Tasted great...when it was fresh.

So I made a batch of cider(4 gallons) before christmas, and bottled it on christmas. It tasted pretty good the first day or two and tasted absolutely great the following week or so. BUT, I opened a bottle today and tried some and it tasted pretty bad. I don't know what could have possibly happened. They were bottled with about an inch of head space in the final bottles, corked and all.

Heres some things i noticed,
Cleared a fair amount.
Small amount of sediment at bottom(normal right)
kept in cool basement(60 degrees)
It tasted "harsh" like acidy maybe.
Its really hard to describe but it just tastes very different than the first week after bottling. Its suppose to get better with age, so i am confused. Maybe its in its awkward teen phase right now:cross: I don't know.

Help me out?

Recipe.
Sourgels fresh pressed Cider from the farm. no preservatives. Pasturized.
4 Pounds white domino sugar
Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212
Flat- no carbonation

It is about 9.5% ABV


Fermented for about a week in primary. a few days in secondary after camden tablets and clearing agent were added.

Mjcodd said:

Maybe its in its awkward teen phase right now

Fermented for about a week in primary. a few days in secondary

Click to expand...

It sounds like it's less than a month old. I'd say it's still in the terrible two's.

haha so just let it ride? whats the terrible twos?

Is it a vinegar sort of taste? I had a batch of cider turn to almost vinegar once, still drank it but had to add 2 tsp of sugar per bottle to be able to stomach it

i don't know if id call it a vinegar taste. its not salty like a vinegar would be. it just.... has a acidy bite sort of. but for the sake of argument. can you describe what it tasted like for you when it went to vinegar.

bump

If your cider is only a month, or so old, give it time.
Like a year!

I have tasted my ciders along the way and they change flavor as they age for sure.
As long as it isn't turning into vinegar, I wouldn't be overly worried at this point.

Just curious why you bottled so quick?
I always wait 1 full year before I bottle anything.

Mulled Hard Cider is one of my favorites!!

Does it taste and smell a bit like nail-polish? Acetaldehyde often gets produced when the corking process is a bit rough and too much air gets dissolved in the cider.

well, I think it was just a bad timing on that bottle i tried. and yes even after a few days it does taste a little different. and it was a batch i made for christmas. more or less a rushed batch. dumb. i know. but I would like to know more about the corking thing and how it could affect the taste. thats interesting. although it doesn't taste like nail polish.

thanks for all the replies guys.

Mitch

I'll probably get beaten up for saying this, but in my opinion there's really two difference types of ciders discussed on this forum and somehow they get interchanged quite often. (Obviously there are a myriad of different styles but I think they can basically be put into two categories)

There is lower ABV "session" type cider and then there's the higher ABV "wine" type ciders. If you add a lot of extra fermentable sugars, you are more likely going to have to let it age a lot longer to balance out the higher alcohol.

I think by adding a lot of extra sugar (4 lbs) you've essentially create an apple wine, not something that can be consumed in month or so. It's going to have to age a few more months. You can make cider that can be consumed in as little as a month, but it's basically adding yeast to plain juice.

I don't know if the difference is pointed out often enough. Neither one is better than the other, it's just that the final product takes a different amount to mature.

See... We really need more info than it tasted great fresh and it doesn't now...

The specific flavors/smells will tell us what sort of problem you have....

If you want to know what Vinegar vinegar is like... open up a bottle of vinegar and give it a sniff.... The scent is really pretty distinctive...

Another one is sweaty socks that is classic of a Brett infection...

But.. If it just tastes bitter and a bit soapy or Hot or has a nail polish remover sort of essence to it - it just needs to sit a while longer... It will age out just fine....

My experience with ciders is that the stronger they are - the longer they take to age out... 9.5% is probably within the realm of 6 months to a year....

Thanks