital pH meter, available from most homebrew suppliers. “A pH of between 3.2 and 3.8 will your keep cider stable in the bottle,” Fodge notes. White Labs also offers wine-testing services to home wine and cider makers for those seeking more detailed metrics such as titratable acidity.
Tannins
Tannins are one of the most distinguishing factors that separate craft ciders from their mass-market counterparts. Chemistry professors and their graduate students might have access to the methods necessary to measure tannins (to say nothing of the will to do so), but for the rest of us, our taste buds are the best guide. One way to get a feel for what tannins contribute is to—and I mean this in the nicest way possible—go suck on a tea bag.
The best approach is to start with a blend of apples that includes some tannic varieties (crabapples are excellent), but if you’re working with juice that someone else pressed, you’re stuck with whatever’s in there. Homebrew retailers often sell powdered wine tannins, which may be added to juice, but consider this a last resort, and remember that a little goes a long way.
Control Fermentation and Be Patient
As with making beer, temperature control is of paramount importance: “It’s important to maintain a cool fermentation temperature to maintain the fruity aromas of your juice and to keep the ferment slow and steady,” says Flynt. Slow fermentation prevents escaping carbon dioxide from scrubbing away the volatile compounds that lend complexity to your cider.
You’ll no doubt be tempted to sample your cider at the earliest possible opportunity, but even more so than with brewing beer, patience is rewarded. “Cider changes just like wine,” says Fodge. “Be patient. Let it sit around. Let it ferment out fully. Get a stockpile and let it sit there.”
Age gives cider an opportunity to smooth around the edges as chemical compounds break down. After the primary fermentation, some ciders even undergo a malolactic fermentation, in which bacteria convert naturally occurring malic acid into lactic acid, which the tongue perceives as smoother and rounder. This may happen naturally, or you can purchase special malolactic cultures to encourage the process.
“A lot can happen between month six and month twelve,” says Fodge. “If you wait, you’ll be rewarded.”
Make It Your Own
Ultimately, cider making is about having fun and crafting something you enjoy. Feel free to experiment, but keep in mind that messing with your cider is no substitute for starting with good ingredients in the first place.
“In my view, additions such as hops, fruit juices other than apples, bourbon barrels are tools to cover up the use of undistinguished apples,” says Flynt. But if your basic ingredients and processes are up to snuff, Fodge encourages home cider makers to experiment.
“If you have access to other fruits, they will bring something to the table,” he notes. “Plums, cherries, raspberries. If you have the fruit, go for it. Mix cider and mead to make cyser. Above all, have fun.”
And isn’t having fun what it’s all about after all?