SC - How do I get started?

[Diana Haven]

Cider is certainly period and easy to make, and (unlike, say, beer or wine) 
the "period style" was probably not greatly different than modern 
style.  You press the juice and ferment it.  No boiling, sterilization, 
etc.  If you have a wild yeast culture (for example, on your pressing 
equipment), you don't even have to pitch yeast, but that's unlikely to be 
true for you; an ale yeast should work fine.

As far as apple varieties go, this has been discussed before on this list 
and is therefore somewhere in the Florilegium.  Very few cultivars can be 
reliably dated even to the 16th century, much less to the Middle Ages, and 
of those only Lady (possibly 16th c.) is grown commercially in small 
quantities.  Furthermore, there is little or no evidence that any varieties 
were cultivated specifically for cider production in the MA.  Therefore, it 
will be next to impossible to re-create a period cider from period apples, 
without growing your own.

Grannies will certainly make a tart cider - in fact, the acid will be so 
high that it will probably take months to mellow to a good drinkable 
product (you will be hoping for a malo-lactic fermentation in the 
bottle).  Mix in some Winesaps or Northern Spies, if you can get them, to 
add character.

There are several books available on cidermaking - let me know if you're 
interested in a bibliography.  There is also a Cider Digest list with lots 
of great discussions.  Two good Web pages are:
http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/GraftonG/cider/homepage.htm  - the Real Cider and 
Perry page
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea/Content2.HTM  - great 
page by an English cider maker.

Bottom line, though, is that there is precious little information out there 
on pre-17th century apple cultivation (although there is a certain amount 
of MIS-information).  If you live in an area where "wild" apple trees grow, 
or where crabapples are still grown, try making cider from them - it will 
be closer than anything else you can get to what was generally available in 
Northern Europe through the 13th century.

Good luck,
Colin


>I am anticipating the arrival of a much awaited strain of wild yeast from
>Lmbeek (spelling?), Belgium (the home of that now famous sour beer, the
>Lambic), and was considering making some cider out of a portion of it.  Does
>anyone have any information of which particular family of apples would be
>most appropriate for a "period style" cider?  I would like to use "belgian
>apples", but have no information regarding which, if any, were grown in
>medieval times.  If all else fails, I will use Granny Smith.  I am looking
>for a tart apple cider, but the apples themselves need not be tart.  The
>yeast should take care of that nicely.  Any ideas?
>
>Balthazar of Blackmoor