Subject: Re: How was cider kept?

From: Robert And Cynthia Chiovoloni <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 94 08:40:49 -0500

<[email-masked]> writes:
 
>If cider was the most drank beverage - how did the colonials keep it from
>turnong to vinegar?
 
I could be wrong, here, but it was my understanding that vinegar was the result
of infection of the beverage by the acetobacter.  Thus, if you kept things
clean, or kept the vinegar fly away from the drink, then you would not have any
problems.

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From: [email-masked] (Nick Maclaren)
Date: 24 Oct 1994 10:38:31 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Robert And Cynthia Chiovoloni <[email-masked]> writes:
|> <[email-masked]> writes:
|>  
|> >If cider was the most drank beverage - how did the colonials keep it from
|> >turnong to vinegar?
|>  
|> I could be wrong, here, but it was my understanding that vinegar was the result
|> of infection of the beverage by the acetobacter.  Thus, if you kept things
|> clean, or kept the vinegar fly away from the drink, then you would not have any
|> problems.

No, this doesn't help (with wine, cider or beer).  So-called vinegar
flies were believed to cause things to turn vinegary, but this is a
traditional myth.  They were just a symptom of the liquid being open
to the air.  Like wine and even beer, sealing the containers is
enough to prevent the liquid turning to vinegar; it may go off in
other ways, but it won't turn to vinegar.

The various acetobacter occur everywhere (like moulds and yeasts),
and you cannot avoid contamination with them under domestic
conditions.  However, they are almost all aerobic and excluding air
>from  the liquid will prevent them from growing.  They are also
killed by high levels of alcohol, but cider is not strong enough
for that.

Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
Email:  [email-masked]
Tel.:  +44 223 334761    Fax:  +44 223 334679

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From: [email-masked] (Robert G Sieber)
Date: 24 Oct 1994 10:37:45 -0700

> If cider was the most drank beverage - how did the colonials keep it from

Short answer: in the cellar.

Longer answer: The trick is not in the keeping, but in the fermentation.  
If fermentation occurs properly, the cider is preserved by its alcoholic 
content, and will keep, at cellar temperatures, for a year or more.  If 
the fermentation goes bad, it will turn immediately to vinegar.  The main 
difference between the good and bad fermentation seems to be in the 
yeast.  This is why modern fermenters treat their cider with sulfites to 
kill the naturally occuring yeasts (found on apple skins, etc.), and then 
aid champagne yeast grown in controlled conditions to ferment the cider.  
By the later 17th century it was widely understood that fermentation in a 
cool, dark place (such as a cellar) encouraged the "good" yeasts, and 
discouraged the "bad" yeasts, and that the good yeasts would eventually 
produce a beverage of sufficient potency to kill all the yeast (~5-8%?).

I have done some research on this subject, but my notes and refs are on 
another computer.  If asked nicely, I might be able to share.  The 
research will be summarized in publication (next year, I hope).

--
Robert G Sieber (Bob)		"I got a mind like
[email-masked]	 a magnetic sieve!"
Long Beach, California