CIDER

Syn. Cyder ; Pomaceum , L. Cider is the fermented juice of the apple, and is a very ancient beverage. Pliny calls cider and perry the “wine of apples and pears.” The attention of the cider farmer should be first directed to the culture of the apple tree. The situation most appropriate for an orchard is one on rising ground, rather dry than moist, and unexposed to sea air or high winds. The soil should be strong, but not too heavy, and should be rich in the alkaline and earthy bases, especially the phosphates. The selection of the proper varieties of the apple for grafting is also a point on which particular care should be taken. It is found that the juices of different kinds of apples vary in the quantity of saccharine matter which they contain, as well as in other particulars that influence the quality and flavour of the cider prepared from them. As a general rule, those varieties should be chosen that yield a juice rich in sugar, and contain no undue amount of acid, and which, after the period of active fermentation is past, furnishes a liquor which clarifies itself and keeps well. This quality of the juice may generally be determined from its specific gravity. The heaviest and clearest is the best, other points being equal. The specific gravity of the juice of the different varieties of apple varies from 1·060 to 1·100. Cider apples are cla ed under three heads—bitter, sweet, and sour. The first are the best; their juice has the greatest specific gravity, is the richest in sugar, ferments the most freely, clarifies spontaneously the quickest, and keeps the best after fermentation. They contain a minute quantity of extractive matter which is not present in other apples. The juice of sweet apples ferments tumultuously, clears with difficulty, and the resulting cider does not keep so well as that produced from the first variety. The juice of sour apples contains le sugar and more acid than the other two, and consequently not only produces the weakest, but the worst cider; it, however, “fines” well, although it “stores” badly. Sour and “rough-tasted” apples are usually preferred by farmers for making cider. This preference, which is very decided in the West of England, may be readily accounted for. The sour and rough-tasted apples contain le sugar and more malic acid than some of the other varieties, and the presence of this acid impedes the conversion of the alcohol of the cider into vinegar; a change which their rude mode of operating renders otherwise inevitable. But cider made with such apples never equals in quality that prepared at a low temperature, from fruit abounding in sugar, provided equal skill is exercised in the manufacture as in the proce of converting malt-worts into beer. The proce of making cider varies in different places, but in every case e entially consists of the collection of the fruit, the expre ion and fermentation of the juice, and the storing and management of the fermented liquor. The collection of the fruit should not be commenced before it has become sufficiently mature, and should be performed with greater care than is commonly bestowed upon it. The apples, after being gathered, are usually left for 14 or 15 days in a barn or loft to mellow, during which time a considerable portion of the mucilage is decomposed, and alcohol and carbonic acid developed. If this “ripening” is allowed to go too far, lo arises, notwithstanding the vulgar prejudice in its favour. The spoiled apples are then separated from the sound ones, as they not only impart a bad flavour to the cider, but impede its spontaneous clarification. The expre ion of the juice is the next step in the proce of cider-making. The apples are crushed or ground in mills consisting of two fluted cylinders of hard wood or cast-iron, working against each other. The common practice is next to sprinkle the pulp with 1 ⁄ 6 th to 1 ⁄ 4 th of its weight of spring or river water, and then to allow it to remain in tubs or wooden cisterns for 12 or 14 hours, during which time incipient fermentation commences, and the breaking up of the cells of the membrane takes place, by which the subsequent separation of the juice is facilitated. This plan, though general among cider manufacturers, is prejudicial to the quality of the future liquor; as not only is a portion of the newly formed alcohol lost, but the skins and pips often impart to it a disagreeable flavour. By employing more efficient crushing machinery this system of vatting is rendered quite unnece ary. A machine furnished with a revolving circular rasp, similar to that used in making potato starch, is admirably adapted to this purpose. The pulp of the crushed