#disgorging

Disgorging. One of the routine jobs around the cidery that is a joy to master. The right balance of cider cooling, neck freezing time and actions #cider #cidery #disgorging #MethodTraditional

Wisdom has it you should rack and disgorge wines and cider when the barometer is high. Why? Well for disgorging sparkling wines and cider this means reduced pressure differential between the wine which is under about 5-6 bars of internal pressure and atmospheric pressure when the cap is removed and the lees and ice plug have gone. 
This suppresses the out-gassing. Similarly for racking cider and wine makers prefer high pressure days because the "weight" of the air helps keep CO2 in solution and that reduces the sediment from stirring back into suspension. However in summer high pressure days are often sunny hot days and the temperature plays a larger role in outgassing. so wine and cider makers use high pressure winter days. In winter, the naturally lower ambient temperatures increase the solubility of CO2. Cold liquids hold gas much more effectively than warm liquid, which is why many include myself chill the bottle to 4C before disgorging and so can disgorge year round.

Another batch of the new 375 cL ‘champagne’ bottles of cider being riddled and disgorged. #rotojolly #cider #methodtraditional #riddling #disgorging

Checking out disgorging the 375ml bottle. A little trickier than the 750s, but cooling the bottle first to 5C helps reduce the loss whilst still ejecting the yeast and ice plug. Need a little top up to get the level right again in our Cunat DL1-T machine. #Cunat #disgorging #cider #MethodTraditional

New disgorging set up. Cooling refrigerators out of sight set at 5C, neck freezer to the left in picture set at - 27C, blue disgorging bin to its right then the pressure stabiliser and device to add lost cider to its right a Cunat DL1-T and finally the re capper just out of picture. Work flow simpler.

A new chiller bought and on the way to TeePee Cider to chill the riddled cider down to 5C prior to disgorging. This reduces the foaming and loss of cider. A delicate balance, too much chilling and there is not enough pressure to eject the ice and yeast plug in the bottle neck! #cider #MethodTraditional #disgorging #cidery