Step 10: Riddling

10 days before disgorging I started riddling. I hope that I will be able to remove all the yeast in only 10 days. If not I have to continuous. However, in order for my experiments to make sense I have to take out sample on day 66 (66 days of bottle fermentation) in order to be able to compare with the traditional ciders.

Here are some shoots from the riddling process.

Step 9: Bottling of Modern Cider

The idea of the modern approach to cider making was to do a secondary alcoholic bottle fermentation in the bottle following the making of a dry base apple wine. From this I will make a wine higher in alcohol and with more fizz. Beside this I have the idea that the autolysis of yeast will contribute to the overall flavor of the wine.

The modern cider was to be bottled when all sugar was fermented and the wine was dry. When bottled the SG was below 0 g/cm3. Ildrød Pigeon was very slow fermenting and has therefore not been bottled yet. However all other cider was bottled and added yeast and sugar. Sugar is important to allow the secondary fermentation to go on. I added 15 g/L in form of white table sucrose sugar. The yeast was the same Saccharomyces bayanus as used for the alcoholic fermentation.

For some of the ciders (AB-M, IM-M and SVA-M) I divided them in to two groups, to investigate the importance of nutrient level. Group 1 was only added yeast and sugar (as describes above) and group 2 was furthermore added Brillant flüssig, Tannin flüssig and Vitamon Ultra.

The bottles was closed with crown caps and laid down for secondary fermentation. I will take out samples on day 14, 35 and 66.

Calculations

Group 1:
Sugar are weighted on scale and added to the bottles (each bottle). 15 g/L x 0,375 L (the bottles used) = 5,6 g sugar.

Yeast: Calculations: 4 g yeast / 10 L wine = 0,4 g / 1 L. One bottle is 0,375 L = 0,4 g/L / 2,67 bottles per L wine = 0,15 g yeast per bottle. The solution is added to the bottles. 1 mL per bottle. So 1 mL should contain 0,15 g yeast. Therefore 15 g yeast should be added to the 0,1 L water and this solution is added as 1 mL to the cider.

Group 2:
Sugar and yeast as above.

Brillant flüssig. Calculations: 70 mL / 100 L wine = 0,7 mL / L wine = 0,26 mL per small (0,375 L) bottle of wine = 0,26 x 1000 = 260 microliter per bottle wine (added with automat pipet).

Tannin flüssig are added after Brillant flüssig. Calculations: 60 mL / 100 L wine = 0,6 mL / L wine = 0,23 mL per small (0,375 L) bottle of wine = 0,23 x 1000 = 230 microliter per bottle of wine (added with automat pipet).

Vitamon Ultra is a powder. Calculation: 60 g/100 L = 0,6 g / L wine. When small bottles 0,6 g / 2,67 = 0,22 g per small bottle. The powder is weightet and added directly to the bottles.

Step 9: Bottling of Traditional Cider

All ciders were monitored by density and brix value. In my good old cider handbook I found that bottling cider with a density between 1020-1018 would give a sweet cider, 1019-1015 a normal sparkling cider and 1013-1010 a light sparkling cider. From this I decided to bottle when the cider was at 1015 g/cm3. However, I only managed to do this for some of the ciders. The ciders was bottled at:

Ingrid Marie: 1017
Ildrød Pigeon: 1019
Dronning Louise: 1001
Sukkeræble fra Vaalse and Søde æbler fra Aalsrode: 0,9989
Aston Brown Jeresy: 1016

Dronning Luise and Sukkeræble fra Vaalse and Søde æbler fra Aalsrode fermented so fast that I didn’t managed to bottle it before it was to late.

The ciders was bottled in 0,375 L bottles and closed with crown cap, laid down in plastic boxes for further fermentation.

The Producer: Kristoffer Møller @ Horn Cider

Horn Cider in central Jutland was the last stop on my way drive through Jutland. Horn Cider was founded by Kristoffer Møller in 2006 after he attended a how-to-do cider course at with Jens from Cold Hand Winery. Since then Kristoffers production has grown and today he sells all his ciders to restaurants and deli shops in Jutland.

