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dirty "off" taste in a cider

  • Thread starter Thread starter gfxprotege
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gfxprotege

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Hi all,

I'm experiencing a certain off flavor for the first time. I wanted to test making a cider for the first time, so I pitched an activated wyeast 1388 pack into a 1 gallon jug of sprouts organic apple cider (no preservatives). Once ferment completed, I racked into a bottling bucket, backsweetened with a 1/4 c honey and 6oz of tart cherry juice and bottled. After 3 days, I pasteurized by placing the bottles in a 160 degree water bath for 10 minutes. I'm wondering if the dirty flavor might just be residual yeast having not settled out.

Normally I rack to secondary and let age for a while, but I was just following a recipe I saw over on homebrew talk and figured I'd give it a whirl.
 
I'm sorry you have problems. In my opinion all you will ever learn over there is how not to do things. A better understanding of what works will make it easier to see something that probably won't work. It's hard to say but you are probably correct!
 
What criteria did you use for determining that the ferment was completed? Did you let the cider clear before racking it? If you bottle anything with yeast still in suspension it'll taste icky.

And which recipe did you follow?
 
Squatchy said:
I'm sorry you have problems. In my opinion all you will ever learn over there is how not to do things. A better understanding of what works will make it easier to see something that probably won't work. It's hard to say but you are probably correct!
Click to expand...

Take it easy there, buddy. The cider forum at HBT is an awesome resource.
 
Maylar said:
Take it easy there, buddy. The cider forum at HBT is an awesome resource.
Click to expand...

OK. SOrry man. I haven't spent any time over there in a long while but it was full of boneheads. At least in the mead world. My bad!!!!!
 
Please describe the "dirty" flavor. Sulphur? Yeast? Chemicals?


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I really can't describe it, its just a dirty funk kind of taste. Not sulphuric or chemical tasting. I don't have enough experience to really describe it and I've never tasted anything like it before.

recipe:
1 gallon sprouts organic cider
1 smack pack of wyeast 1388

OG was 1.060, waited until 3 consecutive readings of 1.00, over the course of a week, cold crashed @ 38 degrees for two weeks, racked and backsweetened with 1/4 c honey and 6oz tart cherry juice. 3 days after bottling, the carbonation was right where I wanted it, so I pasteurized by placing the bottles in a 160 degree water bath for 10 minutes. It pours pretty clear for having a bit of carbonation to it.
 
I don't see anything wrong with that. Without nutrients added it could have produced sulfur, but you'd know what that was. And if the ferment was really fast you could get fusels, but that wouldn't taste funky.

Could you be tasting one of your cleaning solutions used for prepping your bottles?
 
So you pasteurized before it was fully clear? You probably lysed and partially cooked the yeast thus lending a funky flavor. A totally unnecessary step with a gravity below 1.000 (for future reference).

For this batch, stick it in the fridge until it drops crystal clear (months probably), then taste it again. That should get rid of the yeast particles.


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loveofrose said:
So you pasteurized before it was fully clear? You probably lysed and partially cooked the yeast thus lending a funky flavor. A totally unnecessary step with a gravity below 1.000 (for future reference).

For this batch, stick it in the fridge until it drops crystal clear (months probably), then taste it again. That should get rid of the yeast particles.


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Click to expand...

Pasteurizing is necessary if you want sweet carbonated cider without a keg. You backsweeten/prime with sugar, wait until the bottles carb then kill the yeast with heat and leave residual sugar behind. It's a common practice in ciders. I would have thought that cold crashing first would have dropped most of the yeast out.
 
Maylar said:
Pasteurizing is necessary if you want sweet carbonated cider without a keg. You backsweeten/prime with sugar, wait until the bottles carb then kill the yeast with heat and leave residual sugar behind. It's a common practice in ciders. I would have thought that cold crashing first would have dropped most of the yeast out.
Click to expand...

Ok. I missed the back sweetened part. Was it clear before pasteurization?


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