Using Cider Syrup/Boiled Cider to Increase Specific Gravity

[Patrick McCauley]

Hi All. In Claude's book, I've read a little bit about making "fire cider" like they do in Quebec, where you boil the cider to concentrate the sugars and then ferment it. I am thinking about trying to make a higher ABV cider using cider syrup/boiled cider, as you would with a cyser, but adding boiled cider instead of honey. Has anybody ever done this? Is this a dumb idea?! Sounds like it could be a lot of work, but I am planning on making boiled cider/cider syrup this fall, and thought that this could be a fun experiment. I've seen historical texts mentioning doing this. I usually make a batch or two of cyser every year, and I thought it might be interesting to try to bump up the gravity with boiled cider rather than honey. I had two questions:

1) How does this affect the flavor? I'm assuming that I need to account for elevated acidity as boiled cider/cider syrup is quite tart. Are there any other flavor profiles that might be added by using boiled cider? Would the flavors be different than fire cider, as you are not heating all of the cider? I'm guessing the bouquet and taste would affected by this addition, but wasn't sure if that would be positive, negative, or worth all of the trouble. I'm going to use a low acid cider blend to make both the syrup and fermented cider.

2) How does this affect the fermentation? My cysers have been crapping out at around 12% with the wild yeasts I have been fermenting with, and I'm curious if the sugar in boiled cider might ferment the same way that honey might? I am thinking that I would add the boiled cider at secondary fermentation, which is what I do with my cysers.

Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Pat McCauley

Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Cillian Breathnach]

Hey Patrick, 

We've make a cider with a mix of cryoconcentrated and boiled juice at the orchard where I work here in Québec. The apples we used were Cortland  and Spartan. The final product rings in at 10%. We pitched commercial yeast though. 

In terms of flavour, what I got was a mix between strawberry jam and caramel from the boiled juice that we made fire cider out of. 

In the mix of cryo + fire, we left 1,008 in residual sugar. The apple flavours are really concentrated and it tastes much sweeter than the 1,008 would make you think. It's really well balanced IMO. I'd definitely recommend you give it a shot. It's a lot of work, but the resulting juice gives a great punch of flavour. 

Cillian Breathnach.

Le Verger à Ti-Paul, Québec. 

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[Patrick McCauley]

Cillian,

Thank you so much for responding to my post! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your thoughts on the process of using concentrated juice to raise the gravity of cider. Looking forward to experimenting with this in the coming fall! One question I had was, do you focus on making a lower acid cider when you are concentrating the juice? It sounds like it must be a high acid juice if you are using Spartan and Cortland, right? I have had ice cider in the past, as well as apple molasses/boiled cider, and both were quite tart, though still sweet, which gave a nice balance. Just curious what kind of pH and TA you usually try to start with on your concentrated juice?

Pat McCauley

[joshkel...@gmail.com]

Pat,

I thought I'd add a link to an interesting story about boiled cider and its history in the U.S.:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/boiled-cider-captures-the-essence-of-apples-in-syrup-form/2011/09/07/gIQALOs2PK_story.html 

"In certain parts of apple country, most notably western New England and along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a long-favored iteration was boiled cider. Reducing fresh cider until it coats the back of a spoon yields an elixir as thick as molasses and nearly as sweet, with a bracing tartness and undertones of burnt caramel. From the colonial period until the 1920s, wherever orchards proliferated, this syrup was a pantry staple, a general-purpose sweetener that cooks reached for in the way we might turn to honey today. It bound mincemeat and pots of baked beans, filled pie crusts in New England and moistened fruitcakes in Virginia. What it wasn’t typically used for was pouring over pancakes or biscuits (but don’t let anyone tell you it shouldn’t be)."

Let us know how your boiled cider experiment goes!
Josh in the Catskill Mountains, NY

[CGJ]

Josh,

Interesting!

I actually did this a couple years back with southeastern New England
farmstand "cider" (unfermented apple juice for the non-US crowd). It was
a fun experiment, and promising, but I found it rather too harsh to use
on a regular basis. I suspect that while the juice was balanced for
drinking, the acidity become a bit too much when concentrated.

That said, I will try it again, once I find a source of sweet but low
acid apples.

Cheers,
Carl
West Barnstable, Massachusetts

[Claude Jolicoeur]

In the old days, it is mainly the sweet apples that were used in that way in the US (Tolman sweet, Pumkin Sweet and others similar) so that the acidity didn't become overly strong with the concentration. Was it the same in UK?

Let us not forget also that sugar in 1800 was an expensive commodity that had to be imported from the Caribbean Islands, and most of the people in the country did not have access to sugar. Hence apple syrup was probably one of the main sweetener used.

[Patrick McCauley]

Thanks for the link, Josh. Boiled cider/Apple molasses was produced on an almost industrial scale here in the Ann Arbor area during the late 19th century. Apple jelly was another product that was hugely popular, and made in a similar fashion, though I think they added a pectin source to get it to firm up a bit more. I'm going to make some boilded cider this Fall from very low acid apples and then see if I can bump up the gravity of my cider like I do with my cysers. I'm doing this rather than just making "Fire Cider" in order to not kill off all of the wild yeasts in the entire batch. Will probably stir the boiled cider in after the first racking. I'll report back on how it all goes!

Pat McCauley

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[Tom Bugs]

That makes me think of appelstroop (or apple butter or just stroop) - a Dutch tradition, I think I first came across it in the Joan Morgan 'Book of Apples'