There goes my Apfelwein down the drain.

[Beer604]

I made a batch of Apfelwein on Dec 07 last year.
I used cider and Nottingham yeast.
Unfortunately the wine never cleared and it is still almost
as murky as it was on day 1.

I racked it two weeks ago and added bentonite to try to
get it clear, it didn't help.

I also tasted it, it has a really bad taste.
It tastes like decomposing yeast paste spread on cardboard, with
a dash of diced dirty socks. It is just awful.
My sanitation was really good, I don't think that was an issue.

Any suggestions what could the cause be of this epic failure?

As soon as I have time I will try and start an other batch and
see if I can get something better.

 

[lalnx]

bad Nottingham yeast?

 

[IrregularPulse]

I'm assuming December 7th last year was 09 and not this past December 7th? Was it in primary that whole time? Over a year on the yeast? I know Autolysis is one of those boogie man type deals, but a year might make it probable.

 

[Coastarine]

I have come to associate a funny flavor accompanied by persistent cloudiness with wild yeast. The degree of "funny" will obviously vary from one infection to the next since there are lots of different wild yeasts out there.

 

[truckjohn]

Sounds suspiciously like you let the airlock run dry and picked up an infection.... maybe forgot about it for too long.... wet old cardboard flavor typically goes along with oxidized wine... and dirty old socks sounds like an infection. Maybe lightstruck for too long too?

Did you use sulphite? This time... if you are planning to do a long term bulk storage (Or even long term bottle storage) - be sure you add sulphite to the initial must, then again after the first racking off the lees, and then again at around 6-months in.... and a last round about 1-week before bottling.

Also be sure to keep those air locks full... Use either water with a bunch of sulphite in it, or vodka/cheap alcohol... For wines - I use the S-type air locks...

Thanks

 

[WIP]

Dirty socks suggest bret. That is exactly how professionals describe it.

Also, you used a beer yeast instead of a wine yeast. Have you had good experience with this yeast before? I did a batch with VL2 (chardonnay yeast) and it never cleared.

 

[Beer604]

By last year I mean 2010
I rehydrated the yeast and it looked and smelled ok.
I don't know what went wrong but I will try again.

 

[scpenname]

If it is only three months old, just let it sit. Mine did the same thing for the first six months. It was a really bad taste/smell. I almost thought about dumping it. I decided to let it sit longer to see what happened. Over the next six months it got progressively better. Keep racking is and adding meta as suggested. I just bottle mine a month ago (13 months), and got some good reviews from others. I say just give it some time.

 

[plate]

I had a similar experience, I made 2 1gal batches.

Both had the sulfer smell one batch im drinking now the other was strait nasty and ended up in the drain.

I will admit that I used different yeast and sugars for both.