1st batch not to great

It had alot of heat to it and i hated it. I wanna try a recipe that doesnt have much heat and is sweet, carbonated. HELP? I dont wanna give up on this...

the same thing happened to me when i fermented too hot. i bottled anyway and about two months later it was great. the fusel taste left entirely. try lowering your fermentation temps and you should be good. also if you want a sweeter beer mash at a higher temp. still ferment lower.

If you want to have a sweet end-product there are two ways I've investigated (but there are probably many more I have yet to try). Firstly, during bottling mix in some Splenda with the bottling sugar. It won't ferment and therefore leave you with a sweeter tasting cider but it doesn't really taste sweet like apples do - more like candy. Therefore, my preferred way of doing it is to bottle with apple juice as my bottling sugar and test a bottle each day after the first week until it's properly carbonated. Then I chuck them all in the fridge to stall any further carbonation. The latter method can be hazardous if you can't keep the bottles cool but I've never had any problems.

cacaca86 said:

It had alot of heat to it and i hated it. I wanna try a recipe that doesnt have much heat and is sweet, carbonated. HELP? I dont wanna give up on this...

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As stated above, cooler fermentation temps will help a lot, so will using an ale yeast.
Regards, GF.

Thanks guys, what temps do u guys recommend? Also what type of ale yeasts have you tried? I have 4 bottles left that i havent opened, ill try letting them sit a little longer before trying them.

Nottingham, S-04, S-05 and S-23 all have worked well for me. Try to ferment as low as possible within cooling ability and yeast tolerance. IMO a steady semi-cool fermentation is better than a fluctuating cold then hot ferment.

Also, let the cider age in the bottles. They rapidly become less harsh. This won't fix major flaws but patience is important.

From the heat I'm guessing you added a bunch of sugar and used a wine yeast. That would definitely give you lots of alcohol and a hot, unpleasant flavor. What was your recipe?

I just started a cider and the recipe I used was for a "sweet" cider. Personally, I like mine a bit on the dry side so I used wine yeast, but didn't add much sugar at all. Im fermenting at 64-65*. I'm curious as to your fermenting temp/recipe. I'm also guessing a lot of sugar/warm temp gave you that heat.

cacaca86 said:

Thanks guys, what temps do u guys recommend? Also what type of ale yeasts have you tried? I have 4 bottles left that i havent opened, ill try letting them sit a little longer before trying them.

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I mostly use Nottingham & ferment @ 62*F, it fluctuates a little, but never higher than 67*F.
Regards, GF.