Step 8: Alcoholic Fermentation

To ensure a controlled fermentation yeast was added to all the wines. I used Saccharomyces bayanus, 2 g/10 L. During the fermentation I monitored the change in density and brix. Samples was taken out and freezed down for analysis of sugars, acids and nutrient composition. These results will be uploaded when the analysis are done.

The following figures illustrate the change in density and brix for modern and traditional cider.

Change in brix during alcoholic fermentation for traditional ciders

Change in brix during alcoholic fermentation for modern ciders

Change in density during alcoholic fermentation for traditional ciders

Change in density during alcoholic fermentation for modern ciders

Abbreviations:
Ingrid Marie: IM
Ildrød Pigoen: IP
Dronning Louise: DL
Sukkeræble fra Vaalse + Søde æbler fra Aalsrode: SVA
Aston Brown Jesey: AB
Modern approach: M
Traditional approach: T

The Producer: Kim Johansen @ Pomona

I met with Kim at his office located in historical surroundings at the old Carlsberg area here in Copenhagen. Until 2008 millions of beers was brewed here every year. The location is no coincides, cause Kim knows beer. As a teacher at the Scandinavian School of Brewing is teach the magical processes of brewing.

Beside his profession as teacher Kim brew cider on license. Why do a man with so much knowledge in beer brew cider?

Kim was inspired to do cider after a trip to Somerset in England. After some years as garage brewer Kim teamed up with a big apple must factory to do cider.  In 2002 he launched his first cider named Pomona.

Kim way of making cider is far away from what’s seen elsewhere. The apples come from orchards around Fyn and from locals garden (they trade 4 kg of apples for 1 liter of must). After pressing the must is pasteurized. Sugar is added to the must together with a secret yeast strain that Kim chose himself. After fermentation Kim added lactic acid bacteria that convert the sharp malic acid into the weaker acid lactic acid. Kim does this to give his cider a more pleasant acidity. Finally unfermented pasteurized apple must is added to the cider and it is then filtered, added carbon dioxide, bottled and pasteurized.

Kims way of making cider is quite unique and very different from the French approach that most of the Danish brewers follows.

Read more about Pomona cider @ http://www.pomona.dk/English.htm

Some years ago Kim did an article on how to brew cider after a field trip around Europe. Download it here for free.

The Producer: Kai Winter @ Kernegaarden

I’ve mentioned Kai earlier on this blog. He was the first that introduced me to “real” cider. Since our first meeting Kai and I have done different project together and discussed the aspects of being a small producer in Denmark. Unfortunately we never discussed his cider production in details. So last week Kai came by Copenhagen for a talk about cider.

Mapping Kais cider production and tasting different ciders.

Here are some of my notes from the meeting.

Kai started producing cider at Fejø in collaboration with some other guys, including Jeppe from Fejø Cider (read more about Jeppe here). Today Kai operate on his own from his small farm Kernegaarden.

His approach to cider is French. The cider is produced from French cider apple varieties that grow in small orchards around the island. Kai buy the apples from the growers and produce cider from these. Kai produce two different ciders, a traditional semi dry cider and “summer cider”.

The production the traditional semi dry cider is very simple and as natural as possible: The apples are matured in plastic nets, then milled, pressed and clarified by Keeving. The cider is racked and allowed to ferment spontaneously for up to 3 months at low temperature. The cider is then filtered, bottled and matured for 2-3 months before sale. This gives a rich and aromatic Danish-French cider.

The “summer cider” varies from the traditional in the duration of fermentation. The summer cider is allowed to ferment longer. After the fermentation the cider is filtered, bottled and added carbon dioxide and is then pasteurized.

I went to visit Kernegaarden a couple of times. Here are some of my shoots from the visit.

Kai in a talk @ Torvehallerne, Copenhagen

Maturation of cider apples

The shop @ Kernegaarden, Fejø

Wooden barrels outside the winery

Step 7: Clarification of Modern Cider

For the modern cider we want to make a dry base wine (base cider) with no residual sugar – as known from the production of Champagne and other sparkling wines. Due to the addition of pectinolytic enzymes pectin is broken down and the must is therefore not able to form the pectin gel. Nutrients are therefore not removed – and the wine is able to ferment to total dryness.

Therefore this wine was clarified by cold stabilization. After 4 days in cold storage the wine was racked and prepared for fermentation.

