I used to make cider casually decades ago. It was cloudy and yeasty, but fun to drink.
Being all grown up now, I picked, ground and squeezed a variety of apples last Fall (2012), then loaded up a 5-gal carboy and fermented it with a store-bought yeast. After fermentation had stopped, I racked it a couple of times, yielding the clearest cider I ever made. After that I racked it into gallon jugs (plastic juice bottles) and put it on a garage shelf.
But about then, I started having health problems, and was unable to care for the cider.
When I finally tasted it, about a month ago, it was not pleasant-- kind of brackish and bitter. I tried simply dissolving some brown sugar in it, and even bottled a few bottles like that, kind of hoping for either a sweeter cider or possibly some carbonation.
The resulting stuff tastes sweet, but the underlying bitterness comes through a lot. The taste is not sour, like vinegar; more like kerosene.
Is there likely any way to save these 2-4 gallons of hard work and apples? This years crop is kind of small, and I am not strong enough to pick or do the cleaning, grinding and squeezing yet, anyhow.
Sorry if these questions have been asked and answered already. I looked, but didnt find anything.
Thanks for any help.
Being all grown up now, I picked, ground and squeezed a variety of apples last Fall (2012), then loaded up a 5-gal carboy and fermented it with a store-bought yeast. After fermentation had stopped, I racked it a couple of times, yielding the clearest cider I ever made. After that I racked it into gallon jugs (plastic juice bottles) and put it on a garage shelf.
But about then, I started having health problems, and was unable to care for the cider.
When I finally tasted it, about a month ago, it was not pleasant-- kind of brackish and bitter. I tried simply dissolving some brown sugar in it, and even bottled a few bottles like that, kind of hoping for either a sweeter cider or possibly some carbonation.
The resulting stuff tastes sweet, but the underlying bitterness comes through a lot. The taste is not sour, like vinegar; more like kerosene.
Is there likely any way to save these 2-4 gallons of hard work and apples? This years crop is kind of small, and I am not strong enough to pick or do the cleaning, grinding and squeezing yet, anyhow.
Sorry if these questions have been asked and answered already. I looked, but didnt find anything.
Thanks for any help.