Can bad cider be turned into hard cider?

Hi All,

Trying to find out some information on hard cider making. I work at an apple orchard in New York state and we throw out alot of "bad" cider, i was wondering if it is possible to turn it into hard cider instead of throwing it out. We have both pastureized and not.....Input please

That depends, what exactly do you mean by "bad" cider?

If you mean stuff that's going fizzy, you're partway there. If you mean stuff that has already soured, no.

If it's just starting to go fizzy and doesn't taste 'sour' (as opposed to tart, which it should) then it's a simple matter of either letting it ferment out with the wild yeast, or stopping the fermentation (via Campden tablets, pasteurizing, etc) *or* you could just pitch a more aggressive yeast strain from a starter (like Lalvin EC-1118 or a strong starter of Safale or Nottingham Ale yeasts)

By "bad cider" i mean cider that we take off the shelves because bubbling is beginning to occur inside the containers. Ie. plastic gallon jugs.

BrewAlchemy said:

By "bad cider" i mean cider that we take off the shelves because bubbling is beginning to occur inside the containers. Ie. plastic gallon jugs.

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That means fermentation is already beginning. If it's not sour then follow walking target's advice.