Hi Everyone,
I have been reading the forums a lot lately and decided to try my hand at some cider. Here is what I did.
12/28/12 pitch yeast
1 gal Whole foods cider
1/2 cup old orchard apple cherry concentrate
1/4 cup corn sugar
Fermentis safale s-04 yeast
OG 1.065
Cold crash 1/4/13
FG 1.020
Bottled 1/6/13
FG 1.020
All bottles had 3/4 tsp cane sugar added for priming.
Bottle priming at a
10:30pm 1/6/13
Stovetop pasteurized at 10pm 1/14-13. Heated pot to 165 and added 3 bottles. Left in pot for 12 minutes. Water temp upon removal was 150.
Half the batch had 1 tsp malic acid added to half gallon (equivalent to 2 tsp per gallon).
So I tasted two bottles today, one with malic acid and one without. I couldnt taste any difference between the one with malic acid and one without which was a little surprising to me, I tasted the malic acid in plain apple juice and could discern the tartness easily. Let me mention I am brewing these because my GF really likes hard cider, trying to make something like Angry Orchard Crisp, so a sweet, sparkling apple cider.
I dont have much experience in tasting wine and beer so dont have the vocabulary to describe what I am tasting so I will try my best. They both smeel decent, I ca detect a hint of apple but the alcohol smell is very overwhelming, it smells much stronger than the abv would lead you to believe. The taste is similar to rubbing alcohol, a hint of apple flavor if you swish arounf but the alcohol is the first and last thing you taste for sure. I tried to overpower the alcohol taste by adding some stevia artificial sweetener to a little glass of the cider and it didn't make a dent and this cider is already very sweet.
Im am guessing the response will be to let it age longer, which I will before I try another bottle. Its only a gallon so not many bottles left, how long before I should try another bottle to notice a difference. I want to use this as a learning experience.
If I want a more "appley" tasting cider is it better to ferment dry with a lower SG and back-sweeten vs stopping fermentation early? Any advice is appreciated.
I have been reading the forums a lot lately and decided to try my hand at some cider. Here is what I did.
12/28/12 pitch yeast
1 gal Whole foods cider
1/2 cup old orchard apple cherry concentrate
1/4 cup corn sugar
Fermentis safale s-04 yeast
OG 1.065
Cold crash 1/4/13
FG 1.020
Bottled 1/6/13
FG 1.020
All bottles had 3/4 tsp cane sugar added for priming.
Bottle priming at a
10:30pm 1/6/13
Stovetop pasteurized at 10pm 1/14-13. Heated pot to 165 and added 3 bottles. Left in pot for 12 minutes. Water temp upon removal was 150.
Half the batch had 1 tsp malic acid added to half gallon (equivalent to 2 tsp per gallon).
So I tasted two bottles today, one with malic acid and one without. I couldnt taste any difference between the one with malic acid and one without which was a little surprising to me, I tasted the malic acid in plain apple juice and could discern the tartness easily. Let me mention I am brewing these because my GF really likes hard cider, trying to make something like Angry Orchard Crisp, so a sweet, sparkling apple cider.
I dont have much experience in tasting wine and beer so dont have the vocabulary to describe what I am tasting so I will try my best. They both smeel decent, I ca detect a hint of apple but the alcohol smell is very overwhelming, it smells much stronger than the abv would lead you to believe. The taste is similar to rubbing alcohol, a hint of apple flavor if you swish arounf but the alcohol is the first and last thing you taste for sure. I tried to overpower the alcohol taste by adding some stevia artificial sweetener to a little glass of the cider and it didn't make a dent and this cider is already very sweet.
Im am guessing the response will be to let it age longer, which I will before I try another bottle. Its only a gallon so not many bottles left, how long before I should try another bottle to notice a difference. I want to use this as a learning experience.
If I want a more "appley" tasting cider is it better to ferment dry with a lower SG and back-sweeten vs stopping fermentation early? Any advice is appreciated.