Adventures in Fermentation - Scrumpy

I've been reading about cider lately. Hard, sweet, made with dessert apples versus cider apples, how cider vinegar is so good for humans and that we should consume it more, and so on. Lots about cider. Why this is will become more apparent as projects fire up later in the year, so until then who knows what little gems might show up here.

In my reading I came across the term "scrumpy". It was used to described an "old-school" style of cider which contained fresh sweet cider, sometimes additional sweetener, and yeast mixed together and fermented for just a few weeks; designed to be consumed young and very much alive. In further research I found the term has several applications and potential derivations, and it is still very much in use to describe small batch ciders made in some counties in England. The obsolete term "scrimp", meaning withered apple, may have been a precursor and the term "scrump" when used to describe the act of stealing fruit also has a history here.

The description when used to describe cider is what really caught my attention. With basic ingredients thrown together for a short while and without allowing time for it to clear, a scrumpy is a bit different than what I am used to making. A few weeks into a ferment a scrumpy is going to be cloudy, somewhat sparkling from continued fermentation and potentially a little rough compared to finished ciders. Fermented to completion they might only be pettilent and of course a measure stronger still! Interesting. I figured I had to give it a try.

One of the local farms (Mack's Apples) is still pressing cider so I was able to get two day old cider that had not been treated in any way. I poured 3/4 of gallon of the cider into a 1-gallon glass carboy and to that I added 12 ounces of local honey. I mixed/aerated the cider and honey well before moving to the next step. I sprinkled 1/2 of a satchel of S-05 beer brewing yeast over the cider and affixed a water airlock to the top. Fermentation began within 24 hours and proceeded strongly for at least a week. I also made a perry version of this using 3 quarts of organic pear juice. It is recommended that you give a scrumpy 2-3 weeks for a complete fermentation, although depending on how much initial sugar you have that may not be long enough for some residual sugar to remain, something I was actually desirous of.

After the initial fermentation period classic farmhouse style scrumpys will have a small measure of fresh cider added to flavor the beverage before serving. I used 6 ounces of apple juice concentrate. Adding this now, and not racking the cider off the gross sediment, will ensure additional fermentation because the yeast is very much active. Technically you can propagate a scrumpy fermentation like this for quite a while (several months) if you make use of yeast nutrient to help keep the yeast colony vital.

I poured a glass of the scrumpy last night. Wow! Having given it only two weeks to ferment the apple character of the cider is still very much present. It is spritzy, but not carbonated, sweet but not cloying and there is nothing harsh or rough about it. I stopped at a second glass because I want to enjoy this batch for another week or two before starting another. It tastes like the commercial ciders you would recognize and being careful not to get any of the sediment or yeast in the glass meant that I couldn't really tell it was cloudy or unfinished without actually seeing it.

The perry had gone a week too long and picked up a tinge of off fermentation aromas. With a little apple juice concentrate and some yeast nutrient and I will likely be able to net a similar outcome to the scrumpy. It was drier as expected, very crisp but not nearly as flavorful. Food for thought for the next time. But for now, the scrumpy has my attention!

So what I just said and did was make fresh hard cider, designed to be consumed young without manipulation. And so easily! This simple home fermentation is a very significant act in honoring food preservation, the history of fermentation and more broadly the history of America. Learning what a scrumpy is firsthand, as an example, is one of the reasons I started fermenting at home and the leading reason why I continue to enjoy it!

Cheers!

Jason

Book Review: Cider: Hard and Sweet by Ben Watson

I picked up the second edition which includes new material on Perry, i.e. pear “cider” for most of us who would never have heard of this otherwise. This book ended up being a nice bump for me after my cider experiment in 2009 and all of the feedback I have received on the different styles.

The wonderful thing about books like this is the fact that you get information of all kinds. A good start is a history about the beverage and then add in process, customs & variations, DYI details and last but not least tasting, pairing and applications/cooking.

Cider has a long and storied history around the world. While production volumes have changed a lot over the years it stands to reason that some of the very best cider products are available right now, if you know where to get them. Today I enjoyed the section of the book on the departments of Normandy, France and their customs in the making and consumption of Calvados. A kiss of Calvados on the lips during baptism and we can’t love the French?

Ben Watson, the author of Cider: Hard and Sweet, succeeds in an impressive effort to present a breadth of information on a topic that isn’t familiar to most, and seems to point to a tradition in decline from its heights. That is certainly true, but the upside with reading Watson’s book is knowing where to get good cider, he readily tells you about all of them, how to serve them and what enjoyment awaits those that do. Our own home-state favorite, Farnum Hill Ciders at Poverty Lane Orchards and its owner/cider maker Steven Wood is quoted, described and toasted in the book.

I made cider for the first time in 2007 after a bad go of making an apple wine in the two years before. My initial attempt at cider including charging the bottles much like you would with beer (creating the bubbles through a closed fermentation) resulting in volcanic openings on a couple boxes. My 2008 batch was still (no carbonation) and worked much better. The sections of the book on basic cider making, upgrades and longer term projects represent a true hands-on experience and processes others could follow to a happy outcome.

I love cider, but my experience with it is pretty limited. Once I could make my own I didn’t end up tasting too many others. I remember buying Farnum Hill ciders right after college and drinking them with my now wife on our weekends away together while she finished school. At the recent Wine Riot in Boston I had a heritage varietal cider from Farnum Hill that blew my socks off. I’ve also had Woodchuck and Cider Jack, but they aren’t the same beverage.

