Will freezing whole apples leave any notable impact on resulting cider?

[eljefitobandito]

We have picked some of our crab apples but we are waiting to get enough other varieties (ideally bittersweets) to blend and set up a few batches all together (i.e. we want to wait to crush & juice everything at once). We would like to freeze the crab apples whole until we have everything ready, hence the question: will this impact anything notable in the brew process (e.g. yeast/fermentation steps) or in the resulting cider (e.g. taste)? I imagine this may kill any wild yeast, but I figure the taste should be preserved.

I searched the forum a little bit but kept landing on results about freeze concentration, so I hope this post adds new information. Thanks in advance!

 

[Yooper]

That's exactly what I do- I have a tree whose apples are ready now, but many of the other varieties are not. I stick them in the freezer in food safe plastic bags until it's time to use them.

 

[eljefitobandito]

Perfect, thanks for the confirmation, Yooper! When we started last year we scrambled to get everything done in one multi-day marathon session. This should make things more approachable this year!

 

[eljefitobandito]

Oh, and since this thread is still new/active - part two of the question is still open: has anyone here tested to see if wild yeasts survive when freezing apples like this?

I suspect if we do some wild yeast batches again this year we can get away with relying on wild yeast from the fresh apples that we add last in our process rather than relying on anything surviving from the apples we plan to freeze now.

 

[Yooper]

I don't think you'd be lucky enough to have good wild yeast survive freezing. Some bacteria do, but I don't know of any yeast that do off of the top of my head.

 

[doublejef]

I Don't think neither that wild yeast will survive, above all if some does, it will be weak so fermentation will start very slowly.
If I can ask Something, why do you want to freeze your apple ? A lot of cider makers keep their apple around a month or so in a cool place (but not bellow 0°C) to let it dry and get a juice with higher sugar concentration.

 

[madscientist451]

Oh, and since this thread is still new/active - part two of the question is still open: has anyone here tested to see if wild yeasts survive when freezing apples like this?

I suspect if we do some wild yeast batches again this year we can get away with relying on wild yeast from the fresh apples that we add last in our process rather than relying on anything surviving from the apples we plan to freeze now.

Freezing yeast doesn't necessarily kill it although there are many different types of yeast and the freezing does introduce some stress and they may have different growth rates after being frozen:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC168690/

 

[dtashmore547]

hi
during my wine making days I always froze all my fruit before brewing, it breaks down the cells of the fruit and helps extract the juice.

 

[ncguire]

Not sure about the wild yeasts surviving the freeze thaw process, but I just want to add that there are also yeasts contributing to fermentation coming from places other than the fruit itself. Saccharomyces can be found on your press, equipment and in the room where you are making cider, etc. It exists on fruit but it is usually sparse anyway. That's why I also don't think people should worry about rinsing the yeast off their fruit if they wash it before pressing either. Fresh juice is high in other types of yeast, and these yeasts are what kick off fermentation, but they do not survive long. Saccharomyces will eventually multiply and ferment the cider fully, so I wouldn't be too worried. Never tried this process myself, but I'd guess it will be a little slow to start.

 

[toadie]

Great question! I've made cider the last 3 years. Every year has improved in quality. I use juice from an orchard and wanted to add some crab apples. I don't really know what apples are used for the juice but i assume sweet eating varieties. I'm wondering how many crab apples to freeze and add when I get the juice in october. I was also thinking about adding in a bag to make it less messy.

 

[ncguire]

Great question! I've made cider the last 3 years. Every year has improved in quality. I use juice from an orchard and wanted to add some crab apples. I don't really know what apples are used for the juice but i assume sweet eating varieties. I'm wondering how many crab apples to freeze and add when I get the juice in october. I was also thinking about adding in a bag to make it less messy.

I would juice the crab apples if I were you, not add them in a bag. If you don't have an apple mill and press or juicer, what I have done in the past is freeze and smash into a pulp, or cut into small pieces and run through a blender a bit till you have pulp. Then you put the pulp in a muslin bag or roll it up in some cheese cloth and squeeze the juice out. But I would only do this with a few crab apples to add some flavor to some existing juice, it is too time consuming to process a large amount of fruit this way.

 

[toadie]

Great advise. Maybe I'll juice a smallish amount of crab apples and freeze until I have the roughly 5 gallons later this fall. I have recently acquired a big press but probably won't be able to use it until next year. I'm also thinking about getting a garburator to process apples and mostly pears.