New England Hard Cider

[Alfonsotropolos]

New England Hard Cider Trial


I've started a cycling cornucopia of trial batches on variations of "New England Hard Cider". I'm hoping to try all and any variants on this type of cider. If you have any suggestions or recipes or even just little tid bits you've heard regarding New England Hard Cider please let me know!

 

[winenewb172]

Much prefer manhattan style

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I'm by no means an expert on New England Hard Cider, (I live over 1000 miles away) but I like the "idea" behind the description of the style. I think in this day and age, styles pretty much "have no borders". People in Peoria are producing keeved cider. People in Adelaide are producing Farmhouse Cider.

My methods include Brown Sugar and Raisins mainly because when I first started making cider the method that appealed to me included those ingredients. I always envisioned New England Cider as an apple forward ale type beverage with a hint of molasses or caramel from brown sugar. But I also know that the apple blend will play a bigger role in the style.

 

[Bittersharp]

There is not much empirical information on the New England cider style but we do know that it existed and was relatively common at the time. The two elements of the cider that we can be certain of is (1) an additional fortification with some type of sugar - often molasses or maple syrup - and (2) a secondary fermentation with raisins. The raisins are a key component of the style as they both provided extra tannins and wild yeast for the secondary fermentation.

The best published references to the style are Ben Watson's Cider Hard and Sweet as well as Sanborn Brown's Wines and Beers of Old New England

Two commercial examples of the style are Reverend Nat's Providence Traditional New England from Oregon and Blackbird Ciderworks New England Style Cider from New York.

 

[amandabab]

Growing up in New Hampshire and working at orchards for years,

New England hard cider is Macs, Courtlands, Ben-Davis or Gravensteins (usually drops) ground up and fermented with no fortifications, no raisins, no maple sugar or any of the other silliness the style books make up.
Often times unsold blended fresh cider is added to fermenting barrels. Also like unfermented cider (as opposed to juice) its not clear.

no gravity readings, no fancy yeast. The process of loosely covered 55 gallon drums covered in tarps next to the manure spreader and sevin sprayer would make most home brewers run screaming out of the barn. When it grabs your eyeballs and yanks them into your head its done. Last years leftover hard cider is turned into applejack.

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

no gravity readings, no fancy yeast. The process of loosely covered 55 gallon drums covered in tarps next to the manure spreader and sevin sprayer would make most home brewers run screaming out of the barn. When it grabs your eyeballs and yanks them into your head its done. Last years leftover hard cider is turned into applejack.

RIGHT ON!

I still like my brown sugar though.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Great description amanda! There's a reason they have the term 'swamp yankee', and hearing the words "fermentor next to the manure pile" brings all those reasons to the front of my brain! Lol.

I can say that here in CT our ciders are a blend that includes Mac, Cortland, Jonathon, Ida Red, Winesap, and a few others depending on the month. Some form of carmalized sugar (brown sugar, molassas) and a spice like Nutmeg or Cinnamon are popular.

 

[Alfonsotropolos]

Thanks for all the great stuff so far! There is something definitely invigorating about the idea of brewing cider very rustically and without additions especially near a manure spreader, just think of all the beautiful microbs that would be about! I’ve got a lot more stuff on its way to play with, for now I have groups of batches with varying brown sugars, raisins, and some random spices. I’m also playing around with a lot of raisins, water and brown sugar without cider to try to nail down exactly what these ingredients are contributing. I’ve also been coming across a lot of random bits on adding raw beef to a brew. Whereas my stomach instantly reacts with a gag when I imagine doing it myself I can’t help but give it a go, I’ll be starting my “raw beef brew” trials this week. I’ve heard various theories from various friends, some concerning the beef’s ability to absorb tannins, perhaps maybe also acting as nitrogen source but there’s been a lot of speculation around that. Has anyone heard of using raw beef or do they know what it is that it may do to improve a cider during fermentation or aging? Some English friends have also said that Scrumpy was often made with a somewhat ceremonious rat being thrown into the batch. It’s hard to differentiate legend from fact but all in all some very grizzly and entertaining stories.

 

[LeBreton]

Based on my research, the main goal of the additions of dried fruits, molasses or what have you is simply to boost the ABV and not so much to alter the flavor, although obviously that happens. They were really just looking for a better buzz on the cheap, and probably sold much of this NE cider to distilleries to make into brandy. Mainly made with cooker, eaters and multi-use apples. Not too many US apples were grown for the sole purpose of cider, and not by the common man. US cider apples seem to have been rare and primarily found on wealthy estates of gentlemen which a particular interest in cider while most farmers either sold their apples, dehydrated them for long term transport or storage, or made cider based on the market prices for such commodities. Whenever dried fruit, brown sugar, maple sugar, or molasses prices dropped below a certain profit margin, they were added into cider. I think it was a style originally influenced by economics as much as culture.



Good luck with the beef! I've seen some references to adding a leg of lamb, or jelly made from boiling stew beef, but never had the desire to try it myself. Nor have I been tempted to use blood or milk as a filing agent, or ground up bugs for color as some documents reference.

 

[Alfonsotropolos]

Some great book suggestions, I'm just about through Ben Watson's Cider Hard and Sweet and am looking forward to Wines and Beers of Old New England. On the Cider front I’m looking for more resources or published books backed by substantial science. I love reading everyone’s forums but I’m feeling a bit science starved. Does anyone have any good suggestions on the science behind cider specifically? I’m pretty comfortable with Oenology but I’d like to know more about cider and how it’s different than wine. Does it really matter when it comes to making a good cider… meh, it’s debatable but sometimes I like to really dork it up.

Also things are going really well with my batches, currently running trials on cider with different hops, oaks, blueberries, cranberries, sour cherries, various raisins and even a little raw beef. I’ll upload some pictures this evening.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Some great book suggestions, I'm just about through Ben Watson's Cider Hard and Sweet and am looking forward to Wines and Beers of Old New England. On the Cider front I’m looking for more resources or published books backed by substantial science. I love reading everyone’s forums but I’m feeling a bit science starved. Does anyone have any good suggestions on the science behind cider specifically? I’m pretty comfortable with Oenology but I’d like to know more about cider and how it’s different than wine. Does it really matter when it comes to making a good cider… meh, it’s debatable but sometimes I like to really dork it up.

Also things are going really well with my batches, currently running trials on cider with different hops, oaks, blueberries, cranberries, sour cherries, various raisins and even a little raw beef. I’ll upload some pictures this evening.

For a good read from a true 'cider scientist' try:

http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm

 

[LeBreton]

+1 to Andrew Lea's website. Lot's of great scientific information there. He also has a book out http://www.amazon.com/dp/1904871984/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Alfonsotropolos]

Thanks guys! That's some really great looking stuff, can't wait to dive in. Also, here are some of my current trials. Doing a bit of a "Lets see how things are getting on" tasting tonight with some friends.

 

[Alfonsotropolos]

And another good one of some extremely wild indigenous yeast/bacteria growth on one of my trials.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

And another good one of some extremely wild indigenous yeast/bacteria growth on one of my trials.

Lol, it drives home how Organic this whole hobby is.