Ice Cider

Nathan Williams [email protected]

AHA NHC 2014 Grand Rapids, MI

What is ice cider?

❖ Alcoholic drink made from apples

❖ Sugars are concentrated before fermenting by freezing

❖ Not allowed to ferment dry Ice cider is NOT applejack!

Requirements for Quebec ice cider

❖ Must be made entirely from fresh (not concentrated) apple juice

❖ No sugar or alcohol can be added

❖ Must be frozen naturally (outdoors)

❖ Must be at least 30° Brix before fermentation

❖ Must have residual sugar of at least 130 g/L

❖ Must be between 7% and 13% ABV

Cider terminology

❖ “Cider” is ambiguous in North America

❖ “Hard cider” refers to the fermented product

❖ “Sweet cider” refers to the unfermented product

❖ “Apple juice” is ambiguous and may refer to filtered sugar water Apple selection

Unlike regular hard cider, ice cider doesn’t depend on tannins, so there’s no need to pursue the uncommon and seldom-grown “bitter” apples of cider making lore. Dessert/eating apples are just fine! Ice cider is a great way to use apples that would make bland regular cider. Concentrating

❖ Freezing the juice: cryo-concentration

❖ Freezing the fruit: cryo-extraction Cryo-concentration: Chest Freezer

❖ Plan on a 4x reduction in volume

❖ Find containers that allow expansion and some flex - no glass!

❖ Find a suitably-sized source of freezing temperatures.

Cryo-concentration: Home freezer

❖ Freeze in one-gallon plastic jugs

❖ Remove 1.5-2 cups of juice to make room for ice expansion

❖ Thawing is much quicker, needs more careful monitoring

❖ Need to keep the collected liquid from fermenting - keep it in the fridge! Cryo-concentration: Outdoors

❖ Requires a pretty cold winter.

❖ Keep containers outdoors, probably out of the sun.

❖ Repeated thawing and refreezing in the container is desirable. Fermentation

Use a low-attenuating yeast strain. Wine and sweet mead yeasts work well, and some cider yeasts are suitable. Specific recommendations:

• White Labs WLP775 (cider)

• Wyeast 4184 (sweet mead)

• Lalvin 71B (sweet wine) Ending Fermentation

Monitor the fermentation carefully and be aware as it approaches your desired final gravity. Be prepared to stop the fermentation and prevent any further yeast activity. Stopping fermentation: Cold crash plus racking. Preventing activity: Potassium sorbate or sterile filtration.

Competitions

Ice cider has no BJCP category of its own - 28D, “other specialty” is the fallback. Competitions that specifically judge ice ciders as such:

❖ Franklin County Cider Days Amateur Cider Competition (October)

❖ GLINTCAP, noncommercial division (March) Further resources

❖ “The New Cider Maker’s Handbook”, Claude Jolicoeur, Chelsea Green Publishers, 2013

❖ “Making and Marketing Vermont Ice Cider”, Eleanor Leger

❖ Franklin County Cider Days, November

❖ Les Mondial des cidres de glace, February

❖ Cider Digest email: talisman.com/cider

❖ Cider Workshop: ciderworkshop.com Thank You

Nathan Williams [email protected] nathanw.com/icecider