Foul bitter taste.

Hey everyone,

Today we were preparing to bottle our cider and it had this terrible taste. It was a foul bitter background/after taste. We never used campden (sp?) tablets because we have always made stuff without them and never noticed a real detriment to the taste. Do you think this could be the cause? Wild yeast? I used real, fresh apple cider with no preservatives, unpasteurized.

The thought that maybe we got some yeast in there and I was tasting that crossed my mind but I have tasted yeast in wine and beer before and I don't find it that unpleasant (certainly not the foul taste in this stuff).

Do you think it could have been too old? We started brewing on Thanksgiving so it has been close to a month.

Possibly a temperature problem? It might have been bit warmer than it should have been. Like 70 degrees I think.

We have never been very careful and always brew our stuff imperfectly with no foul tastes or anything so I didn't expect any major problems. I figured these factors might lead to a less than perfect batch but I never expected the undrinkable stuff that we got.

We ended up dumping the batch it was so bad.

Anyone have any ideas on what it might have been?

John

Did you not use a wine or ale yeast? If so, you more than likely had some naturally occuring nasties in there that fouled your batch. The age and temperatures you mentioned certainly would not have made that batch bad.

- GL63

I believe it was a wine yeast but it might have been a champagne yeast. I had purchased some more appropriate cider yeast but I left it at my place (I had come back home for Thanksgiving and we were making the cider together) so we used a packet we had which I think was a wine yeast.

We definitely did use a purchased yeast though so it really shouldn't have been bad tasting.

We didn't use campden tablets though so that could have been it. We didn't use them because I couldn't find any place that said how long you had to let it sit before you could pitch the real yeast.

I had a similar thing happen with 5 gallons of my cider. I used a Wyest Cider smack pack, and I think somewhere along the line, it got contaminated. It tasted fine about a month in (a little thin and insipid, but fine). I added some apple juice concentrate, and the next time I tasted it, it had a very bitter, acrid taste at the back of my tongue. I am continuing to let it sit, but I fear it is becoming vinegar. Sorry yours didn't work out either. Make EdWort's Apfelwein, that turned out great.

I've had the same results with Ed's Apfelwein...3 times...3 yeasts. Sorry, Ed...not your fault.

Just like Kolsch...I am NEVER going to attempt to make another batch...