Then came 2009.

In my cider post earlier in month I explained my approach to a 7 bucket project to produce a bunch of different cider types. I got good results from all of them and one just took First Place in Common Cider category of the Northeast Regional Homebrew Competition. I’m learning and trust me I coming on strong again next year with new ideas and new products.

Towards the end of the book Watson shares recipes and cooking tips. Braising meats with cider is a slam dunk. Marinades and salad dressings using cider are not a stretch. (Recipes below)

Making your own cider vinegar sounds easier than most people, including me, would have thought. I am hoping this extends to wine vinegar as well. Unfortunately I have some wine I could blend for vinegar (it isn’t good to drink), but I’d like to use cider to make vinegar on purpose. Allowing a finished wine/cider to aerate in a warm dark place and then stabilizing it like wine can net gallons of ready to use vinegar. The uses for it are well beyond cooking and a variety of health benefits have been observed in some daily consumers. Thanks Ben!

The details on how the author lined up and tasted many ciders, compiled scores and described the facets of the best ciders was very intriguing to me. Food pairing with any beverage is a lot of fun and some of the notable things we have tried with our ciders are grilled margherita pizzas, candied bacon and barbeque. Our cider party was a drunken barn dance a-la South Park, and the hangover a few of us had was pretty intense; but what a way to celebrate all the hard work!

The chapter on Perry contained information completely new to me. I made a pear wine in 2008 but found it off tasting and have used it mainly to create wine punches. Fine Perry can be made from specific heirloom pear varieties and is typically drier and sharper than that which we create from dessert pears, e.g. those that are directly edible. Pear and apple blends are noted here as well. I think an experiment with a pear dessert wine is worthy for 2011!

Cheers!

--Jason


Barnes & Noble info for the book

Recipes

Braising / Slow Cooking

I have changed the liquid ingredients using cider in place of ½ of any broth and water in an original recipe. If the recipe also calls for white wine I would continue as is, but recipes that call for too much red wine are a problem as the wine can overpower the apple flavors which are not typical in such wines.

Cider Salad Dressing

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ dry hard cider
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
½ tsp crushed rosemary

Combine cider, vinegar and spices. Slowly mix in oil. Serve over greens with candied nuts, dried cranberries and Roquefort cheese.


Other NH Cider Products We Have Tried

Crooked Tree Winery – we had several great tastings at a public event
Farnum Hill Ciders – our favorite!
Silver Mountain Ciders – lots of different styles, found in NH & VT

Out-of-State Mention

Crispin Ciders – Crispin is active on Twitter organizing events and might be coming to NH next year.

Fantastic Fermentations

The week since we got back from Washington & Oregon has been busy tending to my "children". In all I have ten batches of wines fermenting, all at various stages on their journey to blends and varietal bottlings that with some age should proved to be quite good.

I picked up grapes from Chile and frozen white grape juice from Lanza Vineyards and Sutter Ridge, all through M&M Wine Grape in Hartford, CT.

http://www.juicegrape.com/

I also made a few changes this year with the addition of a yeast re-hydration agent and a gentler yeast nutrient to use along the way. Go-Ferm and Fermaid are products from Lallemand, a well known and trustworthy source of yeasts, enzymes and cultures. The equipment shop at M&M had these on hand.

Once the buckets warmed up from being frozen, on the count of me being out of town for a week the day after the grapes arrived :(, I tested them for pH, TA and Brix and decided not to make any adjustments based on other numbers and notes I had seen from folks using similar products.

Above is a picture of the top of one of the Malbec buckets. I have been punching the caps down on all the red wine buckets several times a day all week!

All the buckets had been sulfited before freezing so once I hit the mid 60's in temperature I had to be ready to pitch the yeast and keep an eye on them.

I also used Opti-Red and Opti-White this year. These are enzymes formulated for to sequester more of desired molecules in a grape must and either make them available to the fermentation or drop out of the process. Everything I had heard and read suggested this step as a big enhancement.  What you see to the left is the new Cab/Syrah blend in the picture on the left and five gallons of a jalapeno cooking wine that will be used to make drinks and sauces on the right. The other reds are a Cab, Syrah and a Malbec.

Rehydrating the yeast with Go-Ferm according to the very easy steps on the package resulted in a start and no problems since for every single bucket I pitched. Including the smaller buckets that makes 15 total!!

Last night the first batches of whites went from bucket to carboy. They are moving along nicely with pleasant aromas and some nice color. Before blending I will have two buckets of Chardonnay, one Sauvignon Blanc and one Viognier. I'm not sure what the configurations and bottle counts from the remaining will be just yet.

Overall I am very happy with the fruit, but not until the wines get a bit farther along will I really be able to say how wine made from it will be this year. With no fermentation troubles I am hopeful that I'll have lots of fun stuff to do.

You can see the orange color of the Viognier to the right, it is the second carboy from bottom. The image with the full carboys staring down their former containers was unintended, but it is pretty entertaining.

We started our first malo-lactic fermentation on a Chardonnay last night. Should be interesting to see how it comes out compared to the other batch that won't see MLF or oak.

Thank you to my wife for being crazy enough to let me do this, M&M Wine Grape for good products and services and WineMaker Mag for the conference and chance to meet some very nice and very helpful people.

Cheers!

--Jason