Craft Hard Cider: Recipes, Tips, and Ideas for Making & Enjoying Hard Cider
It is common to talk about fermentation in stages and often there are three stages identified. If you are talking about a wild or natural fermentation, those stages might be how initially non-Saccharomyces strains start the fermentation. This is followed by Saccharomyces yeast that complete fermentation. The final stage is maturation where Brettanomyces strains often … Continue reading Fermentation Stages of Yeast
A yeast starter is used to increase the biomass of a yeast and to ensure the yeast cells are healthy and ready to ferment. It is how you grow more yeast cells to ensure you have enough for a robust ferment and to ensure the yeast cells you are using are healthy and full of … Continue reading Yeast Starter for Cider
Whether you use commercial yeast or wild yeast, you really should be thinking about yeast propagation. Yeast propagation is the process of taking a small yeast sample, usually from a plate or slant and growing it until you have enough to pitch into your juice to make cider. You might be thinking, that sounds like … Continue reading Yeast Propagation for Cider
COVID-19 has brought an interesting term to our attention that most of us probably never heard before the advent of the vaccines being hailed as modern miracles. That term is lipids. Lipids are why the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require special refrigeration and a key part of how they work. This is all well and … Continue reading Lipids and Cider
Can hard cider go bad? You know, can cider spoil? I often see posts about someone who found an old bottle of cider they forgot and the question often asked is whether it’s safe to drink. The answer is usually, yes, it’s safe to drink. That is because hard cider won’t really spoil, it simply … Continue reading Acetic Acid: How Cider Becomes Vinegar
Usually, my answer to a question about hard cider is “it depends”. I generally try not to be definitive because there are simply so many unknown factors that being definitive is almost always wrong. However, for this article, I’m going to argue a definitive. The definitive is that you should not use Campden tables in … Continue reading Stop Killing Your Juice: The Argument Against Campden
The Common (Old) Formula for Estimating %ABV %ABV = (OG - FG) x 131.2 You have seen the above formula in numerous online posts and books. I even include it in my book. But, is it the best formula for estimating the percentage of Alcohol by Volume (%ABV) in hard cider? What does it even … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #31: Estimating Cider %ABV
Mold... Just the name can conjure up bad images and usually, it’s not something that is positive. There are a few positive occurrences, think cheeses like blue or Gorgonzola, where the mold makes that pungent flavor that many enjoy. However, for hard cider making, mold is usually associated with things not going the way they … Continue reading Mold: The What, Why, and How of It.
Killer Factor is not a measurement of the health risks associated with using a yeast in your fermentation. Instead, it is an assessment of how dominant a yeast can be in your fermentation. You may find commercial yeast strains labeled as one of four types. Killer (K)Sensitive (S)Neutral (N)Killer-Sensitive (KS) However, you may wonder what … Continue reading Yeast: Killer Factor
Fresh pressed apple and pear juice will naturally have the microflora (yeast and bacteria) to ferment into hard cider. For many people, they use these natural organisms to create great hard cider. For others, they want to control the flavors and process and will use commercial yeast. In both cases some people use Campden tablets, … Continue reading Help! My cider isn’t fermenting.
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