Advanced Cider & Perry Production: Science, Skills, Operations, and Quality

COURSE SYLLABUS & STANDARDS

This 5-day, in-person cider and perry production course offers an immersive, hands-on learning experience. As the flagship program of The Cider Institute, it aims to provide participants with in-depth knowledge of key aspects of cidermaking, including fermentation, maturation techniques, and quality assurance practices.

Over the course of this program, participants will debate, deduce, and determine appropriate actions to take at key decision points to formulate a cider that reflects your collective intent and that could be brought to market.

This is not a simulation, but it is not traditional production either. We will accelerate time, isolate critical variables, and focus attention on the moments that matter most. Along the way, you will draw on multiple sources of insight: the Pilot Plant at Cornell AgriTech, commercial cidermaking at Star Cider in Canandaigua, and a scientific understanding of cidermaking delivered by Cider Institute instructors Chris Gerling, Cortni Stahl, and Steven Trussler. This is a hands-on, in-person experience. You will see, test, taste, and decide. The goal is not to follow a recipe, but to understand the system well enough to navigate it.

Course Description

This course represents the culmination of the Cider Institute curriculum. All roads lead here. Building on the Foundation course and your own professional experience, this program is designed to extend both your knowledge and your capability. Grounded in the most current scientific understanding and delivered by leading instructors, it provides a structured environment to deepen your mastery of cidermaking.

Through a combination of research-based lectures, hands-on activities, and a week-long cidermaking project, participants will engage with cider as a system. The course explores the key components of cidermaking, how those components interact, what controls are available to the cidermaker, and how these elements come together to produce a finished cider aligned with defined style goals.

This course is intentionally designed for in-person delivery. Its learning outcomes depend on direct sensory experience, real-time decision-making, and collaborative problem-solving.

Prerequisites

This course assumes a working understanding of topics introduced in the Foundation course, including (but not limited to): cider chemistry, cider microbiology, cellar equipment, sensory evaluation, and finishing and packaging.

Successful completion of the Cider Institute's Cider & Perry Production - Foundation course is required. Participants with significant cidermaking experience who have not completed the Foundation course may be admitted on a case-by-case basis.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Apply a systems-based understanding of cidermaking to evaluate how production decisions influence final product outcomes.
2. Analyze and predict interactions between chemical, microbial, and physical components within cider.
3. Make informed, evidence-based decisions at key cidermaking intervention points.
4. Use sensory and analytical tools to assess cider and guide production choices.
5. Translate style goals into coordinated process decisions across the entire production system.
6. Critically evaluate cidermaking approaches using current scientific theory and industry practice.

Delivery

Through lectures, hands-on learning activities, and group work the course material will be delivered as participants work towards completing their main project for the week. During the week, participants will be asked to plan and create a cider within a simulated environment. At each stage of the cidermaking process, groups will be tasked with making justifiable decisions which will lead towards their style goals. At the end of the week, the groups will present their cider with a presentation outlining their plan and explanations of the important decisions that were made along the way.

Schedule (Subject to Change)

Refer to course syllabus for full agenda

Day 1: Juice

Day 2: Fermentation

Day 3: Fermentation Systems

Day 4: Finishing

Day 5: Packaging & Product Evaluation

Instructors

This course is developed and taught by Cider Institute instructors:

• Chris Gerling is a Senior Extension Associate in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. He works at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY, where he manages the Vinification & Brewing Laboratory and the Cornell Craft Beverage Analysis Lab.
• Steven Trussler is an education specialist at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada where he develops and delivers programming for the cider and wine industries. Before his current role, he worked as commercial winemaker and in a beverage alcohol analytical lab.
• Cortni Stahl has been making cider for over 10 years now and owns a commercial cidery - Star Cider - Canandaigua, NY.

For more information about this course, prerequisites, or the Cider & Perry Production Certificate Program, contact [email protected].

The fee for this course is USD $2800 + service charges. This includes 5 days of expert training, detailed reference manual, electronic Technical Manual which includes proforma documents for use in cider & perry production, all cider samples, and lunches. Students may send a check to avoid service charges - contact [email protected] for more information.

Cancelations received before October 1, 2026 will be refunded 100%, minus service fees. Cancelations received October 1-31, 2026 will be refunded 50% minus service fees. Cancelations received on or after November 1, 2026 are non-refundable; however, substitutes from the same organization are welcome. If for any reason the class is canceled or interrupted, the Cider Institute will not be responsible for refunding of airfares and payment of accommodation, and will reimburse other costs in proportion to the canceled activities minus a fair administrative cost.

Photo credit: Rio Chantel for Western Cider Co.