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.

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