Dissolving tannin powder into cider

[Lupulo]

Hi Cider Forum! I recently ran a small titration experiment in my kitchen to determine the "right" amount of tannin (Vintner's Best Wine Tannin = chestnut wood tannin in powder form) to add to three, five-gallon batches of cider. Based on the level of astringency that I prefer, I landed on a dose of 1 tsp of tannin powder per gallon of cider. I used a disinfected wine thief to extract an aliquot of cider from each 5-gallon batch, poured each aliquot into a disinfected glass, and mixed five tsp of tannin powder into each glass. After many minutes of stirring with a disinfected spoon, I was ultimately (finally!) able to get the powdered tannin into solution before returning each aliquot back its respective fermenter. My experience with getting tannin into solution was new for me and far from optimal, so I'm sure that there must be better ways to do it. Getting tannin into solution is, admittedly, not a big problem, but If anyone has experience that they can share that will make the process more efficient, I'd love to learn from you! Thanks for your insights!

 

[Maylar]

I had the same issue with tannin and now I use oak cubes for a couple months in secondary instead. Tannin for red wine will also turn your cider dark, which I didn't like either. There is white wine tannin that doesn't do that

Tannin FT Blanc Soft | MoreWine

 

[Lupulo]

Thanks for insight from your experience, and for the link to the white wine tannin source, @Maylar. The tannin powder that I added definitely made the cider quite a bit darker, but since I'm a huge fan of dark, Belgian-style beers, I guess the darkened color didn't bother me. My current recipes are proof-of-concept (e.g., I'm using Belgian-style yeasts), but I'll give the lighter tannin a try on a future attempt so that the end-product turns out attractive as well as delicious.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Personally prefer measuring weight in grams instead of measurement by volume (teaspoons or other) for acids, tannins and k-meta or other additions. Much more precise and duplicatable. I also wonder if warming a quart of must before adding the powder would mix easier. Or in hot water poured in after cooling?

 

[Lupulo]

Good advice re. weight-based vs. volumetric additions, @Rick Stephens. My kitchen scale recently moved on to the appliance afterlife, and I haven't prioritized it's replacement yet. Hence, my current operations include old-school measuring spoons. I had the same idea of warming the extracted must to (possibly) speed incorporation of the tannin additions, but by the time I'd formulated that thought, I was far enough along (and I'd seen enough progress) in the process of stirring the tannins into "cold" must that I didn't think warming would save me much time. It's definitely something I'll try next time around. In the meantime, I thought that this forum might surface a few clever ideas from experts who've already walked down this dusty, tannin-powder road. Thanks for your insight!