Valley Fermenters 25 Years and Growing!
Started in 1983, Valley Fermenters is New England's oldest fermentation club. The group is made up of enthusiasts of beer, wine, mead, cider, and food. Monthly meetings alternate between Beer and Wine themed topics. Members are welcomed to bring their own beverages or food for sharing.
Next meeting ... Nov 10 2011
Ice Cider and how it is made
F
ollowing on the heels of West County Cider Days, we will be exploring this sweet dessert cider
Ice Cider is a new and very exciting direction for the apple and cider loving community. It originated in the cold Quebec winters but it's roots are in the direction of the ice wines of Germany and most recently Ontario where grapes are hung until very sweet on the vines until the frosty weather of mid January when the grapes are frozen solid with their high sugar bounty. They are then crushed in the wee hours of the morning and the sweet juice extracted.
This is a freeze concentrated juice with VERY HIGH SUGAR. Only the very sweet juice is allowed to be extracted due to the cold and the rest (mostly water) is discarded.
For the Ice Cider, the apples may be allowed to freeze on the tree before direct pressing but more commonly the juice is pressed from the apples (just like regular cider) and then frozen naturally out of doors in the winters in Vermont and Quebec. When completely frozen this juice is brought indoors where it is allowed to thaw somewhat. The key here is to only allow the sweetest of the juice to run off. Normal cider comes in at a sugar level of ~10Brix (my cider this year reads 10.2Brix) but the goal of ice cider extraction is to more than triple this sugar to 30-32Brix. 
This very sweet cider is then pitched with yeast. Normally this much sugar would ferment out to about 18-19% alcohol which would make a very alcoholic and somewhat dry beverage. The yeast are allowed to work at very cool temperatures (50-55F) and final fermentation may take several months to arrive at the final level. To keep the sweetness of the dessert wine though, the fermentation is stopped at about 9-13% alcohol by dropping the temperature and adding sulfite to the fermenting wine.
The beauty of this as a dessert wine is not just the sweetness but the concentration of aroma flavor and other apple character such as acid and some bitter notes. In the past few years I have seen a remarkable diversity of cidersd develop from single varietals to oak aged. Some of these now bring up the best of the orchards married with the vanilla and toast of barrel aging as well as the controlled oxidation that adds some caramel to it all.
Join us for this session of discovery and we will talk about it and enjoy several samples.
The Ciders
As per usual some appetizers/munchies to go along with the ciders will be very welcome.
This month meeting charge will again be 10 bucks .