or ground apples is now placed on a kind of wicker frame, or in hair-cloth or coarse canvas bags, and after being allowed to drain into suitable tubs or receivers, is subjected to powerful pre ure, gradually applied, in the cider pre . The liquor which runs off first is the best, and is usually kept separately; whilst that which follows, especially the portion obtained by much pre ure, tastes of the pips and skins. The expre ed juice or “must,” obtained as above, is next put into clean casks with large bung-holes, and freely exposed to the air and the shade, where they are placed on “stillions,” with flat tubs under them to catch the waste. They are now constantly attended to and kept quite full, in order that the yeast, as it forms, may froth over and be carried off from the surface of the liquor. After 2 or 3 days for weak cider, and 8 or 10 days for strong cider, or as soon as the sediment has subsided, the liquor is “racked off” into clean casks, which have been (according to the common practice) previously sulphured with a cooper’s match. The casks containing the “racked cider” are then stored in a cellar, shaded barn, or other cool place, where a low and regular temperature can be ensured, and are left to mature or ripen. By the following spring the cider is commonly fit for use, and may be “re-racked” for sale. The marc, or pre ed pulp, is generally again sprinkled with 1 ⁄ 3 or 1 ⁄ 2 its weight of water, and re-pre ed. The resulting liquor, when fermented, forms a weak kind of cider (cider moil, water moil), which is reserved for domestic use in the same way as table-beer. The refuse-pulp (apple-marc, pomace, pommage, apple cheese) is used as food for pigs and store cattle, and is very acceptable to them. The storing and management of cider are matters of vast importance to the cider farmer, the factor, the wholesale dealer, and the bottler. The principles by which these should be directed are precisely similar to those which are explained under the heads Brewing , Fermentation , and Malt Liquors ; and which, indeed, refer, with slight modifications, to all fermented liquors. Preparatory to bottling cider it should be examined, to see whether it is clear and sparkling. If not so, it should be clarified in a similar way to beer, and left for a fortnight. The night before it is intended to put it into bottles the bung should be taken out of the cask, and left so until the next day, and the filled bottles should not be corked down until the day after; as, if this is done at once, many of the bottles will burst by keeping. The best corks should alone be used. Champagne bottles are the variety generally chosen for cider. It is usual to wire down the corks, and to cover them with tinfoil, after the manner of champagne. A few bottles at a time may be kept in a warm place to ripen. When the cider is wanted for immediate use, or for consumption during the cooler portion of the year, a small piece of lump sugar may be put into each bottle before corking it; or, what is the same thing in effect, the bottles may be corked within 2 or 3 hours after being filled. In summer, and for long keeping, this practice is, however, inadmi ible. The bottled stock should be stored in a cool cellar, when the quality will be greatly improved by age. Cider for bottling should be of good quality, sound and piquant, and at least a twelvemonth old. When out of condition it is unfit for bottling. Qual., . Cider, when of good quality, and in good condition, is doubtle a very wholesome liquor. Cider consumers, living in the cider districts, appear to enjoy almost an immunity from cholera, and often from other diseases which are common in other parts of the kingdom. At the same time, however, it is right to mention, that the dry colic or belly-ache ( colic a pictonum ) is far from uncommon in these districts, but is wholly confined to those who drink early, hard, or inferior cider, made from harsh, unripe fruit. We believe that, in most cases, it may be referred to the acid of the common cider having acted on the lead, pewter, or copper of the articles or utensils with which it has come in contact, and of which it has di olved a very minute portion. The best cider contains from 8% to 10% of absolute alcohol; ordinary cider from 4% to 6%. Concluding Remarks. Much of the excellence of cider depends upon the temperature at which the fermentation is conducted; a point utterly overlooked by the manufacturers of this liquor. Instead of the apple-juice, as soon as it is expre ed from the fruit, being placed in a cool situation, where the temperature should not exceed 50° or 52° Fahr., it is frequently left exposed to the