Glossary · Fermentation
Disgorging
Also written dégorgement. Each is a name for the same thing, which is why none of them has an entry of its own.
Definition
Expelling the frozen plug of yeast sediment from the neck of a bottle-fermented cider, so that the finished drink is clear. The bottle is immediately topped up and closed.
- Subject
- Fermentation
- Also written
- dégorgement
In more detail
Disgorging costs a small volume and a little pressure, and it briefly exposes the cider to air, so the topping-up liquid — the dosage — usually carries a small sulphite addition. An undisgorged bottle-conditioned cider is not faulty; it simply keeps its sediment, and is poured accordingly.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Fermentation
Traditional method
Sparkling production in which a base cider is bottled with sugar and yeast, refermented under crown or cork, matured on its lees, then riddled, disgorged and topped up with a dosage before final closure.
Fermentation
Dosage
The measured liquid — cider, juice, or a sugar solution — added after disgorging to replace what was expelled and to set the final sweetness of a sparkling cider.
Fermentation
Riddling
Gradually tilting and turning bottles so that the yeast deposit slides into the neck ready for disgorging. Done by hand on a rack or mechanically in a gyropalette.
Fermentation
Lees
The deposit that settles under a fermenting or maturing cider: dead and living yeast, fruit solids, pectin, tartrate and protein. Gross lees are the coarse first deposit; fine lees are the finer yeast layer that forms afterwards.
Faults
Sediment
Solid material settled at the bottom of a bottle or cask: yeast, tannin-protein complexes, pectin or tartrates. Expected in bottle-conditioned and unfiltered cider, unwanted in a bright one.
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 New Cider Maker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers
Claude Jolicoeur, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013. ISBN 9781603584739 · reference work · bibliographic record verified, not opened 2026-08-25
Bibliographic record verified on 2026-08-25 against the Open Library union catalogue: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013, ISBN 9781603584739, one edition recorded. That establishes the citation points at a real book in a stated edition, which is what a citation needs and is all it establishes. No copy was opened and nothing is quoted from it. The book itself is in print and not digitised in any open collection; where CiderHQ needs a figure from this territory it uses an accessible research source instead and says so.