Who doesn’t love a delicious crisp apple cider? Did you know that academic researchers are investigating how to improve your favourite beverage?
That’s right, you can research how to make beautiful wines and ciders.
The ancient arts of brewing and wine making are enjoying a scientific makeover at the University of Tasmania’s Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA).
It all begins with the raw ingredients. And for cider makers this has raised some interesting questions. Are the apples we normally eat, like Pink Lady, good for the grippy and astringent ciders we get from traditional cider apples?
A key to this in both wine and cider production is a group of compounds called phenolics, that affect the taste, colour and mouth feel of cider.
Understanding and managing these compounds can mean the difference between making a bland brew, or a boutique product.
A TIA cider research project, led by Dr Jo Jones and Dr Nigel Swarts, found that harvesting apples three weeks early increased the phenolic content of ciders made using typical culinary apples like Red Delicious, Pink Lady and Royal Gala.
This is an important finding for cider makers trying to determine their best harvest strategy.
And research led by TIA’s Dr Fiona Kerslake is evaluating a new technique that offers greater objectivity to measuring juice quality for premium sparkling wines.
The technique, known as UV-Vis spectral phenolic fingerprinting, measures how light of different wavelengths is absorbed by the juice.
Knowing the phenolic fingerprint of a juice in ‘real time’ can help automate the labour-intensive pressing processes currently used in creating premium sparkling wine.
The new technique will give winemakers greater control over phenolic extraction, so they know when to stop this process to create more consistent quality wines.
And better quality wines and ciders means a happier consumer
Passionate
about making the finer things in life even better? Study Agricultural Science at the University of Tasmania.