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yeasty tasting cider
When I racked from primary to secondary I tasted the cider and it was good and a little sweet and had a yeasty aftertaste. The fermentation really took off and I was pleased with the progress after that. So after three weeks I transferred to another carboy (tertiary?). Now at this point I still had a yeasty aftertaste, but the sweetness was mostly gone. I took one bottle to Thanksgiving to taste with my brother who was curious and it still had the yeasty aftertaste. I just checked my journal and it had been a 5 1/2 weeks to this tasting. Am I doomed to have a yeasty tasting cider? Should I wait more than my plan of 7 weeks to bottling and just live with the fact that it won't be ready by the Christmas holiday? I know we're not deep in cider brewers on this KB, but any experienced brewer may be able to transfer some knowledge that would apply. Thanks!
I say give it more time. Ciders can take a while. I have heard some people who wait 3 or 4 months before bottling, and then don't even think to try the bottles for another 8 or 9 months. That is one year after starting. I think that you will find you are ok after a while.
Great, that would make me feel a lot better. I did some reading after this posting yesterday and found that it might have been autolysis giving the yeasty flavor. At least this is one thing that will impart a yeasty flavor. This is usually from the must sitting on the lees for too long, but I'm racking very frequently and can't imagine this is the problem. I talked to a wine supply store person yesterday and he said he thought that it might be that I was fermenting at too low a temperature. What is the thought on fermenting at lower than ideal temperatures? I maintain about 64 degrees F. It has gone up to 66F, but probably not lower than 64F. Thanks for the input.
Just thought I'd chime in here as I'm in exactly the same situation as you. It's my first time brewing anything, and I've been following the instructions on andrew lea's page"The Science of Cider Making".I used plastic primary fermenters and glass carboys for secondary. I picked in the first week of Oct., and pressed in the second. I used a standard wine yeast, campden tabs, yeast food, pect enzyme. My apples were a mix of sweet varieties, so my alc. content is 8 percent, no sugar added. At 65 deg., Fermentation went fast, SG dropped to 1.010 in about 12 days. Racked to glass, SG went down to 1.000, fermentation stopped, dropped temp to about 55 Deg. Racked again in two weeks, still cloudy. By thanks giving it had cleared up, and there were no lees, so I tried some and it tasted awful, very yeasty, notes of warm sour cardboard. Christmastime I tried it again, and it had improved to the point of drinkability. Not much crispness or complexity,still a little yeasty, but goes down easy, so I pulled off a quart or so and drank it, not really thinking 8 percent is that strong...
I hope my cider gets better with time. I've got three friends who spent three days with me picking and pressing, and I'm starting to get: "When's it ready?", and "How much do I get?" I hope it takes less than a year, or next October, we'll be falling off the ladders.
So, a couple questions: Should I rack again, or go straight to bottles? If so, when? Also, I'm thinking carbonation would help, but I dont want lees in my bottles, does anyone know how to add CO2? Finally, are there any other good cider forums or info sites on the web? Glad I found this one.
Cheers!
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