Hey folks. Made my my first batch of cider this fall and I bottled it a couple of months ago. I added sugar to bottle condition it and I’m super happy with how it turned out. However the sediment left over from bottle conditioning seems to give an off taste. If I pour slowly the first glass out of the bottle is clear and tastes great. The second glass tends to carry along the sediment and turns the cider sort of foggy and makes it have an off taste.

I’m familiar with some beers that have sediment from can conditioning and never thought it gave the beer an off taste but with the cider it seems to.

I assume this is common but is there anything that can be done about it? The bottle conditioning worked out awesome had a great light carbonation to it so I’d like to keep doing it but the taste from the sediment is turning me off of the process a little.

Brothers allegedly discontinued their Toffee Apple and other sweet flavours when they rebranded a year ago, but I just drank this at a bar. The label looks like the rebranded products but their website doesn’t show it and on social media they’re acting like toffee apple is gone for good.

I’m so confused? Did Brothers make this just for commercial sale and not consumer purchase? Why are they acting like the flavour doesn’t exist anymore? Are they pulling a New Coke?

I’ve fermented a blend of apple cider, pear concentrate (from a kit), and apple juice concentrate. This is my third batch of cider ever and I’m a little worried that the cider won’t get clear. Anyone have experience with fermenting a pear blend?

I’ve been brewing this for a while, not very experienced… is this mild or something else harmful? Or it is still fine? It tastes okay, no off flavours but would rather not take the risk…

I have another batch with cherries that has the same film on top

Am I reading the date correctly as 07/08/2022?

I’m sure this has been asked before, so apologies for repeating. Who has had experience making bulk cider (say 50L or more) using apples that have been juiced through a centrifugal juicer such as this: https://www.breville.com/en-us/product/bje830?sku=BJE830BSS1BUS1

I’ve done plenty before, manually coring each apple before juicing to avoid the pips going through and affecting flavour and for safety concerns re the amygdalin/cyanide issues with the pips. Has anyone just juiced the apples whole and not worried about coring? Did the pips affect the flavour? Any ill affects from the pips running through? Obviously drinking one bottle won’t harm, but say 50L worth over a year… any experience?

TYIA

We all know very well that cider should be fermented at a low temperature and as slowly as possible to preserve all its aromatic properties. However, I have a question: if a specialized yeast is used and fermentation takes place at the lower end of the temperature range specified for this yeast, could this low temperature prevent the yeast from expressing its best aromatic characteristics, which might develop more fully at a slightly warmer temperature?

I want to ask whether fermentation at too low a temperature could prevent the yeast from expressing its aromatic and flavor characteristics. For example as far as I know, kveik yeast actually prefer higher temperatures to produce esters like orange or banana notes.

I would like to balance both aspects and get the best of both—the characteristics from the apple blend and the qualities imparted by the yeast.

At this moment Im runing one apple variety since 2.November with TF-6 and AC-4 at around 11 degree C . The TF6 is not aromatic at all (as stated in Safcider page). AC-4 is more acidic, aromatic and maybe crisp as stated on Saf page.

Im also runing Pomona,So4 and AS-2 at 14-18C. In the begining of fermentation Pomona was tropical but after 4 months now all this aroma has subsided. AS-2 from green apple has turned to apple sauce just like stated on Saf page. So4 on the other hand...looks like a damn winner, sharp fresh apple notes, I just love it.

Four months have passed—could these aromas develop further and become more pronounced in the next few months?

Hey. Apologies if this has been covered before. I've done a search before posting but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

I found a keg of cider from a couple of years ago that has about 5L in it. It was a great cider and at the time I split the 20L batch off and added sour cherries to some, passionfruit to another batch etc. I must have forgotten I still had 5L left.

Anyway, I've recently had some interesting wild ciders. I had a few bottles of Two Meters Tall - Huon Farmhouse Wild Cider and I've saved the dregs (This cider is not pasteurised). I'd love to take this serendipitous cider and sour/funk it up with these dregs but I assume there is little to no sugar left in cider for brett and friends to feed on. I don't remember how I finished this cider but I remember it was super dry and I quite enjoyed it that was so didn't look to back sweeten.

So, question - what are the ways to add some long chain sugars to my cider so the bugs I add can chow down and make some funky goodness? Thanks in advance.

Hey guys,

Recently tried to make hard cider and it never carbonated - I have a feeling it was something to do with the sugar possibly not dissolving well enough?

