PHayward81
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2017
- Messages
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Hi, first time poster and first time cider maker here. I'm an all-grain brewer who wanted to try a cider from wild apples growing around my property.
The question: My cider has been in the bottle one week (I know that's way too young) but it has a yeasty, bread taste. Will this resolve from bottle aging? I read AFTER THE FACT (story of my life) that secondary ferm should be 3-6 months. Yikes.
The details: I juiced about 21L of wild apples, topped up to 23L with apple juice and dextrose to reach a starting SG of 1.050. Did a ph test and added precipitated chalk to get the acidity to the recommended range for cider 3.2ish, then added peptic enzyme for clearing. I made a starter with EC-1118 (the cockroach of brewing yeasts) with apple juice concentrate. Pitched it at 21C and left it to primary ferment for 2 weeks. Racked to a secondary after SG stayed at 1.000 for a few days and let that sit for 4 weeks. One week ago, I primed with the appropriate amount of apple juice concentrate (as it wasn't tasting very appley, common with EC-1118 I read) to get it to about 2.2-2.5 volumes of C02, storing it around 23C just to make sure I get some good bottle conditioning going.
Now, I know better than to assume it's going to taste stellar after a week in the bottle. I know that. But not knowing anything about cider making, I read some people recommending leaving it in secondary for very long periods to clear out any yeasty taste. I once left a batch of hefe on it's secondary too long and the yeast taste never cleared in the bottle. Will this taste clear with time?
Thanks in advance,
-Paul
The question: My cider has been in the bottle one week (I know that's way too young) but it has a yeasty, bread taste. Will this resolve from bottle aging? I read AFTER THE FACT (story of my life) that secondary ferm should be 3-6 months. Yikes.
The details: I juiced about 21L of wild apples, topped up to 23L with apple juice and dextrose to reach a starting SG of 1.050. Did a ph test and added precipitated chalk to get the acidity to the recommended range for cider 3.2ish, then added peptic enzyme for clearing. I made a starter with EC-1118 (the cockroach of brewing yeasts) with apple juice concentrate. Pitched it at 21C and left it to primary ferment for 2 weeks. Racked to a secondary after SG stayed at 1.000 for a few days and let that sit for 4 weeks. One week ago, I primed with the appropriate amount of apple juice concentrate (as it wasn't tasting very appley, common with EC-1118 I read) to get it to about 2.2-2.5 volumes of C02, storing it around 23C just to make sure I get some good bottle conditioning going.
Now, I know better than to assume it's going to taste stellar after a week in the bottle. I know that. But not knowing anything about cider making, I read some people recommending leaving it in secondary for very long periods to clear out any yeasty taste. I once left a batch of hefe on it's secondary too long and the yeast taste never cleared in the bottle. Will this taste clear with time?
Thanks in advance,
-Paul