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blink
eye of horus



Registered: 03/31/02
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Cider
#16209645 - 05/10/12 11:53 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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I made some cider with a white wine yeast starter (starter was juiced fresh apples and honey) and pitched to 5 gallons of fresh pasteurized apple cider that was treated with potasium sorbate. The starter was to overcome the sorbate, and recent gravity measurements show the fermentation as complete. This started in October and has been racked twice off the sediment and yeast. So now I have 5 gallons of the most tart alcoholic beverage I've ever tasted.
What can I do with it next, without investing in a keg? If I add sugar, I'm not sure which way it will go (restart ferm or backsweeten). No rush, since it seems to get better the more I ignore it.
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geokills
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Re: Cider [Re: blink]
#16209694 - 05/10/12 12:06 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
blink said:
No rush, since it seems to get better the more I ignore it.
That's pretty much the best way to improve your wine, age. Since you've already racked twice, I would loosely black bag your fermenter to keep the light out, and store it in a cool place until the holiday season rolls around. Should mellow and bring out more of the natural apple flavor by that time. Alternatively, if I'm serving a young cider, I sometimes mix it with 7-Up or Sprite at service, to help sweeten and lighten up the beverage. I almost always carbonate my ciders as well, which you can of course do with bottles, sugar and yeast if you don't feel like investing in a keg setup. But that being said, the keg setup is the best investment I've made for all my brewing/cider endeavors. Allows me to produce and age a lot more product with relative ease, and serve it to friends and family with the tilt of a handle.
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
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Re: Cider [Re: blink]
#16210901 - 05/10/12 04:46 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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What %abv did you get up to? I like ciders that are <8% to be carbonated...but anything higher and I prefer it still and dry! Have you made mead before? The honey in there will probably take a loooong time to finish fermenting! I would suggest you leave it in the carboy to bulk age at least until this october...if not longer! It will probably taste very good around the 2 year mark.
If you want to backsweeten, make sure you use some stabilizer first!! Otherwise you'll be ending up with some potent stuff! This is actually how my father in law makes all his wine - he adds enough sugar to bring the %abv up to around 18%, so the yeast dies off and leaves some additional sweetness.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Larrythescaryrex
teardrop on the fire



Registered: 07/19/00
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so you find this a successful way to overcome sorbate?
-------------------- RIP Acidic_Sloth Sunset_Mission said: "larry the scary rex verily scary when thoroughly vexed invoke the shadows and dust, cast a hex mercifully massacring memories masterfully relocate from Ur to 8th density and become a cosmic bully mulder and scully couldn't decipher his glyphs invoke the shadows and dust, smoke infernal spliffs" April 24th 2011
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blink
eye of horus



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Sorry I should have included gravity measurements.
Oct 23, 2011 - 1.052 @10C Nov 27, 2011 - 1.036 @18C (added yeast nutrient) April 15, 2012 - 1.022 @18C / 6 brix (got a refractometer during that period) (added pectic enzyme)
Did I start too low? I can repitch, even do a different yeast and goose it a bit to bump up the abv
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geokills
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Re: Cider [Re: blink]
#16242811 - 05/16/12 09:50 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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That is weird that you finished with so much residual sugar. That wouldn't have anything to do with your relatively low starting gravity. It seems that most likely, your yeast was weak and/or the potassium sorbate adversely affected fermentation. Perhaps your fermenter get exceptionally cold, causing the yeast to fall out of suspension at some point? If I were you, I would try the stuff, and if you like it, just enjoy it. If it's too sweet, I would re-pitch, periodically agitate and maintain above 65*F.
In the future, you should make sure never to have preservatives in your liquids. It's also a good idea to include some yeast nutrient when making wine, and thoroughly oxygenate your juice prior to pitching the yeast. Then just make sure it doesn't get too cold and you should be golden.
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
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Loc: Ontario, Canada
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I have had some mead that took a REALLY long time to finish...but yeah, it's probably the sorbate doing it.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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blink
eye of horus



Registered: 03/31/02
Posts: 11,349
Loc: Geographic Location (Stat...
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The problem with it right now is that it's tart. VERY tart. Not sure on next steps. It was kept at about 18C throughout, the original gravity measurement was cold because the cider was poured into the carboy fresh from the farm fridge, and pitched yeast at the same temp as fermentation (18C).
I knew the preservatives were there and got it anyway. Tell me I can't do something and watch how I hard I try. I will probably just use it for mix after a year is up, unless it suddenly tastes awesome on it's own.
Thanks for the replies guys.
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