Second batch of cider has a white grapefruit bitter aftertaste

My first batch of cider turned out sour, barely drinkable. It was made with random apples from the market. It was a good experience and I learned lots.

I had a lot more control over my second batch. I made it with one 50 lb box of McIntosh, 2 60 lb boxes of Jona Gold and 2 60 lb boxes of Golden Delicious.

My intention was to bottle pasteurize the cider but I let it ferment to dry. So I added enough dextrose to bring the specific gravity back up to 1.015 to sweeten and bottle carbonate it. That worked well enough.

The cider tastes amazing except that it has a slightly bitter aftertaste that reminds me of white grapefruit. Any ideas how to avoid that?

I am thinking that this year I might try 20% Jona Gold and the rest Golden Delicious. I think that the sweetness is bang on. I also want to look into what is involved in forced carbonation as bottle carbonation is a little risky and takes a lot of time.

David

Fermented MacIntosh can be a little bitter, I found that out with a pure Mac juice cyser. I ended up drinking most of it hot, with a bit of brown sugar & cinnamon added; it went down really smooth. You could try adding a spoon of sugar to it when you drink it, or mix it with Sprite or 7up. Next time you might want to cut back on the Mac content of your juice.
Regards, GF.

Is it possible that letting all of the apple seeds go through the garbage disposal could have added a bitter taste to my cider?