Cider and Perry FAQ

1. What is perry?
2. What yeast should we use?
3. How do we prepare the fruit?
4. What apples should I use to make cider?
5. How much perry/ cider can I legally produce?
6. Why is unsweetened cider so dry/sharp?
7. Can eating apples/pears be used to make cider/perry?
8. How are cider apples categorised?
9. What are the other perry/cider ingredients?

What is perry?

Effectively it's just cider except that is made from pears (i.e the process of making perry is the same as cider). Perry it a lot less widely available than cider primarily through a shorter supply of pears (in the UK at least), perhaps why some people have not heard of it. It is most commonly found at most beer festivals, chances are that if you like cider you'll like perry.

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What yeast should we use?

It depends on your perspecitive! Traditionals would look down on any use of commercial yeasts as yeast is naturally present on the fruit, however this method can be unpredicatable if non-apple yeasts get into your fermentation whih does affect flavour potentially badly. For more predictable results, you can wash the fruit and then use a commercial yeast, if you want an added twist (and to really annoy the traditionals) use a champagne yeast... cider snob!

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How do we prepare the fruit?

First if you're planning on using your own yeast, wash the fruit. Second break the fruit up into rough pieces by crushing, stomping or mashing it as you desire (machines are available for bigger/more serious makers). Finally, use a fuit press to tightly compact and squeeze out the apple/ pear juice. You now have your juice ready for fermentation.

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What apples should I use to make cider?

We've listed the various apples that are traditionally know for cider making separately, see pour article cider apple varieties. But essentially European varieties are known to be best, although there are many of these all have a different blend of sweetness, acidity & tannins, so the answer depends primarily on which type of cider you wish to make. This gives you a wide range of options if you're lucky enough to have access to a selection of varieties, but appreciate that most regional traditions/ commercial producers will consistently use a mix of varieties e.g. some sweet, some dry.

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How much perry/ cider can I legally produce?

At time of writing in the UK, you can legally produce as much cider/ perry as you can drink as long as you don't sell it. Even then you can legally sell perry or cider without having to pay VAT up to certain quantities (enough to encourage small scale producers), check first with customs and excise.

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Why is unsweetened cider so dry/sharp?

Cider/perry fuit varieties tend to use smaller/ harder fruit which are naturally lower in sweetness but generally high in tannins. Furthermore the fermentation process generates alcohol using the sugars naturally present in the fruit, this therefore drives off all the sugars buts leaves the tannins. The result is a drink which is both dry and sharp, as a result cider producers tend to sweeten their produce with artifical sweetners or sugars, equaly home producers could simply add apple juice at time of consumption.

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Can eating apples/pears be used to make cider/perry?

Not really unless mixed with other traditional cider/perry varieties. Both the apples and pears made to make cider and perry respectively tend to use smaller, harder much dryer tasting fruits. These fruit contain greater amounts of tannins which are largely unpalletable especially compared to todays widerly available eating varieties which have all tend to been chosen (or developed) for maximum sugar content.

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How are cider apples categorised?

Excepting by region, cider apples are classified according to the balance of acid & tannin:

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• Bittersweets - Low acidity/ high tannin
• Sweets - Low acidity/ low tannin
• Sharps - High acidity/ low tannin
• Bittersharps - High acidity/ high tannin

What are the other perry/cider ingredients?

Besides the option of using your own yeast for likey more consistant results, the fruits sugars and tannins do the rest, however once fermentation is complete most cider makers add additional sweetening to taste.

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