Viscosity to high

So, I bottled my first batch of cider this last weekend. Or is it technically applewine? Overall it's mediocre.

I did not own a hydrometer with the right gravity range to determine what the actual abv was. However, it was fairly boozy.

The basic recipe was 2 quarts simple syrup to 6 quarts apple juice. I was using distillers yeast, and I did use a yeast nutrient and a yeast starter. 10 grams of dry yeast and 2 tablespoons yeast nutrient in a 2 galon batch. This is high as I was aiming for a fairly high abv. The spice was 1 tablespoon of garam masala.

I pulled this batch after 5 days at peak fermentation, tasting a sample put the sweetness at about the right level.

Issues:

1: The apple taste index was low. I addressed this with 1 teaspoon of salt in the 2 galon batch. This was a little aggressive, I'll probably use 1/2 that next time. Or, 1/4 teaspoons per galon. The overall effect was to nearly double the perceived apple flavor, there was a very slight taste of salt in the brew.

2: The spice blend shifted from what I had expected after sitting in the primary with the yeast and alcohol. It ended up on the heavy side. So, I added 2 cups of lemon juice. This cut a lot of the unwanted flavor from the spice blend. It is also more refreshing this way.

3. The viscosity of the cider was to high. It was actually fairly thick. The only solution I could think of was to dilute the mix with water. This worked or course, though the resulting cider doesn't have much flavor. I'm really not happy with this solution.

What I'm wondering is, is there another way to drop the viscosity of the finished cider? I did not use pectin enzyme. I know pectin is used to thicken jam, is that what was wrong with the finished brew?

I guess I was just being to impatient. After letting the modified brew sit in bottles for a few days it has improved almost out of all recognition. There is still a slightly odd taste from the spice blend. Other then that, I'm fairly happy with it now.

I've heard bad stuff about seasoning in primary. If your spices can be consumed by yeast they will, and that will change how they taste. I would also probably avoid salt; most people seem to use apple juice concentrate to increase apple flavor, but you can also buy apple flavor extract from your brewing store. A little dab'll do you. I like the sound of garam masala cider; you could try making a sachet for the spices from cheesecloth and boiling it in some fresh cider, then adding that at bottling.

For the thickness- eventually the BIG particles will settle out of your cider. If you don't use enzyme it will remain cloudy, but it sounds like yours had a lot of solid additives, those will eventually drop. You can correct a lot of flavor problems and chunkiness by racking off the settled cider for a second ferment, or just a short stay in another container. Part of the reason may also be overfeeding- the yeast nutrient I use recommends only 1/2 tsp per gallon, and I'll still be lowering that because my first batch foamed up double time and had a pretty notiecable fusel alcohol taste. It seems like slow and steady wins the race.

Hmm, I don't think the viscosity was from overfeeding. I've done other things with that much yeast nutrient and it didn't thicken like that.

I do think leaving the spices in the primary was a bad idea. I also think the garam masala is a little off the flavor wagon that I'm looking for. Did a little reading and found out that garam masala that's sold commercial frequently contains things like garlic, ground chili peppers, tumeric, and mustard seed. Garlic especially is notorious for being a slow extractor.

I'll mix my own spices and make more of a tea with the apple juice and spices next time. I have some tea bags for loose tea that should work nicely.

It doesn't bother me if the cider stays cloudy after it's done fermenting. I just don't want to have to chew it. I shouldn't need to if I'm a bit more patient next time.

Just mixed up my second batch of cider. The spice blend is 1 tsp cloves and 1 tbs cinnamon in a tea bag. Boiled that in some of the apple juice for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the tea bag sprung a leak when I was taking it out. About 1/2 of the spices ended up in the juice. The smell was that milder apple pie cinnamon smell at the end of the boil.

OG is 1.098, I added sugar until I was close to 1.1. Since my starter was the same apple juice at 1.11 and it was 2 quarts the real OG should be as close to 1.1 as makes no nevermind. Total batch volume is about 3 1/2 gallons. Shooting for about 10% abv. I backed the yeast nutrient off too. I pitched 3 1/2 tsp's into the batch, just like the package says.

what is simple syrup?

Sugar and water that has been heated until the sugar is fully disolved.

Oh man this thread has me wanting to start a chai spice cider now, I've got a chai mead in secondary, but a nice sweet chai cider would hit the spot, I could even see this warmed up in the wintertime and be quite delicious! I think I would make a strong chai tea from scratch probably 5 black tea bags, 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 cloves and a tablespoon of fennel seed oh and a green cardamom pod crushed, and make it a strong brew on the stove and add to the apple juice. I think I may even add some vanilla bean to secondary in this and back sweeten. I'll add to the make list hahaha!

Now that sounds delicious.

I'm pretty sure my cider is done fermenting now. The yeast went crazy on this one. I broke my hydrometer and the new one hasn't arrived yet so I can't be totally sure it's done.

After I cold crash and pasteurize, I may add a can or two of apple juice concentrate. All I can taste in the sampe is yeast, alcohol, and the underlying bitterness of the apple. No sugar at all. In fact, it tastes a lot like a good beer. I could move this to secondary and add the frozen peaches I was going to use as a mead flavoring. I'm open to other suggestions. I wasn't really trying to make a beerish cider.

I've moved to secondary, and am degassing now. I'll let things settle out completely before making and flavor additions.

In case anyone is interested, FG was measured at 0.98 on 09-07-12. That makes abv 16%. On 09-11-12 I added 6.48 lbs of frozen green summer apples to wort. These have been cleaned, sliced, destemmed, cored, and steamed until slightly soft. I can't remember when, but I added 2tsp of pectin enzyme at some point.

I have decided against back sweetening, this is shaping up to be a very nice dry cider.

The apples have started to liquefy... I didn't know they would do that. Maybe it's the pectin enzyme? I'll probably strain out what's left of them tomorrow. Then I'll play with mixing this dry cider with some overly sweet ginger ale I've also got laying around.

Leadgolem said:

I guess I was just being to impatient. After letting the modified brew sit in bottles for a few days it has improved almost out of all recognition. There is still a slightly odd taste from the spice blend. Other then that, I'm fairly happy with it now.

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I was amazed at the transformation from one day to the next with my cider. I was lucky enough to have JUST completed my kegerator so I could sample it everyday and everyday it just got better. Kicked it before it ever reached it's peak! LOL. Has the viscosity changed at all over time?

mhuntwork said:

I was amazed at the transformation from one day to the next with my cider. I was lucky enough to have JUST completed my kegerator so I could sample it everyday and everyday it just got better. Kicked it before it ever reached it's peak! LOL. Has the viscosity changed at all over time?

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Not noticeably. The additional water and lemon juice in that first batch would probably mask any change anyway.