Wines I'm Making: Hard Cider Success (March 31, 2013)

Success. Yesterday I opened the first bottle of the hard cider I've just finished making--my first attempt. It was a great pleasure to hear the whoosh! as I lifted the bottle cap and to see a rush of bubbles rise to the surface of the liquid, indicating that the in-bottle, secondary fermentation had gone as planned. I was a bit skeptical two weeks ago when I dosed the cider with a little sugar and sealed it up to wait for a silent fermentation to work its magic. I had feared something overlooked, some mistake would result in a cider as flat as when I put it in the bottles.

I giggled. I was reminded of my first real chemistry experiment. We precipitated a bright yellow lead compound out of colorless liquids. Magic, indeed. I felt the same giddy pleasure looking at my cider that I felt then, in high school chemistry class, when the classroom experiment worked just the way the teacher said it would.

I suspect this batch will disappear quickly and that I'll want to do it all over again. In the fall, I hope to use real pressed apples rather than store-bought apple juice (albeit of a very good quality; after all, we're only a stone's throw from the apple orchards of Sebastopol).  

The cider has a good apple aroma. Delicate apple flavors on the palate. Quite dry with a light carbonation that adds interest. Overall, subtle and delicious. Exactly two months start to finish. The first related post is here. For more, use the search box to search for "cider."