Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Cider Digest #0501
Subject: Yeast bite -- no BD yet
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 1994 22:05:01 -0500
From: gwk@world.std.com (Greg Kushmerek)
Hi Daric,
If your cider doesn't taste or smell infected now, then discount the
idea until it appears!
But I wonder what you say about the bitterness from yeast. Last year
I made one batch of cider that I allowed to sit in primary for a
_year_. This cider tastes fine -- no yeast flavor (or vegetable).
Just a lot of apples and alcohol.
Let it age. Cider likes to age a year, I find, before its real
potential comes out.
As always, YMMV
- --gk
- --
Greg Kushmerek
gwk@world.std.com
(alter-ego in trunk)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 1994 22:18:23 -0500
From: GubGuy@aol.com
Subject: Let's use this Digest!
It's the time of year for cider, people, and there is not much
discussion going on about it. Allow me to get the ball rolling.
Several weeks ago, some friends & I pressed up approx 30 gallons of
blended cider. The plan was to use 50% Reds, 30% Goldens & 20% Romes. May
not have been exact; we had a bin full of the apples in question and
depending on who was feeding the press, our MMV. Should be pretty close to
the target percentages though.
I took a bit over 11 gallons of the blend, and 1 full gallon of pear juice
(half Bartlets, half Bosc). Who would have guessed that pears hold so much
juice; we were all quite surprised at our yield from the pears. I want to
interject here that for all involved this is our first time at making *real*
cider. Most of us are also long-time Homebrewers, so we have the basics.
With that in mind, we wanted to experiment many different ways to increase
our odds of coming up with a decent drink. For myself, I took 5 one gallon
jugs. The first had one cup of pear cider, the second had two cups pear,
etc. and topped them off with the blended apple cider. Pitched a dry ale
yeast (don't like the dry-wine taste so I avoided champagne yeast). I left
all my other cider in a carboy. Thinking this would be a good controlled
experiment, I promptly procrastinated doing anything with the remaining cider
(I did set one gallon aside to ferment naturally). Several days later, I was
reveling in the happiness that accompanies an active fermentation at my
house, when I noticed there was MOLD growing on my remaining cider. At that
point I forgot my training as a Homebrewer and WORRIED! I immediately
strained my precious fluid through a fine mesh screen to remove the mold.
After that, I pitched 5 gallons cider with 64 oz Cranberry juice, again with
dry ale yeast (different from the pear, don't remember offhand what it was;
got my notes at home somewhere). I really wanted to do another controlled
experimentation with the cranberry similar to what I did with the pear. The
remaining two gallons I mixed with 2 lbs of frozen, sweetened strawberries,
again using yet a different kind of dry ale yeast. Also wanted to try using
two different techniques with the strawberries, but I was nervous to let it
sit much longer. Bottom line, all of it seems to be fermenting normally now,
with no recurrance of mold.
After this episode, I was a bit apprehensive (not worried) about my lone
gallon jug set aside to let nature take its course with. So I dropped in a
campden (sp?) tablet, hoping it would inhibit the mold growth. So far it
looks like only yeasties doing their work in there (slowly), but no mold.
Now for the Q&A session for all you cider experts out there:
1) Is the mold growth something to worry about, or just ignore it & remove
at racking, not harming the rest of the cider (like cutting the mold off
chese, then eating it, I guess).
2) What exactly does the campdon tablet do? I was under the impression that
it inhibited wild yeast growth but I was told that wasn't exactly correct.
3) Any suggestions on how to improve the next round of cider? Comments on
what was done either right or wrong appreciated.
4) Any thoughts on whether sugar should have been added? Like I said
earlier, I don't like the dry, wine-y taste. I'm assuming that it would be
more pronounced with increasing amounts of fermentables.
5) Has anyone tried using hops in their cider? Being a homebrewer first, I
have quite a fondness for hops and was wondering about their compatibility
with cider.
Can't think of much else that I've got questions about; none of the cider's
finished yet, so I don't know if anything is drinkable or not just yet. My
other brewing buddies are trying completly different things, so in a few
months we should be in for quite a tasting party! If there's any interest on
how these turn out, I'll post them.
I *REALLY* think we should utilize this digest much more than it has been. I
can find plenty of help with brewing or mead questions, but when it comes to
cider, good advice is hard to find. Either nobody's making it, or the one's
who do aren't sharing the knowledge. Hope my time here was well spent in
trying to motivate some people; sorry for the length of this, at least I can
be *pretty* sure no one got their post bumped until the next day 'cause I
hogged all the bandwidth.
GubGuy@aol.com Nunc est Bibendum (Latin; "Now is the time to drink")
-Ray Ownby- "In Wine there is Truth" -Dostoyevsky
("In vino veritas")
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 94 8:02:32 EST
From: Jon Petty <jpetty@PICA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: yeast bite
For Daric Morris: Harsh flavors tend to mellow out and become subdued with
time in beers and I would guess with ciders also. I'm assuming the off-flavor
is not from over ageing a low alcohol cider. If it has cleared, I would bottle
and wait a month before drinking. If still cloudy I would rack off the yeast.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 08:29:10 -0500 (EST)
From: BURNELLT <BURNELLT@ropt1.am.wyeth.com>
Subject: YEAST BITE
Daric Morris is wondering if he should toss his cider because it sat in the prim
ary for
a month. When I make cider and mead I almost never rack to the secondary within
a month.
If you only started that cider a month ago, you really can't tell how it's going
to
taste. Let it age a full year and I'll bet the taste will be fine. My ciders are
ususally
so tart that they curl your hair when there that young. They always mature into
a dry,
delicious drink that IMHO beats the pants off champagne. Time is great healer.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 94 17:54:26 EDT
From: "Donald Hanson" <dlh2@cornell.edu>
Subject: RE: Cider Digest #498 Mon Nov 14 19:00:07 EDT 1994
Your cider is going to taste like rotten eggs too! Dump = recommendation!
Donald Hanson
Agricultural & Biological Engineering Dept.
Cornell University; Ithaca, NY 14853
FAX: (607) 255-4080; Tel: (607) 255-8425
------------------------------
