Cider

Of course when you are planning an orchard, there's a bit of you that thinks "wouldn't it be cool to make my own cider?"

At least that is my thought process.

Rather than wait until my own trees are producing enough to make a batch of alcoholic cider, I decided I should practice on cheap store bought juice first. Just to iron out the kinks in my knowledge of brewing.

First fermentation went well with a lot of gurgling, and the secondary fermentation was very quiet. The cider at this point tasted alcoholic but nearly unpalatable due to the lack of sugar. I decided to put some honey in the bottom of my bottles which I knew was likely to trigger a third fermentation which would make my cider bubbly. I also knew there was a risk that this third fermentation could be too violent and my bottles might explode.

When I went home this morning four of the corks had popped out. Cider all over the bathroom floor. Not a problem, I'm pretty sure cooling the cider down should halt fermentation. So I put as many as I could in a bucket with cold water, selecting particularly the bottles whose corks had already been coming out a little. 

This is clearly not a permanent solution during a hot summer. I happen to know, however, that there is a lot of unused fridge space at my mother's house. So I load the cider into my car and start driving very slowly towards her place with my AC blasted as high as it will go. Not high enough, incidentally. 

Shaking bottles that are full of pressure is not very good if you want to actually drink the cider someday. One cork pops, I wince, and the whole car smells of cider. I've gone too far now, I have to keep going.

I reach a stop sign and discover extensive road works are underway. There is nothing to do but sit in the baking sun with my own blood pressure rising as I know what the heat will do to the yeast having a party in my bottles. Two minutes pass, three minutes, four min- BANG! Cider sprayed all across the inside of my windshield, ceiling, dashboard and the cork whizzes past my ear. Right now I am really hoping I can make it to my mom's house without being stopped by a cop because I don't know how I'll be able to explain this. 

It is a happy ending, though. I made it home and I now have 20 bottles of cider in the fridge and the inside of my car drying in the sunshine. And I know for next time to STOP fermentation in the bottles after about a week if I want to avoid explosions and fountains of delicious cider. 

Have a lovely week, bottoms up!



Update: Having a glass of cider from one of the popped open bottles. It is sweet, fizzy, and definitely going straight to my head!