Horn Cider produces two different ciders. One bottled with residual sugar and allowed to ferment and build up pressure in the bottle. So as known from traditional French cider. However Kristoffer uses Danish apples. The other cider is fermented to dryness, then bottled and added sugar and yeast and allowed to ferment for a second time in the bottles. Both ciders are riddled and disgorged.

What make Kristoffers ciders special is that he use honey instead of yeast for inoculation. Kristoffer told me that he was working together with some scientists to figure out what yeasts the honey introduced and what happened during the fermentation. I’m really looking forward to hear more about these results…

The Producer: Jens Skovgaard @ Cold Hand Winery

I met Jens Skovgaard the first time last summer at Food Festival in Aarhus. Jens was busy serving wine and talking to potential customers. The energy level was so high that all attention was drawn to him. Jens was so busy that I never got to talk to him in-depth about his production. Visiting Cold Hand Winery was therefore obvious, and I did so on my Jutland-drive some weeks ago.

It all started with a dream for making ice cider (frozen-thawed-fermented apple must) in Denmark. Never ever seen before here in this country. He manages and since then the portfolio has expanded also to include sparkling apple wines, sparkling strawberry wine, sparkling raspberry wine, distilled spirits, fortified wines, and much more. Cold Hand Winery is by far the most innovative winery in Denmark.

The day I visited Jens he prepared digorging his pine wine (sparkling apple wine infused with pine).

I was there because of my interest in sparkling apple wine. Jens’ approach is very much similar to the way of making Champagne. However, the main difference is that Jens freeze-concentrate the must to enhance the sugar and acid concentration. The must is then fermented to complete dryness, secondary fermented in bottle with yeast, sugar and nutrients, disgorged and added dosage. And you can guess that the dosage is not ordinary. Jens experiment with dosages made from must of darker berries.

To get it all going Jens teamed up with Flemming one of Denmark’s biggest apple growers. In total 47 hectares of apples!

Stay updated on the winery. They seem to come up with new and exciting brews!

On the Cider Making Team

Until last Tuesday I was not sure whether or not to start my own production of cider. But after my road trip through Jutland, visiting producers, the beauty of making apple wine amazed me. All winemakers were so passionate about the process and their wine.

There is no doubt. I want to be a part of this team. Therefore I decided to open up my own production of sparkling Danish apple wine.

This decision leaves me with lots of questions: What apples should I use? Where do I find money for equipment and production facilities? Does anyone want to buy this product when it is done? How should I produce it? Brand name? Communication and marketing? …

So these days I try to work a lot of these questions out. Hopefully I will be able to start up during this autumn.

I you're a interested in funding a project like this, or know some one, please let me know...

Stay tuned @ jacobdamgaard.tumblr.com and sign up @ jakse.dk

The Producer: Sven Moesgaard @ Skærsøgaard Vin

Last week I went on a road trip to visit Danish cider / apple wine producers in Jutland. The first stop on my way was Skærsøgaard Vin. The winery is located only a short drive from Kolding. This is the closet you get to a “real” wine estate in Denmark. 15.000 wine plants and a winery packed with the newest equipment. There is no doubt that Sven – the founder and owner – is passionate about this project. Svens place is like heaven for a real wine geek.

I stopped by Skærsøgaard for a talk on apple wine, as Sven do Danish cider on Danish apple varieties. However cider is not his only product. His portfolio counts a broad selection of red and white wines, sparkling wines, fortified wines and distilled and aged spirits.

Sven talked me through his production and thoughts on cider as we walked through his fascinating winery.

Sven do two different wines on apples. However the only thing that differentiates the two wines from each other is the dosage, where he use either his fortified apple wine (æbleau) or his fortified black currant wine (crème). The production of the wine is as close to the traditional way of making Champagne as we get. Must of Danish apples are fermented to total dryness using Saccharomyces bayanus, allowed to stabilize and clarify for rather long time at low temperature, bottled with sugar, nutrients and Saccharomyces bayanus and allowed to ferment and mature in bottle. The wine is then riddled, disgorged and added dosage. This gives a sparkling, light aromatic apple wine. And I really like it!

No doubt that Svens passion is more than a hobby. I had a great time visiting the winery, tasting the wines and disusing interesting aspects on Danish cider.