First try at a Cider

Decided after my earlier failed attempt at a Stout, that the next thing I wanted to try was a cider. Seemed like a simpler process, and I thought I could learn from the mistakes I made the first time. I bought a few gallons of bottled cider and a bottle of cranberry juice to give it a bit more flavor.

So, I bought the liquid yeast packet (one of those slap-packs) around thanksgiving of last year, and obviously let it sit too long. I didn't realize it had expired before I pitched it in, though, and also forgot to let the cider cool enough first - it was still about 100° when I pitched the yeast. So, that didn't do anything and the next day I bought another slap-pack. It didn't seem to activate properly, though, but I went ahead and pitched it in anyway.

The next day there was some definite activity, some bubbles forming on top and the airlock blurping away. I was feeling a lot better about it all, even though I forgot to take an OG reading. A reading a few days later put the gravity at about 1.010, or about 1% abv if I'm reading this thing right.

A couple weeks have gone by and activity has slowed to nearly nothing, so I tested it again yesterday. The gravity seems to have stayed about the same, and the cider had a really strong vinegary taste to it - completely undrinkable. In an attempt to kick the yeast into production again I boiled up a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and added that to the carboy last night. Bubbling has begun again, but the airlock still only bubbles about once every 60 seconds or so.

So, I'm trying to figure if this batch is salvageable, or if I should just dump it and try again. My hope was that I could add some sweetener to it when I bottle it to make it taste better, but if the yeast is really finished, I'm not sure it would be worth drinking even then. I've read that cider really needs to sit in the bottle for a long time to develop, so I'm wondering if this vinegar period is just part of the process?

A few things to note,

Usually we add some sort of additional sugar to up the alc%. For hard cider I usually add around 3 lbs of cane sugar to a 5gal batch and end up around 5~6%. Secondly if your juice had preservatives it won't ferment very well, if at all.

If you wish to back-sweeten, you need to either stop further fermentation (potassium sorbate), or micro filter the yeast out, or back-sweeten with a non-fermentable sweetener. If you just add more sugar at bottling time the yeast will continue to eat the new sugar and you'll have highly carbonated cider, or worse bottle bombs.

I would highly recommend reading the thread on Ed Worts Apfelwein

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/edworts-apfelwein-33986/

A couple things. with cider as long as its is pasteurized ie you bought it from a store you don't need to boil it. by doing so you will drive off alot of the apple aroma. Second for most ciders use a dry ale yeast with a low flavor profile. I like Nottingham for my ciders it attenuates very well and doesn't have much a yeast flavor to my finished product. I think you may need to review how to do hydrometer calculations. apple juice comes out to be about 1.050 right out of the bottle, so at 1.010 your cider was about 5%. I dont normally advocate dumping a fermented beverage, but I this case I would start over. Get to know your process first before you add things like cranberry and such. My advice get a packet of Nottingham and a gallon of apple juice. pitch the yeast in the juice and affix and air lock wait a 2 weeks and try the finished cider. That way you know what the product is like and if you feel a cranberry addition is needed you can add it next time. Brewing is a science as well as an art. Having a control is very important.

I've had a friend making Hard cider that at first tasted strong of vinegar and they though they had made 5 gallons of Apple cider vinegar. Not the intended goal but relatively useful in its own right. However after a few weeks/months it went away and made a very tasty beverage for them. I'd give it a bit to see how it goes. The extra sugar will add a little end flavor since it was brown sugar and some alcohol. It may need time to clean up and taste right.

I usually let mine sit in the primary for about 2 months. For the first few weeks it deffinately does have a vinegar smell.

Update:

It's been almost a week since my last post, and the cider has completely stopped fermentation. The yeast must have churned through the brown sugar I added, and the SG is now at 1.000 (which I take to mean that I basically added 1% or so ABV to whatever it was at before, right?). It's still completely undrinkable, almost like lemon juice. It doesn't have the same funk to it that my spoiled stout did, though, so I'm still optimistic that it will pull through with just a bit more aging in the carboy.

I'm going to check it again on thursday, and probably add some artificial sweetener to it. Will I need to dissolve that like I did with the brown sugar? Or can I just pour it in?

Just a quick progress report:

Picked up a big bag of Splenda today and pulled 250mL of this cider out of the carboy. A couple quick tests, and a little math, and I managed to mix myself a very drinkable glass of cider! It's even got a nice little kick to it that just sneaks right up on you!

So, I'm going to add about 3 cups of the stuff to my carboy, let it steep for a couple more weeks and then bottle it. This should give me a very tasty batch of nice cold cider just in time for the hot hot summer nights of August.

Thanks for the tips and suggestions, and for encouraging me to not give up on it when this batch was getting seriously sour for a while there!

I make a batch of Cider every September from apple juice I get a local orchard. I can tell you that the batch that I made last year is just starting to come around. It definitely gets better with time.

Quick final post on this:

I added 3c. of powdered splenda (boiled in 1/2 cup of water) to my carboy, let it sit for another week, and then bottled it all up. I drank one bottle's worth while I was doing it and it tasted fantastic! Popped a few bottles into the fridge and it gets better with each bottle. This cider has completely turned around for me, and I'm excited about trying something else really soon. I'm not sure what the alcohol content is in this mix, but each bottle has a definite kick to it! It's all I can do to keep myself from drinking the whole batch right away!