Strange yucky cyser aftertaste

First batch of cyser has been bottle conditioning in my basement since mid december. All of the sediment has settled and it is nearly clear with a color like that of a white zinfandel wine.

The aftertaste is super yeasty and very pungent. It doesnt have any off odors. I thought it might be autolysis, since it sat in the primary for nearly three months before fermenting out to dryness.

Any clues as to what may have caused this off taste or if it may fade or disappear with more bottle conditioning? I plan on tasting it again in late june.

so its bottle conditioning but full of sediment?

sounds like you needed a bulk secondary to drop that stuff out, then bottle it afterwards.

If you give us the details of the recipe and process, folks may be able to give more input.

Edited- My apologies, apparently the forums don't like my tables; they aren't easy to read


I'm having similar issues, myself- on 2 batches.

Here's the info:

Honey's Brown Sugar Cyser

Ingredients:
42.3 oz Clover Honey
11 oz Light Brown Sugar
1.75 gal Apple Juice
Pectic enzyme
Yeast energizer
Lalvin 71-B 1122 (5 grams) 14% abv tolerance

Heated the honey and cider and stirred til the honey was dissolved. Added brown sugar to hit desired gravity (was aiming for potential alcohol of around 18% as this was for my old lady and she likes cloyingly sweet booze).

Fermentation was fairly rapid, it was pretty much done in 10 days.
After 2 weeks in primary, was racked, taste-tested, back sweetened with honey/brown sugar syrup, and let sit for a week in the cold. I added isinglass as an afterthought, let it sit in the cold again for a week. Dropped crystal clear pretty quick. Moved it inside to a carboy, and was encouraged to let it bottle age... so after another week in the carboy, I bottled.
Noticed a fairly strong yeast flavor, but it might have been because I was tasting cyser/wine/mead that had been really close to the lees.

Date 2/26/11 2/27/11 2/28/11 3/2/11 3/13/11
Temp Unknown 23ºC 22ºC 21.5ºC 20ºC
SG Unknown 1.125 1.068 1.048 1.004
SG Corrected Unknown 1.126 1.069 1.049 1.0049
ABV 0.00% X 7.80+X% 10.40+X% 16.10+X%


Second batch:

My First Mead

Ingredients:
6 LB Honey
2 Gal Mineral Water
1 Pack Lalvin 71B 1122
2.5 LB Dextrose (simple syrup)
5 Floz Grape Juice - didn't have energizer, was encouraged to use "something... ANYTHING" to help the poor little yeasties...

Made must... racked when fermentation stopped. Added isinglass, cold-crashed, waited 2 weeks. Noticed deposits of sediment, brought the carboy inside, thinking I'd be bottling soon. Can't tell if it's dropped totally clear, as it's an amber color. Certainly, I can see objects through it.
Waited another week, little improvement. Waited another week. Still very little, if any, improvement. Racked, out of fear of the yeast flavor. Had a taste-test. Flavor's thin, slightly sweet, and yeasty. Pretty strong, too. I might infuse it with fruit, if I can get rid of that yeast flavor.

Date 2/16/11 2/22/11 2/24/11 2/25/11 2/26/11 2/27/11 2/28/11
Temp 38.5ºC 65ºF 22ºC 70ºF 19ºC 21ºC 21ºC
SG 1.082 1.03 1.02 1.024 1.02 1.014 1.0126
SG Corrected 1.088 1.0304 1.021 1.025 1.0207 1.0151 1.0137
ABV 0% 7.70% 8.80% 10.30% 10.90% 11.60% 13.10%
Added Dextrose 8 oz 1 LB 1 LB
Temp 22ºC 21ºC
New SG 1.034 1.024
New SG Corrected 1.035 1.0251


FINAL GRAVITY: 1.002, abv: ~16%

Annubis, these batches of yours aren't carbonated correct? I ask because 71B can cause a lot of funky/off flavors if mead is left on the lees and I wouldn't choose it for a batch that I wanted to bottle condition.

It sounds like your batches are just yeasty because they are young. Let them have a few months and most yeasty flavors will probably fade. However, as they fade, they may drop some sediment. The strong alcohol tends to fade as well - fermenting cooler will prevent much of that from developing in the future (like 18C).

Medsen

They are still meads (at least, that's what I'm aiming for).

By bottle conditioning, you mean naturally carbonating? Or do you mean bottle age to mellow?

To that end, if you mean the latter, I suppose if I'm to age any wine/mead where I use 71B, I should keep it in the carboy and rack it whenever I see sediment?

Also... sorry about the quasi-hijacking. I wonder if this thread could be re-titled and stuck in a "My mead tastes funky! WHY??" section?

Thanks for your response, Medsen

MedsenFey said:

Annubis, these batches of yours aren't carbonated correct? I ask because 71B can cause a lot of funky/off flavors if mead is left on the lees and I wouldn't choose it for a batch that I wanted to bottle condition.

It sounds like your batches are just yeasty because they are young. Let them have a few months and most yeasty flavors will probably fade. However, as they fade, they may drop some sediment. The strong alcohol tends to fade as well - fermenting cooler will prevent much of that from developing in the future (like 18C).

Medsen

Click to expand...

What do you think about D-47. Is it just as bad as 71b as far as the funky/off flavors?

Roger

D47 is actually quite good for lees aging (if you like lees aging - not a big fan myself) and it is and excellent yeast. 71B is also an excellent yeast, I just make more effort to keep it from sitting on the lees.

Annubis, I was referring to bottle carbonation, and for that I wouldn't pick 71B (though some folks use it with success).