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Batch records, traceability and specifications

What should a cider maker record for each batch, and what goes in a specification?

In short

A batch record is the written history of one lot: the fruit and where it came from, the juice and how it was treated, the ferment and how it went, the blend, the fill, and the code on the packs. Its working test is whether, holding one bottle, the maker can say what is in it and which other bottles share its history.

Traceability is that test run in both directions. Backwards, it finds the fruit, supplier and treatments behind a pack; forwards, it finds every pack and every customer a suspect lot reached. A lot code on the bottle is only the visible end of it.

A specification is the other half: a written statement, set in advance, of what is acceptable — fruit to accept, juice to ferment, cider to release. Without one a measurement is a number; with one it is a decision.

What a batch record holds

The record is laid out in the order the cider is made, and each line answers what, how much, when and who. It is filled in at the time rather than afterwards, because a record reconstructed from memory is the weakest evidence a business can offer.

A blank sheet laid out like the table below can be printed and kept with the vessel, which is where most small cider houses find a record actually gets filled in.

A batch record, stage by stage — a layout to print and fill in
StageRecordWhy
Fruit intakeDate, supplier or orchard, cultivars, weight, condition on arrival, fruit rejectedTraces a lot back to its source; shows fruit was inspected
Milling and pressingDate, press used, juice volume, pomace outYield, and which equipment touched the juice
JuiceSpecific gravity, pH, titratable acidity, temperature; any sulphite, acid or nutrient addition with amount and timeThe starting point every later reading is read against; additions that affect safety and labelling
FermentationVessel, yeast or “wild”, start date, gravity readings with dates, temperature, end dateShows the ferment finished and when
MaturationRackings, additions, tastings, free SO₂ checks, transfers between vesselsEvery addition and every vessel the cider passed through
BlendComponent lots and proportions, final measurementsA blended lot inherits the history of each component
PackagingDate, pack type, quantity, lot code, closure, line checks, any samples keptLinks the code on the bottle to everything above
DispatchDate, customer, quantity, lot codeTraces a lot forward to where it went
SignaturesWho did each step and who checked itA record nobody owns is a record nobody can vouch for

Traceability in practice

The usual standard is one step back and one step forward: from each lot to the suppliers of what went into it, and from each lot to the businesses it was supplied to. A cider house that blends across vessels has to carry that through the blend, because a blended lot has as many histories as it has components.

The test worth running once a year is a mock withdrawal: pick a lot code at random from a pack, and see how long it takes to name the fruit behind it and every customer who received it. A system that takes a week to answer is a system that will not be used in a real incident.

Where traceability is a legal requirement — in many jurisdictions it is, for any food business — the detail of what must be kept and for how long is set locally. The obligation to mark packs with a lot code is often separate again.

Specifications: fruit, juice and finished cider

A specification is written for each thing that is bought in or let out: fruit and any other raw material on the way in, the finished cider on the way out, and often the juice in between. Each line names a property, how it is measured, and the range that is acceptable.

The ranges are the producer’s own. They come from legal limits where those exist — a declared alcoholic strength carries a legal tolerance, a sulphite level a declaration threshold, and some contaminants a maximum in law — and otherwise from what the producer has learnt their cider needs. A range copied from someone else’s specification describes someone else’s cider, which is why none is given here.

What a specification commonly covers — the property and where its limit comes from, not the limit
PropertyCoversHow it is measuredWhere the limit comes from
Fruit conditionFruitInspection; share rejectedProducer, with patulin in mind
Cultivar and sourceFruitSupplier recordProducer; a designation’s rules where one is claimed
Sugar (specific gravity)JuiceHydrometer or refractometerProducer
pH and titratable acidityJuice, finished ciderpH meter; titrationProducer; pH also governs how much sulphite works
Alcoholic strengthFinished ciderLaboratory measurementThe label, within the legal tolerance
Residual sugar or final gravityFinished ciderHydrometer; laboratoryProducer; and stability, where live yeast remains
Free and total SO₂Finished ciderTitration or laboratoryProducer; legal maximum and declaration threshold
CarbonationFinished ciderPressure gauge or volumes of CO₂Producer, within what the pack is rated to hold
Clarity, colour, sensoryFinished ciderPanel or tasting against a referenceProducer
Pack and codeFinished ciderLine checkLabel law; the producer’s own lot coding

Records are evidence, not admin

In UK guidance, records are what a business shows after a food safety incident as evidence of how it kept food safe. The same record answers a customer’s question about a bottle, explains a fault six months later, and turns a good batch into one that can be made again. What must be kept, and for how long, is set by the law of the place the cider is made and sold.

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