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Imprisoned in Secondary Fermentation
I have a batch of cider that has been sitting in secondary fermentation for about 6 weeks. When I took it out of the initial fermentor, it tasted like very tart wine so I have been reluctant to waste resources by bottling it.
Is this extremely tart taste normal at this stage?
I have given up the idea of sweet sparkling cider by means of bottle priming but what would be the best sugar-based product to sweeten this batch up to make a good still cider?
Thanks for your input!
I can't really help you on making it sweeter, but my cider was very yeasty when I tasted it at a month. It was much better at 2 months. It is in the bottles now and it will probably wait until this fall before I start cracking them open. I'd say go ahead and bottle it and then just wait it out. I am definitely no authority on the subject as this is my first batch of cider, but mine has gone through a pretty amazing transition. I wouldn't count it out yet. Bottle it up and put it someplace dark then forget about it. Next fall when you're getting ready to decide to do it again or not, crack one open and see if you want another try at it or might even do the same recipe. That's my $.02.
Thanks for the posting. We need to get some more folks in the discussion.
So Maverick (another member of Brew KB) and I bottled the cider last weekend and it had an strange flavor to it. The finish was very cider-like but the initial taste was very raw. Could the taste be a result of the P Sorbate? I'm also wondering if this taste will mellow over time.
Any ideas?
Every thing that I have read or heard from others is, that Cciders need a long condiationing time in the bottles, like wine does. I have heard of up to 6 months or more. I was looking into making applejack and everything i read said to start it at the end of summer and you could expect it to be ready to drink by the spring. I say let it condition for a couple of months.
Did you use any honey in the batch? That could explain the tart dry wine taste.
cheers
I generally put about 4 to 5 pounds of light honey in my ciders and bottle with honey as well. They're still a little tart, but with a little cinnamon, nutmeg... they balance nicely.
I did two pounds each of honey and brown sugar for my 5 1/2 gallon batch. This was at the suggestion of my LHBS worker. I wouldn't do that again because I want a lower %abv. I want to have 6%abv or so and this turned out to be about 10.25%abv. Ouch! It's still really "young", but you couldn't really tell the amount of alcohol in it by the taste which makes it very dangerous to a person used to commercial ciders. My buddy that helped me bottle the stuff got wasted when we were bottling it. I told him to taste it to see what he thought and he probably drank about 4-5 pints of the stuff, hehehe. I knew it was going to get better, but he just couldn't wait and said it wasn't bad. Evidently not....
Johndixon,
I hear you on wanting to make it a little less alcoholic. My cysers usually sit between 9 and 10%. My buddies and I sit around the poker table on a friday night and sample different homebrews and I've basically had to blacklist my cysers because everyone has a bit of a hard time tasting too many after one or two of the cysers much less playing cards! They kind of sneak up on you. They sure are damn good though. Give them a little while to age and I bet your "alcohol taste" will mellow out quite a bit.
I used to make quite a bit of cider about 6-8 years ago, and what you're describing was very normal for me. Anything under about 3 months tasted very raw and often yeasty. I experimented with different aging methods, and while they all worked well to improve the product, I think I remember the trick being to reduce the temerature after a month or two, and store it very cool.
Overall, I learned not to touch my cider for about 6 months.
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