Shelf Life

[Talin]

Hello!

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but fairly new here.

Anyone know what the shelf life is of bottled cider, pasteurised and non pasteurised?

Thanks!

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Not sure, but many people age ciders for 1 year. I would not age a cider too much longer than that, unless it was high ABV, say at least 10%, but then its really a apple wine.

 

[Johnny_M]

A year is what you will hear often, but its possible to go longer. Cider is similar to White wine, which while it will never last as long as its brother red due to the tannin differences, I think they can be good for at least 5 years without having to really try to keep it in a very controlled humid low temp condition. The key is the right sulfite addition, pH, and tannin. Tannins act to preserve wine along with sulfite. While whites have lower pH I believe they use more sulfite to make up for their lack of tannin as lower pH actually keeps more sulfite in the molecular SO2 state. Similar to what would be required for cider. So with that in mind it's worth researching white wine production to see how far you can stretch the life of your cider.

 

[RPh_Guy]

3 weeks? 12 months? 15 years?

It depends on your process and storage conditions, among other things.
Oxidation can damage the cider over time, but it will still be ok to drink.
Bottle-carbonated ciders can develop autolysis flavors, which aren't necessarily bad.
Ciders with wild microbes and inadequate sulfite levels can develop into vinegar.

lower pH causes more of the sulfite to become bound rather than stay molecular SO2.

Not quite. Lower pH increases the proportion of molecular SO2, and has nothing to do with bound SO2.
Check out this article I wrote for more details:
https://modernbrewhouse.com/wiki/Sulfite

Cheers

 

[Johnny_M]

Not quite. Lower pH increases the proportion of molecular SO2, and has nothing to do with bound SO2.

I corrected myself with an edit. Realized I misspoke.