Cold stabilization

Step 7: Clarification of Traditional Cider

Clarification is traditionally done by Keeving. Some say that this is where you – to some degree – make the cider. Pectin is de-esterified by pectin methyl esterase (PME) enzymes and this allows the pectin to form a gel when calcium ions are present. Both pectin, PME and calcium ions are natural occurring in apple must. However in some modern cider production they are added to ensure the gel formation. In my experiments I added both PME as NovoShape ® and calcium chloride.

Why is Keeving important?

Impurities are entrapped in the gel and the wine is therefore clarified. But Keeving is more than this. Beside impurities the pectin gel entrap important nutrient. When nutrients are removed from the must fermentation will naturally stop (or slow down) and leave a wine with a natural sweetness. So Keeving is also a way to control fermentation.

The Producer: Jeppe Gents @ Fejø Cider

Last week I met with Jeppe for coffee (cortado for Jeppe and a large americano for me) for a talk about his cider production at Fejø. Jeppe was very interested in my project on Danish cider – but laughed a bit about my approach. As Jeppe said “what you are doing is apple wine – not cider” and I guess apple wine is bad when comparison.

Here are some notes from the meeting.

Jeppe and his wife (the manager of the firm) was some of the first to produce cider here in Denmark. They used to have an apple orchard at Femø with Danish varieties but decided to plant a new orchard with cider apple trees on Fejø. Femø and Fejø are both small islands in the southern part of Denmark – very close to each other.

What they planted was mainly French cider and juice varieties as Douce Moen, Douce Coet Ligne, Avrolles, Kermerrien, Bedan, Bisquet, Friquin rouge, Judeline and Judaine.

Fejø cider is a natural cider. Organic grown apples. No additives. No sulfur. No yeast. No nothing – just pure cider apples grown in Danish soil.

Fejø cider is French cider in Denmark. A rich and balanced cider. Golden and very drinkable. Jeppe emphasized vintage 2011 as one of the best!

All work takes place at Fejø. The apples are harvested in the beginning of November, matured in big wooden boxes until milling and pressing. Jeppe don’t do maceration. The must is allowed to form brown hat and is then racked and fermented at low temperature in big plastic boxes and stainless steel tanks for up to three months. The cider is then filtered (not always), bottled and matured.

Jeppes cider sells on restaurants and bars around Denmark and at Systembolaget in Sweden – and I think Jeppe said Norway as well. Try it.

Sorry – but no pics yet. See and read more @ www.fejoecider.dk (in Danish).

Danish Cider Producers

A very important part of this project is to get a better understanding of how cider is produced in Denmark by now: Who are the producers? Why do they start producing cider? How do they do it and why this way? How do they see Danish cider in 10 years from now?

In order to get all these questions answered I decided to visit them all. So these days I’m kind of a logistic manager trying to work out when and where to visit them.

Doing my research I found the following producers in Denmark (do you know more than these then email me).

Kernegaarden
Fejø Cider
Pomona Cider
Meyer Food
Bryghuset Braunstein
Cold Hand Winery
Skærsøgaard Vin
Horn Cider
Bornholms Mosteri
Årstiderne (planning to do cider in the future)

I will post more about my visits in the future. So stay tuned here at the blog.

Step 6: Pressing

After 24 hours of maceration the pulp was ready to press. It was obvious that browning reactions had taking place. However in the middle of the pulp – with little or no oxygen exposure – the pulp was still light and not oxidized. The must extraction varied much among the apple varieties.

For the pressing I used a hydropress. The must was collected in glass balloons and prepared for clarification.

Pressing of pulp with hydropress

Step 5: Maceration

Maceration of pulp at 15 C

The milling process break down the apple into small pieces and enhance the surface area. The interior of fruity flesh is now exposed to the real world consisting of potent reactants as oxygen and light. Enzymatic reactions as browning and other oxidative processes will now take place – and this happens fast. The process where apple pulp is left over time in contact with oxygen is called maceration.

I asked my good old friend Kai what he does in his production at Kernegaarden. Kai mill the apples and leave them for a couple of hours before pressing. According to my good old book “The Principles and Practice of Cider-Making” the maceration should last for 24 hours. So what to do?

I guess the maceration process is about extraction of aroma compounds and pectin. Pectin is important in the traditional cider making process as this, in the presence of calcium ions, form a jellylike network (the brown hat) wherein important nutrients are entrapped. As nutrients are removed from the must yeast are not able to metabolize all the sugar and this result in a cider with a natural sugar content.

For my experiments I decided to macerate for 24 hours. To the modern ciders I added pectinolytic enzymes (polygalacturonases and pectine methyl esterases). This enhances the extraction of juice and nutrients as well as breaking down the pectin. Do to this the modern ciders are not able to form a hat and the must will therefore ferment to dryness.