KEEVING

Keeving is a traditional cider-making process designed to produce naturally sweet, sparkling ciders by deliberately limiting fermentation through nutrient deprivation. This method is mainly used in regions like Normandy and the West Country of England to retain some of the juice’s natural sugar, resulting in a cider with smooth sweetness, lower alcohol content, and a cleaner finish compared to other sweetening techniques.

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How Keeving Works:

• Fresh apple juice (ideally from bittersweet or bittersharp cider apples) is encouraged to form a thick, jelly-like pectin cap (sometimes called a chapeau brun) at the top of the tank. This occurs naturally, but can be helped along by adding pectin enzymes and calcium salts in modern practice.

• The cap forms over several days at cold temperatures. It traps nutrients (especially nitrogen), yeast, and solids as it rises.

• The now clarified, nutrient and yeast poor juice beneath the cap is gently siphoned off for fermentation, leaving most nutrients and yeast behind.

• With key fermentation nutrients removed, wild yeast is starved and fermentation slows to a crawl, stopping before all the sugar is consumed. This preserves the natural sweetness of the apple juice.

• The cider is carefully monitored and racked (transferred off the sediment) several times, then typically bottled while there's still a little fermentation left to create natural sparkle in the finished cider.

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Key Features of Keeved Cider:

• Naturally sweet: No sugar or artificial sweetener is added. The remaining sugars are all from the original apples.

• Lower alcohol: Because not all the sugar is fermented to alcohol, these ciders are often lower in alcohol than fully fermented ciders.

• Naturally sparkling: Bottling with some residual yeast and sugar allows gentle carbonation to develop in the bottle.

• Flavor: Keeved ciders are prized for their clarity, delicate sweetness, and refined apple character.

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Challenges:
Keeving is a time-consuming, sometimes unreliable technique: it requires specific apple varieties, careful temperature management, and good luck with wild yeast and pectin gel formation. The process can fail if the nutrient cap breaks or the cider is contaminated, and substantial juice may be lost during clarification.

In summary, keeving is an artisanal process to naturally sweeten cider by removing nutrients from the juice, slowing fermentation, and preserving some of the apple's original sugars—resulting in a clear, balanced, and slightly sparkling drink that reflects the character of the apples used.

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Useful Links:

1. https://www.piltoncider.com/keeving

2. http://www.cider.org.uk/keeving.html

3. https://pricklycider.com/2021/10/02/nutrient-deprivation-keeving/

4. https://2townsciderhouse.com/2017/09/29/french-cider-production-keeving-keeved-cider/

5. https://pricklycider.com/2023/11/18/cider-musings-keeving/

6. https://cidercraftmag.com/make-cider-sweet-drain-repeat-mysterious-craft-keeving/

7. https://www.neilsowerby.co.uk/2021/10/04/kingston-black-to-keeving-why-gabes-cider-guide-is-the-apple-of-my-eye/

8. https://craftyandthebeast.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/cider-technique-keeving/

9. https://cider-review.com/2021/07/31/four-keeved-ciders-from-somerset/