Filtering cider to reduce aging? Good idea?

[412CiderGuy]

I’m trying to reduce the time my cider has to age before it’s ready to keg / bottle. I currently use pectic enzyme and sparkleloid to clear but my brew shop recommended filtering. They said it will take weeks off the aging process. Any thoughts?

 

[madscientist451]

My experience has been that aging cider has more to do with flavor than just having a clear product.
I've recently been drinking cider I made in 2016 that I really didn't like all that much when it was 6 months old and then I tasted it again when it was a year old and I put it aside. It seems much better to me now, but I can't do a side by side comparison of course. The apples were about 50/50 Dabinett and Russets, the juice was pretty expensive, and I was initially disappointed with my results.
People trying to make a quick cider in 4-6 or 8 weeks are making a different beverage than I'm shooting for, but that doesn't mean that taste should be put on the back burner. Will filtering change the taste? I guess you'd have to try it to see for yourself.

 

[412CiderGuy]

My experience has been that aging cider has more to do with flavor than just having a clear product.
I've recently been drinking cider I made in 2016 that I really didn't like all that much when it was 6 months old and then I tasted it again when it was a year old and I put it aside. It seems much better to me now, but I can't do a side by side comparison of course. The apples were about 50/50 Dabinett and Russets, the juice was pretty expensive, and I was initially disappointed with my results.
People trying to make a quick cider in 4-6 or 8 weeks are making a different beverage than I'm shooting for, but that doesn't mean that taste should be put on the back burner. Will filtering change the taste? I guess you'd have to try it to see for yourself.

I 100% agree for my homebrews but I’m aiming to streamline so I can open a nano-brewery / brewpub within the next year and want to make the quickest tastiest ciders I can.

There are 2 cideries in my town and both have some pretty intense plate filter systems so guessing that’s part of how they churn out liquid so fast.

 

[TechFanMD]

I 100% agree for my homebrews but I’m aiming to streamline so I can open a nano-brewery / brewpub within the next year and want to make the quickest tastiest ciders I can.

There are 2 cideries in my town and both have some pretty intense plate filter systems so guessing that’s part of how they churn out liquid so fast.

I make Edwort's Apfelwein as a base 'cider' and backsweeten/flavor it to create different beverages. The Apfelwein thread is full of posts and pictures of it clearing in 4-5 weeks. I don't get it clear in 2 months whether it is Montrachet or US-05. I have a Buon Vino plate filter and filter it at 6-8 weeks+ (longer if the pipeline is full). It comes out brilliantly clear and does seem to speed up 'aging' a bit.

That said, it definitely still mellows and tastes better 3+ weeks after filtering.

Apfelwein has added corn sugar to increase the alcohol......I think if you make a regular cider with a highly flocculating yeast it will ferment out in a week, then you could filter and bulk age for a week or so, keg (if you backsweeten I would stabilize it if I were selling it and it would take more than a week to burn through the batch) and serve.

 

[bmd2k1]

I 100% agree for my homebrews but I’m aiming to streamline so I can open a nano-brewery / brewpub within the next year and want to make the quickest tastiest ciders I can.

There are 2 cideries in my town and both have some pretty intense plate filter systems so guessing that’s part of how they churn out liquid so fast.

I use S04 all the time -- it only takes about 7days for 5-6gals....cold crashes awesome and ends up crystal clear every time. Make's a damn tasty cider for me every time!

Cidery in Northern Michigan uses a centrifuge to clear all their ciders -- which they ferment with Cotes.

Cheers & Good Luck.

 

[bmd2k1]

I’m trying to reduce the time my cider has to age before it’s ready to keg / bottle. I currently use pectic enzyme and sparkleloid to clear but my brew shop recommended filtering. They said it will take weeks off the aging process. Any thoughts?
View attachment 603038

Did you end up getting this set-up?

 

[wasully]

There are 2 cideries in my town and both have some pretty intense plate filter systems so guessing that’s part of how they churn out liquid so fast.

Sterile filtration lets you safely backsweeten. Ferment to dryness, filter out the yeast, sweeten to taste. Artificially carb.

Aging is a separate thing.

 

[ten80]

It's not clear what you're asking. Filtering will not simulate the mellowing of flavors and increased complexity imparted by aging. However, filtering will make a cider clear faster.

So is it that you want to clear your cider faster, or do you want to age your cider to alter the flavor?

I use Superclear when I need to drop yeast out of suspension quickly and it takes only 2-3 days to go crystal clear. Much simpler and less of a mess than filtering, plus I don't need to worry about oxidation or sanitizing filter components.

I think that filtering of ciders is largely unnecessary for hombrewers, unless you want to sterile filter before backsweetening.