Clear Vs. Cloudy Cider

Is there any real difference in taste between a cider that is clear, and a cider that is cloudy still? I don't care much about ascetics so if I don't need to have a cider that is clear, I don't see the point. Besides, of course, the fact that clear cider looks pretty.

Thanks, Rob

Well, clear means you don't have a lot of yeast still floating around changing the taste, etc. Is it critical, no. But it shows patience.
I have no problem with drinking a cloudy cider as long as it's ready to be drunk, and it taste really good.
Otherwise I need to be drunk and not care.

It kind of depends. Some fresh/unfiltered juice you can buy in the store is cloudy. I'm pretty sure its pectins set from the pasteurization process. Whole Foods organic juice comes to mind. I recently made cider with that juice and forgot to add pectic enzyme. Even after it was in the kegerator for a month (meaning all of the yeast had dropped) it was still cloudy. At that point, there is really nothing you can do. Especially if you keg like I do.

If you are drinking yeasty cider, it would probably be better to let it sit a little longer to drop the yeast out.

Yep -- big difference between Yeasty and Cloudy from pectin, starch, or whatever else stays in it...

Now -- if you started with Clear pasturized Box-store juice and you have yeast haze... Let it sit a while (A month or 2).... It will usually clear.

If you started with a really cloudy fresh/raw cider -- it may never clear because of all the stuff already in it....

Apples have a bunch of starch and other stuff in them that doesn't ferment particularly well.... Industrial juicing operations use a whole cocktail of enzymes to break down that stuff so the juice will be crystal clear (They also get better juice yields and higher sugar levels this way).... but if you press your own or buy fresh Fruit stand pressed cider -- it won't clear particularly well....

Pectic enzyme and some of the other enzymes (Alpha and Beta amalyse, Alpha galactosidase) could help with getting rid of starches in raw/fresh pressed cider.... I guess if you really want to go crazy you could fine it when you are done too...

I guess the caution there is loosing all the flavor, body, and mouthfeel of a good cider -- those enzymes can eat up every bit of starch and un-fermentable... and you could end up with Bud-Light Cider.....

I guess my questions is... Does it bother you?

Thanks

Well, I started with 100% juice from wholefoods. Not the concentrate stuff, the lovely 1 ingredient stuff. And if you poured this stuff in a shot glass, you still wouldn't be able to see through it. We will just have to wait and see what happens with it.

P.S. I came home today to find that one of my bottles, the cork had popped straight out! Nothing got wet, and it didn't fall over, it just shot out the cork and sat there all smug like.

I personally prefer a clear cider over a yeast-cloud cider...

Also, you should shove them in the fridge if you have space. A few days in there and you'll be able to read a newspaper through it.

What was the final sg? sounds like you might have bottled it when it was still fermenting. How much priming sugar? You might want to think about chilling these or otherwise protecting your bottles

Did you intend a still cider, or are you trying to carbonate. If you want to carbonate, wine bottles with corks won't cut it. If you want still, you may not have degassed properly. If there was CO2 still in suspension from fermentation, warmer temps will cause it come out of solution and pop the corks.

If you used the Whole Foods juice, you can bet on cloudy cider unless you use pectic enzyme. Like I said in my first post, even a few weeks at kegerator temps didn't clear it for me. I've had Hefeweizens clear in the kegerator in that time

Right -- DON'T USE WINE BOTTLES if you have or might have something carbonated -- they aren't made for holding pressure....

What you need in that case is either Champagne bottles with appropriate corks and wire cages.... or Beer bottles with pry-off tops.... Both of these are made to hold the considerable pressure that carbonated beverages can produce.

You would think -- Gosh, that wine bottle glass is quite a bit thicker than that cheap Beer bottle glass... Surely it must be able to hold more pressure.... but it just isn't so.

On the whole foods cider -- I did use Pectic enzyme.... Mine came out mostly clear, but not crystal-perfect clear... More like wheat beer clear.

Thanks

John

My experience is that 9 times out of 10, even pasteurized juice will clear with cold crashing if you add 4-6 oz of honey per gallon before pitching the yeast. Otherwise pasteurized juice usually doesn’t get real clear after cold crashing, but clear enough. S04 and Notty are usually good for getting clear on the crash. YMMV.

As far as the taste, I dont think it matters much. Might even be better. One of the best tasting batches I made this last season was the only one that didnt clear. I dont know why. It tasted great and the sg did not drop after the cold crash.

I have no idea what the SG was, I don't have anything to measure that with, and I only put priming sugar in the 2 bottles that have the attached ceramic corks. One was a beer bottle, and the other was root beer. Everything else is in ginger beer bottles. So they should hold.

As Cloudy as it was, it was delicious. Just so all of you know