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Tasteless Cyser

Barrel Char Wood Products

mjhughes

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 13, 2009
29
0
0
Clifton Park NY
www.facebook.com
Hello everyone!

My question is there was no flavor, No sign of the apple or honey, but it does have a mild alcohol flavor. It tastes like yellow alcohol water.

what should my next step be?
PH?
acidity?
add concentrate apple juice?




Started on 10-10-09

Ingredients:
6.5 gal batch
10lbs wildflower honey
1 gal spring water
4 galons of Musselmans Apple cider.
1 stick of cinnamon.
2 packets of Red star Pasture champagne yeast.


Top off must: 1.080 gravity
5lbs wildflower honey
2lbs brown sugar
2gals spring water

O.G. 1.10

Racked on 10-30-09 with .999 reading added 6 campden tablets and added 1gal of "top off must". It restarted fermentation.

I left it alone till 1-2-10 and check the gravity and it was at 1.006. and still bubbling away.
 

wayneb

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Your next step should be patience -- allow it to age and develop for another 6 months, and you will definitely taste some difference as both apple and honey aromatics start coming back. It really hasn't been done fermenting for more than a week or so (since your backsweetening addition triggered a re-ferment), and so it is way too early to determine if, or what, adjustments need to be made.
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 23, 2004
1,867
0
0
68
Cedar Rapids, IA
I would suggest an experiment. Get yourself a small sample. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir. Taste.

Does the apple taste come back with the additional sweetness?

While I am far from expert, I have not had a batch where a missing aromatic somehow re-emerged after aging. My experience has been the opposite as aromatics have faded with age.

But when it comes to the flavors in my mels, often the presence or absence of fruitiness correlates to the amount of sweetness/sugar remaining after fermentation is complete. I have a very dry raspberry wine in process right now that is bone dry with very little raspberry characteristic but the test above brings the berry flavor back.

My opinion would be that if adding sweetness does not bring back the apple flavor, then aging is unlikely to as well.

Good luck,
Pewter
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
I, for one, have had apple flavors become more noticeable with time in a couple cysers. I had one that went from very appley right after fermentation to bland a few months later to HUGE APPLE after another 6 months. Give it time and see what happens.
 

TheTooth

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 18, 2008
25
1
0
Long Beach, CA, USA
I have also had flavors come back with aging.

I had a bad experience with my first cider, in which it tastes as you describe. I dumped most of that batch, then found some bottles 6 months later. Those were really good.

That experience led me to split my second batch. I was kegging at this point, so I back-sweetened half of it and let the other half age for 6 monthns in a seperate keg. The back-sweetened batch was more drinkable right away, but it wasn't very good. Over time, it never really got that good to us, but the batch we simply aged for 6 months recovered lots of apple flavor, yet wasn't too sweet. Side by side, it was clear that the aged cider was WAY better than the backsweetened cider, even after age!

Meads, ciders, wines, and high ABV beers all need time to age. Give your cyser 6 months in the carboy and try it again. If it's still not good to your tastes, you can try backsweetening it then.
 

capoeirista13

Honey Master
Registered Member
Aug 17, 2008
1,041
0
36
35
Philadelphia
I would suggest an experiment. Get yourself a small sample. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir. Taste.

Does the apple taste come back with the additional sweetness?

While I am far from expert, I have not had a batch where a missing aromatic somehow re-emerged after aging. My experience has been the opposite as aromatics have faded with age.

But when it comes to the flavors in my mels, often the presence or absence of fruitiness correlates to the amount of sweetness/sugar remaining after fermentation is complete. I have a very dry raspberry wine in process right now that is bone dry with very little raspberry characteristic but the test above brings the berry flavor back.

My opinion would be that if adding sweetness does not bring back the apple flavor, then aging is unlikely to as well.

Good luck,
Pewter

I would say to definitely try the test that Pewter is suggesting here, and maybe to do it on a larger scale if you can. I had a batch of cider that was somewhat flavorless as well. What I did was split it into 3 smaller batches where I made 1 sweet, 1 semi-sweet, and 1 had no sugar addition so it remained dry. In the end the flavors were all different because the amount of sugar in it does make a huge difference and this little experiment led me to find what amount of sugar I like in my drinks. At the end of my waiting period, which was about 5 months, I did have some apple flavor come back into the dry cider which made it taste somewhat like woodchuck or woodpecker ciders.
 

wayneb

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
While I am far from expert, I have not had a batch where a missing aromatic somehow re-emerged after aging. My experience has been the opposite as aromatics have faded with age.

This (the above) can often be the result of oxidation in any fruit melomel. First, fruity aromatics attenuate, then a "raisin-like" or "sherry-like" flavor develops, then as more and more oxygen is introduced the flavor overall decreases, and starts to suggest that of wet cardboard.
 

mjhughes

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 13, 2009
29
0
0
Clifton Park NY
www.facebook.com
A quick note about this mead:

two days ago I racked this mead to a new 5 gal carboy, I had about a gallon left over so I placed it in a few mason jars in the fridge to cold crash and see if it impoves the flavor. When i checked it last night I was supprised to see that in a 9" container that the 1st 1-1/2" was crystal clear the next 2-3" was cloudy and the last bit was really cloudy with sediment.

I though this might be due to pectin so I tested it with a wine meathod 1tbls of wine and 3tbls of vodka, shaked it and If ropes or balls appear in the mixture there is pectin. I didnt see anything but this may be normal reaction I just never witnessed it before.

Matt
 
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