Experimenting with Cider
As every devoted homebrewer knows, hard cider can be boring to make. You need only two ingredients for cider — apples and yeast — and starting a batch requires just five minutes and a fermenter. Where’s the creativity? Where’s the excitement without a six-hour brew day and hundreds of dollars of stainless steel? Luckily, a new generation of cidermakers are taking cues from craft brewers (and traditional winemakers) to create unique, interesting, and, yes, even weird ciders!
To master cider production, experiment with your ingredients: (1) ferment single-varietal juices with a neutral yeast to learn the contributions of each apple and then (2) perform similar experiments with different yeasts. For augmented ciders, your ultimate goal is to match process and ingredients to enhance the flavors of the apples and the yeast.
Hopped
You might not think of bitter hops and dry cider as a natural combination, but hoppy ciders have become surprisingly popular. Dry hopping adds bright aromatics with little perceived bitterness. The first dry hopped cider that I tasted was Citizen Cider’s Full Nelson, which uses winey Nelson Sauvin hops. Fruity/citrusy hops tend to complement apple flavor; I was pleased with Australian Galaxy in my first attempt. The same rules apply to hopped ciders as IPA: Limit exposure to air, and serve as fresh as possible.
Soured
Sour cider can be difficult to produce because, unlike wort, apples lack dextrins. To quote Kyle Sherrer, Co-Owner and Fermentologist at Millstone Cellars in Monkton, Maryland (and soon, Graft): “Wild microbes do not work in cider the way they do in beer!”
In cider, the brewer’s yeast in a mixed souring culture — e.g., White Labs WLP655 (Belgian Sour Mix 1) or Wyeast 3278 (Belgian Lambic Blend) — will ferment the simple sugars before substantial acidification by bacteria. One option is to add two to four ounces of maltodextrin per gallon (15–30 g/L) to provide complex carbohydrates. However, the easiest way to guarantee lactic acid production is to pitch a starter of Lactobacillus (ideally L. brevis or L. plantarum) and wait a day or two for the desired pH drop before pitching yeast. (Pasteurizing the cider before adding yeast will halt acidification and avoid the risk of contaminating other batches.)
Brettanomyces doesn’t have the same difficulty in cider (for an example, try Virtue Cider Percheron). However, the lack of ferulic acid (usually contributed by grain) will result in fewer phenols, meaning less intense funky, smoky, and medicinal aromatics. Brettanomyces anomalus (rather than the B. bruxellensis more common in Belgian sour beers) is usually found in wild cider fermentations. B. anomalus is often marketed as B. clausenii. Another interesting option is 100% Brettanomyces fermentation, which boosts ester production and plays to cider’s natural fruitiness.
Kyle Sherrer is a passionate advocate of true wild/natural/spontaneous/biodynamic cider fermentation. Although the process can be unreliable much like lambic, Kyle reports surprisingly few unpleasant results with his wild ciders. Starting multiple batches from unpasteurized cider sourced from several orchards (or different apple varieties) is a good way to distribute risk and open up blending possibilities. Kyle suggested that homebrewers who do not have access to unpasteurized cider contribute microbes by adding a few sliced local apples, ideally recently harvested and organic.
Add a bottle or two from this year’s favorite batch to the next season’s cider to develop a house culture. Or just pitch the dregs from one of Millstone’s ciders, all are unpasteurized and sulfite-free.
Wood-Aged
Oak is a common cider addition, but can easily overpower. The same goes for characterful spirit barrels, like bourbon or Scotch. Well-used oak is one option (either taken from a beer or wine, or pre-steamed), but a better choice may be fruit wood – such as apple or cherry (either toasted or untoasted). I prefer a small amount of wood (0.5-1 oz. in 5 gallons/14-28 g in 19 L) for several months to bring out more of the wood’s underlying character (rather than the fresh “lumber” aromatics attained with more wood for a short time).
Smoked
German rauchbier and American smoked porter each incorporate a portion of malt dried by smoky heat. Obviously this approach is not an option with ciders, so Kyle suggested two methods that Millstone has used to produce smoked ciders. For Debauched, a collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal Ales, they filled a borrowed food truck smoker with apple slices along with applewood and juniper. These smoked apple slices were then pressed and the resulting juice used to prime the cider. For Spruced, Millstone smokes fresh chunks of cherry wood (approximately 4 oz. for 5 gallons/0.11 kg for 19 L) to infuse into the cider for one to two days. With the low finishing gravity of traditional cider, assertive smoke can be overwhelming, so go easy!
