Bottle aging versus bulk aging

[Peter Perigoe]

Dear all,

I am only starting off as a hobby cider maker small scale. I have 18 trees 15 cider planted late winter 2015/16 so will  not produce much for a few years.

I have access to other cider apples in the interim, and am slowly buying in equipment as I can afford it. 

Last harvest after pressing etc I had 60 litres after second racking. 

My query, my storage containers (for the first couple of years anyway anyway) are 20 litre virgin plastic containers, not specific for cider and may not be thick enough to ensure no oxygen ingress. 

I therefore out of concern of risk of spoilage bottle conditioned 2 X 20 litres after 6 weeks ageing and moved to a cool dark place

the 3rd 20 litre I added MLF bacteria as per sheet, left in the container for a month and then bottle conditioned.

1) Is it safer to bottle earlier, to avoid risk of oxygen ingress or should I take the risk and bottle after say 6 months?

2) Does the cider itself improve in glass bottles or only in bulk?

Many thanks for an opinion 

Peter

[downside perry]

Hi Peter,

I would say, if your only option for bulk aging is 20l plastic, I would certainly go with the bottles instead. In my experience, the 20l containers let in far too much air and not suitable for more than a month or 2 after fermentation has finished.

Cider does improve in bottle over long periods of time just as wine does. It is important to have correct levels of sulphite at bottling and be confident that the cider is in good condition. If you are bottle conditioning, I would argue that it is better to bottle early so that you get all the benefits of long term contact with the lees and the products of yeast autolysis earlier.

Cheers,

Paul

[Handmade Cider]

Hello Peter,

Best practice is to bottle sooner. The only reasons I find not too bottle in spring are:

1. I can't afford that much glass (I make quite a bit of cider) 

2. bottles take up twice as much space as bulk cider. 

3. I want to blend once all the flavours I am working with have become apparent (I like to mature some of my ciders for up to 3 years).

Denis   

Denis France   www.handmadecider.co.uk   07590 264804  Company. No. 07241330

White Label – Champion Farmhouse Cider, Bath & West Show 2015.

Spring Surprise - Cider of the Festival Chippenham Camra Beer Festival 2015 & 2014

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