Glossary · Chemistry
Buffering capacity
Definition
The resistance of a juice or cider to a change in pH when acid or alkali is added, arising from its weak acids and their salts — chiefly malate and potassium.
- Subject
- Chemistry
In more detail
Buffering explains why adding a fixed quantity of malic acid to two ciders moves their pH by different amounts, and why potassium-rich juice from heavily fertilised orchards is harder to acidify. It is the reason acid adjustment is done by trial on a measured sample rather than from a table.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Chemistry
pH
A logarithmic measure of hydrogen ion activity, and in cider the single most important number for microbial safety. Apple juice usually falls between pH 3.2 and 3.9.
Chemistry
Titratable acidity
The total concentration of titratable acid in a juice or cider, measured by neutralising a sample with alkali to an end point and expressed as an equivalent of malic acid in grams per litre.
Chemistry
Malic acid
The dominant acid of apples and pears, giving the sharp, clean acidity of fresh juice. Its name comes from *malum*, the Latin for apple.
Fermentation
Bench blending
Making small measured trial blends of finished batches and tasting them before committing the tanks, so that proportions are chosen on evidence rather than arithmetic alone.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
The Science of Cidermaking and associated technical writing
Andrew Lea · reference work · passage verified 2026-08-24
Written by a food chemist who worked at Long Ashton on apple phenolics. Unusual among specialist cider writing in that it is primary-research-adjacent: the author is describing work he did, and cites the literature. This is why it is registered at tier 1 for chemistry while a general cider book is not.
Cornell Cider Research and Extension programme
Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science · university · passage verified 2026-08-24
Runs cultivar trials in New York State and publishes juice chemistry for European cider varieties grown in a North American climate — the single most useful counterweight to treating English figures as universal.