Cider - recipe

Spaniards are very fond of and appreciate apple wine - cider. The recipe for this drink is ambiguous. Like many other wines, it is done in different ways, but there are some peculiarities peculiar only to it. Cider is made from natural apple juice, which is exposed to two different types of fermentation. Fermentation of the primary occurs with the help of yeast, they are either specifically added, or those that are present from nature on the skin of the apple are used. This fermentation by itself converts sugar into fusel oils (higher alcohols) and ethanol. Apple-milk, secondary fermentation turns malic acid into carbon dioxide and lactic acid. This fermentation occurs with the help of lactic acid bacteria present in apple juice.

Cider Preparation

Traditionally, cider, the recipe of which will be served below, begins with a banal gathering of apples. Then they leave to ripen within a week, and after - pass through the apparatus, which crush the apples.

Freshly squeezed juice can be fermented immediately. It can be fermented in 2 different ways. Traditionally, the juice is poured into a large wooden barrel, while removing the cork. Yeast is not added, because the traditional preparation is designed specifically for wild yeast. The fermentation begins 1-2 days later and lasts for a couple of weeks. During this time, cider in the barrel is still topped up. At the end of the fermentation, the cork returns to its place, and the cider is left to ripen for another 5-6 months.

Another way is that the juice of apples is treated with a certain sulfur dioxide, in order to suppress wild natural yeast. It is then fermented with pure yeast cultures introduced. After the initial fermentation ceases, the cider is left to allow yeast to settle in it, and placed in special storage tanks.

Traditional cider is served completely non-carbonated, and it can be a bit muddy at the same time.

Cider at home

At home, cider (the recipe is slightly different from the production process) starts with the same item. First you need to collect apples. They must necessarily be fully and well ripened, it is perfectly suitable for a dropsy. But do not use damaged or severely broken apples. Then you need to hold them for 10-14 days in some cool place, so that the skin becomes softer. If you want cider to naturally ferment with wild yeast, then do not wash the fruit and do not subject them to any sterilization. If apples have small damages, then it is possible to cut out such parts, but this is not necessary. By the way, many cider producers never do this. After maturation, you should squeeze the apples. With this task will cope and the usual home juicer, even if this process is quite laborious.

At the stage of separating the juice from the pulp, you need to check its pH. But using the correct ratio of the apples used, this step is skipped. If the correct balance of apples of cider could not be found, it may happen that it is necessary to compensate for the lack of sweet apples. Maybe you need to add sugar. In this case, there are two options: either dissolve it in a small amount of apple juice and add to the whole body, or use powder, adding it directly to the full volume of juice.

Then the apple juice is poured into the fermentation tank. Traditionally, wooden barrels are used for this. It remains to install a water trap and leave to wander. Cider is fermented at the same temperature as in its surrounding medium, however, in the case when fermentation is made by pure yeast culture, it would be better to ferment such cider at the temperature indicated for a given culture.

Check the density regularly. Once it becomes necessary, cider can be put on maturation. It is better to store it in glass bottles in some economic buildings. Any temperature fluctuations will not harm him. At the beginning of summer (or even at the end of spring), a year after manufacturing, the process of long-awaited apple-milk fermentation takes place in cider. This will happen when the temperature on the street rises somewhere to 15 C. This stage allows you to add a mixture of acids or separately malic acid, if the cider to your taste is not sharp enough. That's all, you can taste your cooked cider personally, the recipe of which has already been studied!