cider issues....

[thekiltedcook]

ok, before i get into this, this experiment was my first attempt with anything but beer, and only my third attempt brewing in general, and looking back im aware of quite a few mistakes ive made, but there is one thing i cant figure out. made my own cider, then from there fermented it with a white wine yeast. let it ferment for 2 weeks, and there wasnt much action going on so i strained out as much of the applesauce as i could, then primed it and bottled it. its been aging in roughly 65 degree environment for 3 months. ive been tasting a bottle every once in a while to see if there was a change, but ever since the first one, and even up to the one i opened tonight, there was a really strong ester smell and taste. cant find any info telling me exactly whats wrong, and ive seen everything from "let it age more", "cool it down faster and ferment at a lower temp", and "let it ferment longer before bottling". i dont have any plans on making more until the fall, but want to get it right! also should i be aging it in my fridge or at the temp it was fermented at? thanks in advance!

 

[Meadiator]

Well, when you saw that there was no action, It may have been a good idea to add yeast nutrient. Hell, you might've even had a stuck fermentation somehow. I'm not sure that it applies to cider, but maybe you didn't degas/aerate it well enough. Whatever you did, it's a little harder to reverse once it's been bottled. Was it a large batch? If so, I'm sorry for the loss. If not, try another batch, but beforehand, research A LOT.

 

[thekiltedcook]

there was a lot of action for the first week or so then slowed down. wasnt a huge batch and the apples were free so really other than the yeast and honey and time, it was free

 

[acidrain]

I'm not familiar with that yeast, but it could be that the fermentation temps were at the upper level.
The fermentation itself generates heat, so if the ferm temp was 65F, there is a good chance the actual temp was 70F or more.
I would research the yeast, find out the temp range, and (next time) ferment at the lower end of that range early, and then ramp up to the upper range later.

 

[Kashue]

I heard honey in there. That means it needs to age. Like maybe a lot.

Backing up. All ciders produce a very hot head after primary, and usually spend a month or so in secondary (more is better). After that, most folks bottle condition it. I find my cider isn't really awesome until it's back sweetened and spends a couple weeks in my fridge on top of however long it was in secondary.

It sounds like your cider didn't get a secondary, so now you're just going to have to wait it out. I doubt it's spoiled- it just needs time, ideally at fridge temperatures. It's really hard to ruin cider unless you do something truly crazy to it.

With honey in there though, you should possibly consider it a cyser. I'm not sure how much of your sugar was honey but if the answer is "all of it" then your aging time will match a mead- that is to say 6 months to 3 years.

In the future you probably want a secondary ferment for cider. A big advantage of this is that you can rack the cider off any big solids and let free-floating stuff settle on its own as aging takes place.

 

[thekiltedcook]

wow, wouldnt have guessed it would take that long.... thank you for all the help guys!

 

[Alfonsotropolos]

You said you strained out as much "applesauce" as you could, were you fermenting the juice along with bits from the apples? What did you mean by applesauce?

 

[Meadiator]

You said you strained out as much "applesauce" as you could, were you fermenting the juice along with bits from the apples? What did you mean by applesauce?

He might have made a purée. Anyway, good luck man! I hope it tastes better soon!

 

[thekiltedcook]

yeah, the recipe i used said to basically boil the apples until they are barely soft, then mash them all up and remove the skins and as much of the solids as you can. at the time i thought i got the majority of the solids out, but just before bottling i strained it again and got a LOT more ha ha.

 

[Meadiator]

yeah, the recipe i used said to basically boil the apples until they are barely soft, then mash them all up and remove the skins and as much of the solids as you can. at the time i thought i got the majority of the solids out, but just before bottling i strained it again and got a LOT more ha ha.

Did you strain it, or did you siphon it? That could be your problem. Siphoning doesn't allow air to touch the cider, where straining does. This oxidizes your brew. I'm probably wrong, but that might be a factor. I'm sure cider isn't as sensitive as wines and leads are.