Did I screw up my cider?

I made a batch of apple wine and a batch of hard cider in September. The wine turned out great and is now aging. The cider, on the other hand, didn't turn out so great. The recipe I used for the cider is below:
-6 gallons of fresh pressed cider.
-White labs 'English Cider Yeast'
-Juice from 1 Lemon
-1/2 gallon of water with 6 cups of dissolved sugar (used cane sugar)


My brew notes are as follows:
9-20 - pitched yeast - SG 1.062
10-07 - 1.040
10-17 - 1.021
11-3 - FG - 1.008 - added campden tablets and sulfite to stabilize
11-6 - Bottled

While I bottled I sampled some of the cider and it tasted fine. I sampled one of the bottles last week and it didn't taste very good. In fact I tried some of the wine I made from the same batch of fresh cider and it was fine. The initial taste of the cider is ok, however there is a distinct very bitter aftertaste. The main difference in the process with the cider was that I didn't rack during fermentation. Let me know what you think.

I'm curious to know the current gravity. It should be 1.008 still.

Yes..it is still 1.008

Do you have pH test strips? I would guess that the pH is out of whack due to the lemon.

I don't have any, but can pick some up. Do you know where the ph should be?

I'm sorry, I don't. I'm more of a mead/wine guy, but your problem sounds similar to pH problems in mead.

If it tasted fine at bottling but now tastes bitter, it makes me think it could either be

1. the bitterness added by carbonation or
2. an infection.

Are either of these possible?

jaxn said:

If it tasted fine at bottling but now tastes bitter, it makes me think it could either be

1. the bitterness added by carbonation or
2. an infection.

Are either of these possible?

Click to expand...

I suppose that an infection could have been possible. I actually threw out some of the bottles before using them because there was some bacteria in the bottom. I stabilized the yeast before bottling, so the cider is still.

Does anyone see an issue with keeping the cider on the yeast for 2+ month's? I have done this with beer before without any impact to the flavor.