Apple Cider -- Dangers?

[CiderBound]

Okay, my wife asked this (honestly!) . . . .

Are there any dangers in brewing your own apple cider? (A couple extra pinches of sugar is not going to give you "weapon-grade anthrax," right?

My general philosophy is "God made dirt, and dirt don't hurt."

But nothing rhymes with "fungus" or "bacteria", so I am far less sure.

 

[Mista_Sparkle]

you should be just fine, if the juice is pasteurized, the only thing growing in there would be your yeast. if not, you might get some off flavors, but thats about it

 

[CandleWineProject]

Thing is, if you are working with juice (not from concentrate), you don't even have to add sugar! More avoidance of anthrax!

 

[RogerMcAllen]

If the juice is safe to drink beforehand, than it is safe to drink after you ferment it. As stated above, make sure you start with pasteurized juice and you will be fine. The water activity of sugar is low enough that it is essentially sterile.

As for the side effects (loss of judgement, dignity, pants...), that isn't technically the cider's fault.

 

[manticle]

My understanding is that the bacteria that makes soft cider dangerous (e coli mainly) can't grow in an alcoholic environment so the whole pateurisation thing is not necessary if making alcoholic cider and using fresh juice.

You make up your own mind of course - I've made very tasty cider juicing my own apples and not pasteurising or using sulphites and I've not died. Supposely pasteurisation will affect flavour to some degree.

Add to that there are various traditions of naturally fermented ciders (French, English etc) that rely on the yeasts within the apples and presumably try not to kill those by heating them up to 70+ degrees celsius.

Up to you, your own risk etc, etc but next cider I make will be heat free, sulphite free and delicious.

 

[vespa2t]

up until only the recent past people made hard cider by just putting it in a jug or barrel and letting natural processes take over.

 

[LightningInABottle]

You could get really drunk and fall over Or insert any of the other pit falls of getting drunk.

Bacteria infections are very rare but do happen. Don't let that get in your way.

 

[gregbathurst]

Historically, one of the main benefits of drinks like cider and beer was that they were much safer than local water supplies in urban areas, giving people a good excuse to get drunk.
The risk from home made cider is tiny, much less than most foods you buy. The pH of cider and wine is lower than most bacteria will tolerate, and if you add some camden tablets it is even safer. Tell your wife your cider is safer to drink than the tap water. My wife won't drink my cider because my apples have fruit fly grubs in them, thats fine by me.

 

[Stonedog]

Hang overs at warp speed? To paraphrase EdWort....