What Happend To My Cider - Too Tart/Sour?

So I made a Saison at the end of the summer and after transferring the beer to secondary I decided to dump 5 gallons of fresh cider from a local orchard on top of the yeast cake/hops to see what happens.

It's about 1-2 months later and I just transferred the cider to another carboy.

The OG was about 1.060, FG is exactly 1.000, wicked dry. The other thing is it has a really tart/sour taste going on. Maybe sour isn't the best way to describe it so much as incredibly tart.

There's a lot of weird flavors going on that I'm really not into it, not enough apple aroma/taste (probably because it fermented so dry). What I did is add another gallon of fresh cider to the fermented cider after transferring it.

Will this add some more apple flavor to my cider? Will it help it taste less dry, or are the yeast going to go to work again and I'll end up with more of the same cider? How would you rescue this one?

Cheers

I'm kinda new to cider but from every thing I read.......you gotta be patient and let cider age to be good. Personally I'd stick it back in the corner til the end of next summer. When you get it back out if it still tastes tart you can backsweeten with apple concentrate or sugar. I've read many times that the apple flavor comes back after aging.

No surprise that the gravity is at 1.000 - many will go even lower. Unlike beer, all the sugars in apple juice/cider are fermentable, so the yeast, left to their own devices, will ferment them all, leaving you with no residuals and a very dry cider.

And like roadymi said, you should also plan on aging the cider before it is ready to drink - like a year or so.

yep... That's what happens when it runs completely dry....

Letting it sit a while will help it mellow out.... It will get a much "Smoother" and mellower taste as it ages -- it usually takes a few months....

But.. If you don't like the flavor of totally dry cider (And many don't...)... you will need to stabilize and back sweeten it...

Thanks

I had a mixed berry drink that turned out very tart. With age it mellowed.

truckjohn said:

yep... That's what happens when it runs completely dry....

Letting it sit a while will help it mellow out.... It will get a much "Smoother" and mellower taste as it ages -- it usually takes a few months....

But.. If you don't like the flavor of totally dry cider (And many don't...)... you will need to stabilize and back sweeten it...

Thanks

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So what do you back sweeten with.... a sugar or fruit? I have a pear cider that I am concerned will be too tart for my wife as the FG is supposed to finish at 1.004. it's a Brewers Best kit...everything I have read says add apple juice concentrate after cold crash but I don't want to overpower any pear flavors?

Every year I make a lot of both pear cider 5%ABV and sparkling pear cuvée 11%ABV. I back sweeten with Erythritol. You'll need a minimum 150 grams per uk gallon (4.5 Litres). Erythritol is about 80% the strength of normal sugar. If you want it more sweet then just add an extra 50 grams...maybe more - dependent upon your tastes.

venatorscribe said:

I back sweeten with Erythritol. You'll need a minimum 150 grams per uk gallon (4.5 Litres). Erythritol is about 80% the strength of normal sugar. If you want it more sweet then just add an extra 50 grams...maybe more - dependent upon your tastes.

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I've heard about Erythritol, but after reading about reported side effects I decided not to try it.
Supposedly 50 grams/per day can lead to side affects like diarrhea and headaches.
If 150 g is used in 4.5 L, you'd be hitting the 50 gram threshold after drinking 1.5 L,
which would be pretty easy to do in a serious drinking session.
Anyone out there experienced any side effects using Erythritol?
I usually mix up 1.5L batches of fermented cider with frozen apple juice concentrate (about 175ml) to back sweeten, keep it cold and drink it within a week so it doesn't start fermenting.

I've done a few test batches with erythritol so far, but I haven't hit the 50-gram mark. I just put 45 grams into a 1-liter batch that I'm planning to "test" this Friday. It tastes fine, FWIW.

Just tested the one-liter batch with 45g erithrytol. It had an added 50g of white sugar. The waitress really liked it, and drank most of it. I asked her if her stomach was OK, even went as far as to ask about diarrhea, and she said she was fine. She asked if she could keep the rest of the bottle.

ebbelwoi said:

Just tested the one-liter batch with 45g erithrytol. It had an added 50g of white sugar. The waitress really liked it, and drank most of it. I asked her if her stomach was OK, even went as far as to ask about diarrhea, and she said she was fine. She asked if she could keep the rest of the bottle.

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LMAO!!!!

I am also new to brewing and plan on making vinegar, as acidic as it can be. I am using orange peels to ferment for about a week and this is what formed: