Most books on cider making say that sanitation of your cider making equipment is important. Is it really? Those who don’t think it is will often note how cider has been made for centuries with rough equipment that may get rinsed out with some water each year but never sanitized. Like always, the real answer is more complicated and it’s partly because the answer depends on your definition of what sanitation means or what you are really doing when you sanitize equipment and even your fruit. Let’s explore what sanitation really means in the context of cider making and then how it impacts your hard cider.
Sanitation Defined:
Hard cider naturally contains at least two sanitizing compounds. These are ethanol and acid. Research(1) has shown that once ethanol hits 2.5% ABV, it will remove human pathogens like Escherichia coli and Salmonella. The acidic nature of cider, pH below 4.0, also contributes to the sanitary nature of cider. Acid weakens organism cell wall strength, which allows other compounds, like ethanol, to penetrate the cell and kill the organism. Even fermenting yeasts are impacted by these two factors. This is why ferments can become stuck and the highest level of alcohol yeast can produce is about 18% ABV. Sanitizing your equipment and even fruit isn’t done because you are trying to keep people from getting sick. In general, the cider will naturally take care of that. So, what are we trying to sanitize?
Sanitation is really about control. You sanitize your equipment and even your fruit if you want to limit the impact that the organism naturally found on them will have in your cider making process. You are not eliminating pathogens that might harm you but you are eliminating “pathogens” that might impact your cider. I use the term pathogens because they are organisms, like yeast, bacteria, mold, and non-fermenting fungi, that either do not contribute positively to the quality of your cider or may change the results of the cider you want to make. If you want a fruity cider but a fermenting yeast that produces spicy or phenolic aromas dominates, that yeast is a pathogen, even if you like the resulting cider. Sanitation in the context of cider making means to eliminate or reduce organisms that can potentially change the expected results of your cider. You sanitize to reduce their undesired impact.
Sanitation Impact:
Sanitation is really about controlling flavor and cider quality. If you have a “magic” stick that you swirl in your juice to impart yeast that will ferment your juice, you probably don’t want to sanitize that stick. Just realize that your real control over what is on that stick may not be as true as you believe. You would be better to harvest the organisms from your stick, propagate them, and inoculate with those organisms after sanitizing everything. If you are not sanitizing, you are not controlling and that control extends beyond yeast used to ferment your cider. The bigger impact is the organisms found in your cider once fermentation ends.
Have you ever seen a film yeast growing on your cider? This requires oxygen to grow, which can come from having a large headspace during aging but can also come from dissolved oxygen added during racking. However, this is only part of the question. The first question is how did the film yeast get into the cider. The most likely culprit is lack of sanitation. Sure, it could be that you were unlucky and some yeast was floating through the air and landed in your cider. The more likely scenario is that you have an infected piece of equipment. In that case, your cider is now much harder to manage. You could have no headspace and still form a film yeast because of the dissolved oxygen from processing the cider. Maybe it’s not a film yeast but excessive acetic acid flavor or Brettanomyces aromas. Maybe your cider becomes viscous and ropey when you pour it.
Sanitation is what can help prevent or limit the potential undesirable impact of natural microorganisms. Your equipment won’t be sterile. Sterilized and sanitized are not the same. Even sanitized equipment can still contain organisms. Sterilizing is overkill because you don’t make cider in a clean room. The air has microorganisms floating in it. As soon as you sanitize or sterilize a surface, those organisms land on it. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that sanitation can prevent all undesirable impacts to your cider. It can’t. What it can do is help you control and limit them and give you a better chance that your cider will turn out the way you want. It will reduce the potential of unexpected challenges.
The good news is there are many great products available in the market that can aid you. They are also reasonably priced and easy to use. They are not bleach and dish soap. Bleach is toxic to humans and soap leaves a residue, so why use a product that might have negative health and/or flavor characteristics. Food safe sanitizing products often use oxygen and/or acid to remove organisms. Many are also no rinse. On The Shop and Recommended Products page, I list One Step and Star San. One Step is a very good food safe cleaner and considered a sanitizing agent in some countries. Star San is strictly a sanitizing agent, but if you put it in a spray bottle, you can apply it to equipment that can otherwise be difficult to sanitize. You can find others in your country. Check Amazon or your local brew or wine supply store.
You can make great cider without sanitizing. You can also avoid a lot of headaches and challenges that sanitation would have prevented. Sanitation can also reduce or eliminate the need to use antimicrobial treatments like potassium metabisulfite (Campden or sulfites) that are targeted at reducing many of the organisms that you are trying to inhibit. I suggest killing as many of them before the process begins with sanitation. In this modern world, why take the risk of having undesirable flavors or challenges that could have been prevented with a little sanitation.
(1) Menz, G., Alfred, P., and Vriesekoop, F., Growth and Survival of Foodborne Pathogens in Beer, J. Food Prot. 74:1670-1675, 2011.
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