We made around 5 gallons and the fermentation went well but when we bottled and tried to carbonate, nothign really happened. It still tastes fine but we were not sure what went wrong. We added sugar/yeast etc and put into screw tops as we did not have capped bottles. Could it be that the sugar didn't dissolve enough? There is some residue at the bottom of the bottles. Is there anyway to save it?

Any advice would be helpful!

I've recently set up a jug of mead which has been fermenting two weeks now. now just did my cider this morning and should actually finish before the mead despite it's head start. It started bubbling just over ten minutes after adding the yeast but it's stopped for now. I assume it'll resume later on but ain't too sure. Set up was a little different from the mead.

I started a hard cider batch back in September and forgot about it in an unused room. Is it salvageable?

You can see where the brown pulp has stained but now it is only white..

I’m not sure how but I think I’ve screwed up and I need some advice. This is my first ever batch.

My process was:

1. I fermented apple juice and waited until activity had completely visibly stopped, then waited another week just to be sure. I checked the gravity to make sure it was about .0 (a little over 2 weeks in total).
2. I then cold crashed for 2 days and racked to a secondary vessel for conditioning. I stabilized immediately (potassium sorbate + campden), waited a day and then back-sweetened. I waited 4 days and watched for airlock activity to make sure fermentation didn't start again. During this time I also infused a charred oak spiral.
3. At this point I added another campden tablet, gently mixed it in then immediately bottled.

I bottled the cider 20 days ago and I decided today was a good time to give it a try. It’s fizzy. It didn’t pop when I opened it, but it did overflow and it’s almost as carbonated as a normal fizzy cider is. It’s also still sweet. I'm thinking about pasteurizing and pretending this was totally intentional and calculated, though I'm now nervous about exploding bottles.

And in case you're wondering, to stabilize I used 1/2 teaspoon of potassium sorbate, and 1 campden tablet per gallon.

How could have this happened, and is pasteurizing a good idea?

Title says it all.

I was able to buy 5 gallons of Fuji apple juice from a local cider house. Added champagne yeast (EC1118), a little bit of acid (Malic and Tartaric) to adjust the pH and TA.

Starting gravity was 14.9 to 15.1° Brix. Also decided to add some soft white wine tannin during fermentation and then when I racked it into a secondary carboy I added red wine tannin to boost mouthfeel and add some complexity. Let that condition for about 3 weeks before kegging and carbonating.

Fermented damn near completely dry so it’s a whopping 7.5 to 8% alcohol by volume based on an online calculator.

Honestly, it’s my best batch of cider yet.

Cheers to all the help from this community as well as r/winemaking

I've done test batches (13,5 oz/0,4 litres) that have cleared within 2 weeks from the start of fermentation. When 2 gallon/7,5 litre batch is made it takes up to 2 months to clear. Why is there such a big difference?

Is there any point to the aging process if I’m going to carbonate in the bottle? Won’t the carbonation fermentation in the bottle erase all the developed flavors created during the aging process? Wouldn't it be easier to carbonate the cider right after fermentation is complete, and then let the flavors develop after carbonation?

Hey hello everyone!

About a month ago I made a new cider with my girlfriend. The cider has stopped bubbling so I want to bottle it. The only issue is I want to do it with my girlfriend but we have a long distance relationship so shes not here every week.

My question is how long can I let the cider rest in the carboy? And is it a problem that its resting there with the dead yeast?

Answers are appreciated!

Every year I press apples at my cousins to make cider. Just bottled it and this is the haul! I’m pretty content with it.

Cheers!

Got given a 2.5L bottle of home brew cider the other day and drank about half, now I’ve come back to it about 3 days later it looked like this when I poured it, is it safe to drink?

Hello! So I am trying to test out four different strains of yeast but I also only have a finite amount of cider apples left. My plan is to press a gallon of juice and divide it into four quart fermenters and then pitch a specific yeast strain to each quart.

What do you think would be an appropriate amount to pitch to a quart jar? 3 or 4 grams? Maybe a little lower?

Thanks!

So as I understand for me to get fresh and crisp cider, I should avoid MLF and and also aging on lees to avoid all the unpredictable funk.

Just read this on agrovin site "When to avoid malolactic fermentation?.... Despite its benefits, not all wines must undergo malolactic fermentation. In certain white wines, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling, where the aim is to preserve freshness and lively acidity, winemakers usually avoid this process. In these cases, malic acid is a key component that gives the wine its characteristic brightness and freshness."

Also what do you guys think would be the best yeast to get the crispiest cider ?

Feel free to share your opinion.

Thanks in advance.