So I have been lurking for about 6 months, and have been brewing hard cider for about a year and a half. My results in the beginning were excellent, but all brews since June have had issues. It really seems like since I have been taking notes, writing things down and using a hydrometer things have gone downhill. I honestly don't know what I am doing wrong. I had a batch of cider in June that tastes like acetone, and most everything else tastes murky. I worked for almost a year before I found the forum and then realized I "discovered" the recipie for Apfelwien without ever seeing a recipe, so I thought I was doing ok. Maybe I am drinking too many craft ciders, but my latest flavors taste murky. I'm drinking a super dry from May and it is awesome-but the second Cherry batch tastes mucky. The first batch I dropped fresh cherry juice in and it was the best batch yet-but I went to bottle pasturize and blew the lid off the pot in the driveway and lost 6 out of 12 bottles. The first time I bottle pasturized I did it in the house and only lost one but didn't continue after the bottle bomb in the kitchen. Next night was the driveway and the pot lid flew 10 ft in the air-so I am a little gun shy about that. I cold crashed the rest of the batch so there was no more waste/danger, and the next batch I let sit for 2 weeks in the carboy. Not too bad, but doesn't smell as good when you open the bottle and is a bit winey. It never did carbonate in the bottle very much, and I am still sitting on it without having to pasturize. It has a little sparkle but isn't super fizzy. The next batch I let sit in the carboy for a week, and it has been in the bottle for about a week. When I racked it, it tasted great fresh-but in the bottle a week later I poured half out and couldn't finish my glass. It was just funky and dissapointing. I am bottling in 22oz irish death bottles (hubbys fav) and I bleach and rinse them-run them through the dishwasher on rinse at least 3 times and then finish with a full dry cycle for sanitation.
I'm frustrated, because it seems like since I have been taking notes and documenting everything that the taste has gone downhill. Am I oversanitizing? Is it the difference between fresh cherry juice and frozen? And when I am doing regular apple dry it has a "nose" that gets your attention. Do I have some weird bug in my carboys? Am I brewing too long in the carboy and bottle pasturizing is not something for me? I'm such a newbie and really frustrated, and I don't know where to go from here. I am using my cider press this weekend, and I just don't want to ruin the cider I'm gonna squeeze because it is ALOT of work! Thanks for your opinions, advice and expertise. I appreciate.
I'm frustrated, because it seems like since I have been taking notes and documenting everything that the taste has gone downhill. Am I oversanitizing? Is it the difference between fresh cherry juice and frozen? And when I am doing regular apple dry it has a "nose" that gets your attention. Do I have some weird bug in my carboys? Am I brewing too long in the carboy and bottle pasturizing is not something for me? I'm such a newbie and really frustrated, and I don't know where to go from here. I am using my cider press this weekend, and I just don't want to ruin the cider I'm gonna squeeze because it is ALOT of work! Thanks for your opinions, advice and expertise. I appreciate.