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Timco · 11-05-2007, 04:55 PM

I just finished pouring 5 gallons of cider down the drain. I fermented for 2 weeks, and 1 week in the secondary- Added tannin to unpazed cider with sugar and champ yeast. Batch had bad smell & taste. I want to start a second batch and would love any advise on creating a clear Woodpecker/Woodchuck type draft cider..any thoughts? tx.

Evan! · 11-05-2007, 05:05 PM

"bad smell and taste"? Please elaborate. Did it smell like...rotten eggs? If so, you just poured 5 gallons of perfectly good cider down the drain. Often, cider smells/tastes sulfury while its fermenting, but that will blow off/dissipate with age.

So, first things first: never ever dump anything before consulting HBT first!

Second...woodchuck is kind of sweet if I remember correctly. So what you'll need to do is add some kind of unfermentable sugar to the batch. I'd use cider yeast, and do it like this: take the cider, add campden tablets (crushed and dissolved in hot water), wait 12 hours, add pectic enzyme, wait another twelve hours, then pitch the yeast. Fermentation will take awhile...mine took like 3 weeks to finish. Once the airlock activity has subsided and it looks like it's clearing up, you can take a gravity reading. I'd rack to secondary at this point, and let it sit for a long time. Like, a couple months at least (not speaking from experience, just word of mouth, as my first batch of cider is still in secondary right now). You can speed the clarifying process up quite a bit if you lager it like I'm doing with mine.

But if you want it to finish sweet, then you need to add some lactose back to it at some point.

Germey · 11-05-2007, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timco

I just finished pouring 5 gallons of cider down the drain. I fermented for 2 weeks, and 1 week in the secondary- Added tannin to unpazed cider with sugar and champ yeast. Batch had bad smell & taste. I want to start a second batch and would love any advise on creating a clear Woodpecker/Woodchuck type draft cider..any thoughts? tx.

Well, I can't say for sure without experiencing the "bad" taste and smell myself, but you may have been a bit premature with the dumping. The general consensus for fermenting cider (esp the infamous Apfelwein) is that you should wait 4-6 or even more weeks for your fermentation. I know the initial fermentation smell is pretty funky compared to beer. I have never tasted it that early in the process.
Probably not what you want to hear since you already poured it down the drain. In general, avoid panic like that. Lots of things can get better with age. Even some beers with bacterial infections might even turn out drinkable with enough time (yeah, I meant to make a lambic, that's the ticket.)

Timco · 11-05-2007, 05:10 PM

I have been reading HBT along, but decided today to actually ask the question- it was kind of rotten egg smelling- I bottled it in hopes keeping it from turning to vinegar- I have to start again, any thought on a definitive recipe or book? Is Draft cider any different than still or Carbed?

Evan! · 11-05-2007, 05:15 PM

Wait, did you bottle it or dump it? I'm confused. I thought you said you dumped it down the drain! Or do you mean, you bottled it, THEN dumped each bottle?

Dunno about a book, I just asked Yooper for help. She rocks.

Still = uncarbonated
Carbed = carbonated
Draft = kegged (or, alternately, a meaningless word that woodchuck et al puts on their bottles for marketing purposes).

Timco · 11-05-2007, 05:18 PM

I bottled, then tasted then dumped...sorry I will not be so quick to bail next time, but I tell ya boys, it was bad... I dont want to give up but I am also running out of time here in western NY to buy cider.

Evan! · 11-05-2007, 05:23 PM

ouch, you spent the time bottling, then the time opening each one? Add insult to injury! Sorry man, that's gotta hurt. I've had infected batches before...it's no fun.

Timco · 11-05-2007, 05:31 PM

OK stupid question and then I'll leave you alone-potassium sulfate to the 5 gal of cider it sat for over a week, plus in the bucket (properly cleaned) with a towel over it. When I opened to pitch I had to skim some mold off the top- did I bugger it up at that point?

Germey · 11-05-2007, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timco

OK stupid question and then I'll leave you alone-potassium sulfate to the 5 gal of cider it sat for over a week, plus in the bucket (properly cleaned) with a towel over it. When I opened to pitch I had to skim some mold off the top- did I bugger it up at that point?

Boy, talk about snippets of info. When did you do this week-long K2SO4 treatment? Do you mean metabisulfite?
I was going to say that you probably saved your self from a batch of bottle bombs since you bottled so early, but maybe not.

Timco · 11-05-2007, 05:58 PM

Yea, we'll let this message serve any other rookies who can't wait. Thanks all, very much