rockytop714
Well-Known Member
All,
I'm a new guy to home brewing and cider making, so I had posted a while back, asking some guidance on making my cider. Thank you all so much for the input. I will say, though, that I finally got to taste the end product, Friday evening, only to be a little disappointed.
Let me say that it doesn't taste "bad", it just doesn't taste like much of anything. the apple flavor is minimal goes away, very quickly.
So, my process, in a nutshell, was 1 gallon of fresh-pressed, local cider, into which I dissolve one crushed campden table. after 24 hours, I added half of package of champagne yeast that I'd done a small starter with, with a water/honey solution. 2 weeks in a primary, racked into a secondary for another 2 weeks, bottled and conditioned for 4 weeks, and that was that.
the carbonation is great and, like I said, it tastes ok, but it's kind of "blah". So I'm looking for some pointers on different ways to up the flavor ante, preferabbly making it more "apple-y". My wife suggested mulling spices in the secondary, and I had considered aging it on fresh apple slices in the secondary if any of you have had experinces with either of these ideas or have a better suggestion, please let me know.
One thing that I've thought about, though, was that the cider I used was obviously very early season and even the fresh cider wasn't overly flavorful. So that could have a lot to do with it, too. I plan to do another batch in a few weeks with later-season cider, now that some of the tart apples have really come in, and see how that turns out, but I wanted to check in with the fine folks at homebrew talk before I gave it another go.
I'll be anxious to hear what you suggest. Thanks!
I'm a new guy to home brewing and cider making, so I had posted a while back, asking some guidance on making my cider. Thank you all so much for the input. I will say, though, that I finally got to taste the end product, Friday evening, only to be a little disappointed.
Let me say that it doesn't taste "bad", it just doesn't taste like much of anything. the apple flavor is minimal goes away, very quickly.
So, my process, in a nutshell, was 1 gallon of fresh-pressed, local cider, into which I dissolve one crushed campden table. after 24 hours, I added half of package of champagne yeast that I'd done a small starter with, with a water/honey solution. 2 weeks in a primary, racked into a secondary for another 2 weeks, bottled and conditioned for 4 weeks, and that was that.
the carbonation is great and, like I said, it tastes ok, but it's kind of "blah". So I'm looking for some pointers on different ways to up the flavor ante, preferabbly making it more "apple-y". My wife suggested mulling spices in the secondary, and I had considered aging it on fresh apple slices in the secondary if any of you have had experinces with either of these ideas or have a better suggestion, please let me know.
One thing that I've thought about, though, was that the cider I used was obviously very early season and even the fresh cider wasn't overly flavorful. So that could have a lot to do with it, too. I plan to do another batch in a few weeks with later-season cider, now that some of the tart apples have really come in, and see how that turns out, but I wanted to check in with the fine folks at homebrew talk before I gave it another go.
I'll be anxious to hear what you suggest. Thanks!