Blend Cider is Like Building an Orchestra
Ryan Monkman of FieldBird Cider in Ontario has helped Ria sort through the process of getting cider that has been conditon for over two years into the bottle! Now that we have learned how to make sure the cider is completely fermented, know the exact amount of sugar remaining in the cider and have done the math to determine how much sugar and what kind of yeast to add at the time of bottling to produce sparkling cider it is time to blend or not?
Ryan and Nicole Monkman - FieldBird Cider
Ryan describes this stage as building an orchestra. Knowing what musicians go well with others is key to making the perfect tune. For cider it means:
- Pulling samples from all your batches of cider and know that
- Tannins and acid work well together
- tannin though can mute aromatics
- when pushing aromatic - acid helps as does high alcohol
Blending Taste Tips
When tasting a lot of either sweet, or acid forward ciders the more your palate will become accustom to either profile.
Tannin does the opposite, as the tannin begins to build up in your mouth.
So as you taste more a tannic product over time you may think it is becoming more tannic, but it is not. Your palate is just overloaded and tricking you mind to think that the cider is over the top, when it may be perfect!
Tannin bind with protein.
If you swirl and sip, you will notice there are a lot of globs in the spit. Yucky but true because the tannin has binded with the protein in your mouth
Refresh your mouth when Tasting for Blending
Add protein to your mouth is a good way to off set the tannin.
Cheese works, but if it is too strong of a cheese that can lead you donw a different rabbit hole of tastes.
Instead, do as Ryan does in the lab, and mix pectin with water!
The pectin will bind to the tannin and clear your palate.
Pectin is tasteless and will really help to refresh you palate.
Or leave the sample and come back to it a
Use pectin to clean your palate during a lot of tasting.
Pectin helps to clear the palate after a whole bunch of sips of sweet cider.
Bâtonnage, Nano Proteins and Perceptions of Sweetness
Bâtonnage is stirring the cider into the. lees over time the span of its life in a barrel.
Autolyis takes places, which is the breaking down of yeast cells in the cider during over time... usually 9 month into the process of bâtonnage. The human palate perceive the resulting nano proteins as sweetness. It can balance then acid and also add mid palate: which provides that full mouth feel that lingers.
Contact for Ryan Monkman at FieldBird Cider
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