Safe to drink?

So I'm making some cider. Have made lots of beer, but this is my first time working with straight juice.

I know that with beer while there may be bugs that can make the beer taste nasty, but there's nothing that can grow in it that'll make a person ill.

Does the same go for cider? Or do I need to be concerned about ecoli or some other bug that could make the ppl drinking it ill??

Thanks for the info!

Yes, it goes for all fermented beverages....The whole history of beer, wine, mead and cider/Fermentation is general is that nothing pathogenic can exist in them They were consumed in places where the water could kill you, or make you sick.

Even slightly fermented beverages were consumed, even by children. Hard ciders were drunk like we drink bottled water.

Why do you think the Catholic Church chose wine as the basis of their sacrament? Because wine was more important to the culture of the desert where Christianity came from than water. Water safe, drinkable water was rare. So wine was the safer, common beverage of the day.

In fact Maureen Ogle posits that since plymouth rock though colonial times, ciders were drunk more than beer or wine for that very reason...plus there wasn't a domestic barley crop yet, but apples were plentiful, so more cider was brewed to be drunk in place of water than beer actually.

What the rev' said. Off flavours are another story - cider will produce much more "oomph" with bad smells and boozy tastes, so that's what you've got to work on. Splitting seeds in any fruit will produce bad flavours too.

awesome info! thanks!

ya... this will be interesting. my first time and, frankly, i didn't put a lot of thought into it. some apple juice, some pear juice, into a sanitized fermenter with some notingham yeast. lol. hoping for something drinkable.

Apoxbrew said:

awesome info! thanks!

ya... this will be interesting. my first time and, frankly, i didn't put a lot of thought into it. some apple juice, some pear juice, into a sanitized fermenter with some notingham yeast. lol. hoping for something drinkable.

Click to expand...

I basically did the same thing. Anybody have a pic of what the first week or so of fermentation should look like? I guess I am assuming it would not be exactly like beer, but I have no idea.

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i'll shoot a pic for you when i get home. just looks like juice in a carboy! LOL

Man. Not what I wanted to hear. I have had a layer of what looks like orange foam. Now there are large bubbles forming. Smells fine, but now I am fearing the worst. I used pasteurized cider to start. Would that make a difference?

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okay... so i'm going to respond, but given that this is my first cider... perhaps better to wait for one of the experts.

my guess is you're fine. not sure what yeast you used, but i read that some yeasts can form more of a krausen than others and mine happened to not form any (used dry notingham). the juice also can make a difference i think.

i used pasteurized juice without any preservatives in it. i do have some large bubbles on the surface (as if you were to blow air through a straw in a glass of juice)... but nothing foamy or anything. though i was half expecting krausen and because the color of the juice is sort of browny/orangy (whatever) i wouldn't be worried if that was the color of said krausen.

again though... let's let one of the experts chime in because i really have no clue what i'm talking about. LOL

Fermentation is ugly, don't worry about it. It's no different from any other fermetnation. A mutant monster is not going to rise out of it.

If it's ugly it's just a part of the process....don't go looking for monster hiding under your bed.
Just pitch the yeast and let it do it's thing.

It wants to work for you....so don't worry what it looks like, smells like....

Thanks. My bubbles have the same look. Going to assume all is well. Weird that I never worry about a beer, but I make one cider....