Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Cider Digest #0047
Subject: Cider Digest #47 Sat Oct 19 11:00:05 EDT 1991
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 91 11:00:07 EDT
From: cider-request@expo.lcs.mit.edu (Are you SURE you want to send it HERE?)
Cider Digest #47 Sat Oct 19 11:00:06 EDT 1991
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Jay Hersh, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Botched batch (Chad Epifanio)
Send submissions to cider@expo.lcs.mit.edu
Send requests to cider-request@expo.lcs.mit.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 91 16:07:53 PDT
From: chad@mpl.ucsd.edu (Chad Epifanio)
Subject: Botched batch
Hello
This tall tale is about a botched batch of cider. I wanted to make good
one, as my last year's batch was sickenly sweet and wimpy. Here is
my new batch:
5 gal fresh cider(various blends)
3 lbs mesquite honey
3 lbs brown sugar
2 lbs white sugar
1 lb unpreserved rasins
5 t yeast nutrient
Montrachet yeast(from 1 qt. mead starter)
Well, it bubbled and fumed for 3 weeks. Made the whole garage smell
funky. I racked it after three weeks, and tasted. It was VERY
alcoholic. So much so that it burned my mouth. Also very unbalanced.
Dry as a bone in the desert heat. I thought I could add a lot of sugar,
making it so alcoholic to kill the yeast, and leaving a bit of residual
sweetness. I musta got a package of bad-ass yeast. I didn't measure
SG or FG(damn), but I estimate the alcohol content to be over 15%.
What to do?!!
To be honest, I paniced. I grabbed another 3lbs of mesquite honey,
boiled it in cider, cooled, and plopped it into the fermenter. To
balance the expected sweetness, I added a cup of lmon juice to raise
the pH(tartnss?). Weak activity flaired up for a day, then stopped dead.
That was two weeks ago. I sampled a bit last night, and it was good.
Not great, but good. The added honey and lemon juice balanced the
overwhelming alcohol. It smells great too. There is still a bit
of astringent aftertaste, but I hope that will go away with age.
I guess what I've created is effectivly cyser, but at least I salvaged
the batch.
chad
chad%mpl@ucsd.edu
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest
************************
-------