full heat of autumn. In this way much of the alcohol formed by the decomposition of the sugar is converted into vinegar by the absorption of atmospheric oxygen, and thus the liquor acquires that peculiar and unwholesome acidity known in the cider districts by the name of “roughne .” When, on the contrary, the fermentation is conducted at a low temperature, nearly the whole of the sugar is converted into alcohol, and this remains in the liquor, instead of undergoing the proce of acetification. The acetous fermentation, by which alcohol is converted into vinegar, proceeds most rapidly at a temperature of about 90° Fahr., and at lower temperatures the action becomes gradually slower, until at 46° to 50° Fahr. no such change takes place. (Liebig.) It is therefore evident that if the saccharine juice of apples, or any other fruit, is made to undergo the vinous fermentation in a cool situation, le of the spirit resulting from the transformation of the sugar will be converted into acetic acid, and, consequently, more will be retained in an unaltered state in the liquor, to improve its quality, and by its conservative and chemical action to preserve it from future change. This is the principal cause, other circumstances being alike, of the difference in the quality of the cider made by persons living in the same district. The one has probably a cooler barn and cellar than the other to store his liquor in, and is more careful to keep the pulp and juice cool during the early part of the proce . In Devons hire the pre ing and fermentation are conducted in situations where the temperature varies little from that of the external air, and fluctuates with all its changes; the result is that Devons hire cider, of the best cla , will rarely keep more than 4 or 5 years, and seldom improves after the second or third year; whilst the cider of Here ford shire and Worcesters hire, where these operations are more carefully attended to, will keep for 20 or 30 years. When the pre ing the apples for the juice is deferred until late in the season, it sometimes happens that the fermentation is sluggish. Though the juice has been set on the old system, in November or December, the working hardly commences until March. At this time the cider is sweet; it now rapidly becomes pungent and vinous, and is soon ready to be racked for use. If the fermentation still continues, it is again racked into a clean cask that has been sulphured; or two or three cans of the cider are put into a cask, and a brimstone-match burned in it. The cask is then agitated, after which it is nearly filled with the cider. By this proce the fermentation is checked, and the cider in a short time becomes fine. Great care must be taken that the sulphuring be not overdone, as it is apt to impart a slightly unpleasant flavour to the liquor. If, on the first operation, the fermentation is not checked, the proce of ‘racking’ is repeated, until the liquor becomes clear, and is continued from time to time, till the cider is in a quiet state and fit for drinking. A common practice in Devons hire is to add a stuff called ‘stum,’ sold by the wine-coopers, or an article called ‘anti ferment,’ sold by the druggists, for the purpose of checking the fermentation, but a much better plan is that described above. To improve the flavour of weak cider, or to render ordinary cider more vinous, various plans are followed by the cellarmen and bottlers. An excellent one is to add to each hogshead 1 1 ⁄ 2 gall. of good brandy or rum, with 2 oz. of powdered catechu (di olved in water), 10 lbs. of good moist sugar or honey, 1 ⁄ 2 oz. each of bitter almonds and cloves, and 4 oz. of mustard seed (all in powder). These must be well ‘rummaged’ into the liquor, and the whole occasionally stirred up for a fortnight, after which it must be allowed to repose for 3 or 4 months, when it will usually be found perfectly ‘bright,’ and no bad substitute for foreign wine. Should this not be the case, the liquor must be ‘fined’ with a pint of isingla finings, or a dozen eggs, and allowed to rest for a fortnight. If the cider is preferred pale, the catechu must be omitted, and instead of isingla , a quart of skimmed milk is to be used as ‘finings.’ When desired of a pinkish tint, 1 oz. of cochineal (in powder) may be added instead of the catechu. About 13 cwt. of November apples commonly yield one hogshead of cider. In Devons hire about 6 sacks or 24 bushels are the common quantity for the hogshead of 63 galls. The best cider made at the present day is that of Normandy, Here ford shire, and New Jersey (U.S.), and next that of Devons hire and Somersets hire. See Anti ferment , Fermentation , .