Cider total acid?

[Delmonteman]

Does anyone know what the total acid of cider should be? Preferably expressed as tartaric? I can't seem to fine anything on google....

[NorthernWiner]

There is a LOT of variation in acidity levels among the many varieties of apples. You'll find starting TA levels (expressed as tartaric) anywhere from about 0.3%, all the way up to 1.2% for certain crab apple varieties. Cookers, in general, have more acidity than eaters.

In a dry finished beverage, you ideally would want it between 0.55% and no more than 0.8%. For a sweet drink, you could go somewhat higher with the acid.

[fatbloke]

Well I don't know about the numbers, but apples break down into 4 groups.

Sweet, Sharp, bitter Sweet and bitter Sharp.

Of those, "Kentish" cider is usually made from a mix of sweet and sharp, whereas "West Country" cider is mostly bitter sharp and some bitter sweet apples, but that's only because bitter Sweet are apparently the hardest apples to grow.

Sweet = eating apples, Sharp=cooking apples and the bitter Sweet and bitter Sharp are both "cider apples". I understand that the bitter bit comes from the fact that so called cider apples both have much higher tannin levels.

It's also, apparently, why Kentish cider has more "wine like" qualities.

I don't know though, because I'm a bit of a philistine who just likes cider

[Delmonteman]

Thanks guys for the info, I have made one that is a tad beyond tart (from a mix of supermarket juice and all manner of frozen apples) and I'm going to measure it to see if it is still within that range. I'm just interested to know if it's my taste buds or if I've over done it with acid...

[lockwood1956]

Take one litre water, dissolve 7 grams of acid in it and do a side by side comparison taste against your cider. (if you dont have a gram scale 1 level tsp is about 5 grams)

The water will be around the right acidity level

regards
Bob

[Delmonteman]

Good tip bob, thanks for that!