Why does my Hard Cider taste like wine when I used Ale yeast?

Hey guys,

So a few weeks back I went apple picking at a local orchard and found out that they sold unpasturized cider. So I bought 2 gallons and I went to my local brew store and got an airlock and Nottingham ale yeast (I read from the forums that it produced a cider that still maintained some of the sweetness of the apples).

So After letting the 2 gallons ferment and letting it sit for a week to settle out, I bottled it. When I tasted the cider while I was bottling it, it tasted like a dry white wine. I did an experiment, where I did half a case as still cider and the other half I primed, to get some carbonation.

A week went by, and I tried one of the still ciders just to see how it was developing as this was my first time, and the wine taste was still there. I tried another one a week after that and it was still wine like.

So I decided to just get 5 more gallons and I started it up again with another pack of Nottingham yeast. I have been doing some reading on the forums and I have been doing reading about racking and/or cold crushing after about 10 days to leave some of the sugar in there.

I wasn't sure if anyone could help me out or provide some direction on how to get the cider a bit more sweeter than the last batch of wine like cider I made.

Thanks

I know Nottingham will ferment out to around 10%, even though many sources claim its lower.

If you bump up the SG a little, and are able to cold crash it once you get to the sweetness level you want, then that will leave you a sweeter cider but I dont think you can bottle carb it after that. If you're kegging then you're fine.

If you want a still cider, just keep adding sugar along the course of fermentation and you will eventually reach a point where the yeast die of alcohol poisoning and you will be left with a sweeter cider. It may take a while to mellow out, though, and not taste like hooch.

Another alternative is Graff, which can be found in the cider section of the recipes. It uses some crystal malt which contributes non-fermentable sugars to the cider and has a bit more body than plain juice and yeast ciders.

Hope this helps!

Ale yeasts are easier to stop with residual sugar, but dont stop of their own accord. They will ferment dry if you let them. If you are kegging, you can cold crash and force carbonate. For bottle carbonating a sweet cider, bottle pasteurization is the most reliable method.

Because cider is a wine. It is supposed to taste like a dry white wine.

Thanks for your feedback guys. I have read that adding alcohol sugar will make it sweet because its un-fermentable sugar. So if I wanted a sweet carbonated cider without kegging it, is there a way to get that or am I doomed to a dry wineish cider?

let it sit- my experience is that the longer it sits the better the flavors meld and soften... the last cider I made was bone dry- hardly a wisp or residual sweetness- it was harsh and not that good until I gave up on it for a year- and then it was like a wonderful champagne... I always jump the gun- with beer or cider- the best bet for me is to bury it is deep in the garage fridge and forget about it for a long, long time and then discover something special down the road...

just to agree with everyone else.... as cvillekevin says, try the bottle pasteurization method. just don't be lazy with checking the carb level- it works well if you are cautious but can be dangerous if you aren't. as highbeam says, it's wine! and as roymullins says, if you can stash some of it away you really will be surprised in a year. or even in a few months

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback. I just tried one of the bottles that I back sweetened for bottle carbing and it was really good, just a little fizzy, but I'll probably pasturize them at the end of the week.

What I did for the back carbing was for a 5 gallon batch:
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
2 tbsp. of cinnamon

It really came out well. The honey gave it a light crisp taste, and I can taste the molasses in the brown sugar. And the cinnamon added a nice note.

Thanks guys for helping me save my cider!