Goodbye MO2, it's been fun...

[DaveC73]

Two to three years ago, I used to make glorious cider using nothing but store bought apple cider and MO2. Aged 3 months in secondary and six months in the bottle resulted in smooth, savoury cider, bettter than most of the commercially available stuff.

Then last year something changed. MO2 was always prone to producing sulfur smells, I just had to baby it a little. Keep the temperature cool (around 64F) and feed it about 1 tsp of yeast nutrient per gallon (in this case DAP) in two 50% additions and we were set. No longer! Now, no matter what I do, adjust the temperature, increase/decrease the nutrient, change the type of nutrient or whatever, everything I make with MO2 is now a sulfury stink bomb.

Age it out you say? That's what I tried. Two months, three months, six months and on and the cider still stinks. It's not a subtle sulfur smell, it full on sulfur stinks. Weekly degassing with a whip for two months straight almost, ALMOST, gets rid of the smell, but you can still smell/taste it when drinking it.

So farewell MO2, we have some good memories...

 

[CrusherCider]

Have you tried treating the cider with a sanitized copper pipe? I’m sure a more experienced member can explain the science, but it has worked wonders for me.

In my early stages I was experiencing a lot of sulfur with US-04. I bought a cheap 100% copper pipe at Lowe’s, boiled and sanitized with Star San, then gently stirred for about two minutes. The copper absorbs the sulfur and does not add any additional taste.

 

[DaveC73]

Yes, I'm aware of using copper to remove some sulfur compounds and the chemistry behind it. You have to be careful using copper as it is actually toxic and not all of it precipitates out after you've removed your sulfur smell.

To me, using copper instead of not producing the sulfur in the first place is akin to embracing failure. I'd rather make good cider right from the get-go than have to treat it afterwards (in the case of M02 this would mean copper treating my cider every single time). Hence my "letting go" of M02.

Going to try some other yeasts, most of which I've used before but haven't in a while. D-47, K1-V1116, Nottingham, etc. I'm in this for fun, experimentation and, of course, cider. I don't mind messing around if I end up making a repeatably good cider.

Cheers!

 

[zosimus]

Yes, I'm aware of using copper to remove some sulfur compounds and the chemistry behind it. You have to be careful using copper as it is actually toxic and not all of it precipitates out after you've removed your sulfur smell.

To me, using copper instead of not producing the sulfur in the first place is akin to embracing failure. I'd rather make good cider right from the get-go than have to treat it afterwards (in the case of M02 this would mean copper treating my cider every single time). Hence my "letting go" of M02.

Going to try some other yeasts, most of which I've used before but haven't in a while. D-47, K1-V1116, Nottingham, etc. I'm in this for fun, experimentation and, of course, cider. I don't mind messing around if I end up making a repeatably good cider.

Cheers!

What's MOP if you don't mind me asking? I'm new to cider making and going the store bought method. Currently using Red Star Cuvee and it's producing the sulfur smells

 

[DaveC73]

What's MOP if you don't mind me asking? I'm new to cider making and going the store bought method. Currently using Red Star Cuvee and it's producing the sulfur smells

Going to assume you mean M02, not MOP.

M02 is Mangrove Jack's cider yeast. I've made both my best and worst ciders with it. So it's good, but finnicky.