Sparkling Cider
Not quite so easy to make as other sorts; the difference being the same as making draught and gaseous beers. In making sparkling cider one must make a dry cider first and then prime this with sugar as directed under Priming. The bottles for sparkling cider must be the strong screw-stoppered sort. If these are used, the draught, dry cider may be made into sparkling cider quite readily. But as most people want their cider crystal-clear the problem of removing the inevitable yeast deposit that will form in each bottle after priming will arise. As in beer making, if a good sedimentary yeast is used, this will stick to the bottom of the bottles so that all but a little of the cider may be poured off clear. I do not know who first said this, but he was absolutely right when saying: ‘The English drink with their eyes rather than their palate; they will drink anything provided it is crystal clear.’ How true, and how much time and trouble they would save themselves if they were content to drink ciders and other alcoholic drinks with just a haze in them. They will drink fruit juices as cloudy as a muddy puddle, but just because it has been seen to be crystal clear, it now seems that wines, cider, and the pale-colored beers must also be crystal clear. The faint yeast haze found in these drinks sometimes does not mar the flavor, only the appearance. If you cannot tolerate the idea of a yeast deposit in your bottles of cider, you may remove it, but this is not as easy as it sounds; though after some experience it can be done quite effectively.
The primed cider is put into bottles, the stoppers are screwed home and the bottles stood in a cardboard crate upside down. This allows for the yeast to settle on the stoppers of the bottles. A gentle twist from day to day will assist the yeast to slide down the necks so that when the renewed fermentation has ceased after about a week - longer in some cases - all the yeast has settled to about a quarter-inch-thick deposit on the stoppers. The bottles are then held upside down over the sink, the stopper of each is given a twist in the open direction and then back again at once. This action allows the gas to squirt out the deposit. You won’t do it first time, but if you are patient, you will learn to do it with practice.
Freezing is another method, but few have the facility, so there is little point in including details here.