Bristol University to offer cider-making module

A university is planning to offer a module in cider making for biological sciences students.

The University of Bristol said growing, harvesting and brewing apples into cider is actually a really good example of a biological process.

Students have been trialling the unconventional subject over the past two years and it is now set to be rolled out further.

Masters student Alex Graham said cider "has many unique characteristics".

"I like the process of taking something you have grown and developing something at the end of it," he added.

Ahead of cider making being formally incorporated into the undergraduate biology degree, Mr Graham has been offering the experience to students "for fun" but also so they can see how research work can benefit the commercial production of cider.

Alex Reeve, a third year biology student, has been helping Mr Graham with his research into cider making, studying the taste and cider making qualities of cider apples.

He said he was hopeful the new module would attract people "due to the love of the science".

"I've been interested in brewing since the age of about 16-years-old, it is something me and my dad did together," he added.

"I'm very interested in seeing what may change in the future with the cider industry."

Alia Clarke, also a third year biology student, said she first got into home brewing during lockdown, using the fruit trees in her garden.

"When the e-mail came around about this I thought it would be fun to do something a bit more biology related with that knowledge."

The University of Bristol has a long history around cider making, through the now closed Long Ashton Research Station, and which has been fundamental in terms of supporting local industry in terms of apple and cider research.

The university said rolling out the new module is about carrying on that history and tradition.

Professor Keith Edwards, from the School of Biological Sciences, said there is a lot of learning to be had from studying cider making.

"A big commercial cider producer has to make a consistent product, year after year, no matter what that year has done in terms of weather," he added.

"So they have to take what is a variable crop in terms of the amount of acid, the amount of sugar in the crop and turn it into a product that you don't notice changes one year to the next.

"That is incredibly complex."

Mr Graham has now written his thesis on cider making and Somerset cider makers Thatchers were so impressed that he has been recruited to work in their laboratories.

Richard Johnson, head cider maker at Thatchers, said: "Consumer tastes change and we have to continually change to move with that, so getting some young blood in and new ideas will be great for the business and great for the industry."

Mr Graham is currently doing genetic tests on Thatcher's 400 different apple types to establish exactly what varieties they are.

This will give the cider company a useful base of knowledge when grafting trees and creating new varieties.

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