Fruited
There are many fruits (and even a few vegetables) that meld well with the flavor of apples. (Consider all of the juice blends that include apple.) Millstone has been especially adept at fruited ciders including Cobbler (peaches), Rhuberry (strawberry and rhubarb), and Ciderberry (raspberry). You can freeze/thaw or slice ripe local fruit (or purchase puree or juice) and add it directly to the fermenting cider. However, better results come from thinking like a winemaker. Ferment the juice from your chosen fruit on its own. When both cider and fruit juice are fermented, blend to taste. This technique allows precise control over the intensity of the fruit flavor. As a bonus, blending with fruit wine works for beer as well, so a small batch of 100% peach wine can be used for both peach cider and peach Berliner weisse!
You can even utilize other apples to boost your cider’s flavor. For Farmgate, Millstone blends in 20% cider fermented from “drops,” apples that have fallen off the tree before harvesting. These often bruised and split apples add a faint blue cheese aroma, an elusive component of traditional Basque cider. Another Spanish-inspired option, Millstone’s Sidra Americana is aged in tanks with apple skins (obtained from a pie maker) thus providing a sharper acidity.
Spiced
The predictable warming fall spices are often added by novice cidermakers with disappointing results. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice really crave sweetness to play against, and most ciders don’t offer that character. Either use a gentle touch, or select a stronger cider with more sweetness. For a standard cider, I’d lean towards livelier flavors like grains of paradise, lemon zest, or ginger.
Embiggened
Most ciders have an original gravity around 1.050 and ferment to approximately 1.000 without intervention, resulting in 6.5% ABV. This is pleasant, but sometimes you may want more alcohol, apple flavor, or sweetness. There are many options to achieve these objectives.
Ice cider is partially frozen and the ice crystals removed before fermentation (as opposed to apple jack or eisbock, which are concentrated post-fermentation). Cryoconcentration increases the sugars and “appleiness” of the juice (as an added benefit, great results can be obtained from classic drinking cider). If you don’t adequately concentrate the juice to above 1.130, the sugars will ferment out completely producing a strong and dry beverage more akin to Champagne (which describes my first attempt). The goal is to have enough sweetness remaining after fermentation to balance the potent alcohol.
Rather than cold, heat can be substituted to intensify cider’s sugars. Boiling 25-50% of a batch until it becomes thick syrup takes a couple hours, but the payoff is magnificent caramel-apple sweetness. While you’re at it, make some extra syrup for pouring onto pancakes (the tartness provides balance lacking from maple syrup and honey). For a unique twist, replace the sucrose in your next tripel with apple syrup!
Instead of concentrating the apple sugars, it is easier to add fermentables. While cane sugar is a popular choice, honey brings more to the union. Cyser (apple mead) is best made with any mild or fruity honey. Millstone primes many of their ciders with honey — around 1 oz. per gallon (7.5 g/L). Cyser requires much more honey, up to 10 lbs. in 5 gallons (4.5 kg in 19 L) to produce a strong honey-forward mead with apple in a supporting role.
Another even easier option is to dose cider with commercial liquor. As Port is made by combining wine and distilled wine (i.e., brandy) so too can you make a fortified cider by adding distilled cider (calvados or apple brandy). Port’s sweetness comes from adding enough brandy mid-fermentation to halt the yeast. It would take a lot of liquor to do the same for cider because the original gravity is so much lower, but this technique could be paired with restrained ice-concentration to make a Port-like cider. You could even skip fermentation entirely and mix two parts unfermented apple cider to one part 100 proof apple brandy prior to aging, the resulting 16-18% ABV drink is called pommeau.
Combined
Don’t think of this article’s techniques and ingredients as “either-or,” but rather “this-and!” Consider: Caramelized-cider with cinnamon for “autumn” cider, ice-concentrated with dry-hops for “double IPA” cider, or wild-fermented with cherry for “kriek” cider. Select apples, techniques, and ingredients that work together!
If you already produce delicious traditional ciders, maybe it is time to branch out and produce something weird (or find a use for a batch that is missing something). For those without a local orchard, think of this article as a guide to adding character to your cider, but at the same time don’t expect extraordinary results if your starting point is subpar cider. You need assertive apples to cut through potent flavors. Take the time that you save starting a batch of cider compared to brewing and reinvest it to make something peculiar and memorable!
Photo courtesy of Millstone Cellars
Kyle Sherrer’s cider yeast recommendations
• Enartis Ferm Vintage White – Vinous, nice for white wine-style ciders.
• Vintner’s Harvest AW4 – Tropical, candied fruit, a nice component of a blend.
• Red Star Côte des Blancs – Solid general purpose yeast strain.
• Chimay-Duvel blend (e.g. White Labs WLP500 (Monastery Ale) or Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey) and White Labs WLP570 (Belgian Golden Ale) or Wyeast 1388 (Belgian Strong Ale)– Fruity, strawberry.
• White Labs WLP500 (Monastery Ale) – Good match for dry hopped ciders.
