Greetings from NC

[sandycove777]

Looking for discussions on mead and cider fermenting. New to fermenting other than sour dough. I've seen some recipes online but the nuances of judging by taste and smell of the fermention have me stumped. Thanks ahead for any directions to find answers.

 

[JohnSand]

Welcome aboard!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Welcome to the forums!

You should be able to find some help here, loads of postings on mead and ciders.

Don't get discouraged by some articles, we all go through some growing pains trying to learn something new.

 

[wallyLOZ]

Welcome from Missouri!

As @OakIslandBrewery eluded, there are forums dedicated to cider and mead.

Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[sandycove777]

My first forum, so I hope I'm replying in thr right place.
Here's my situation. My first ever brewing is a black cherry apple cider using juices only. I qt cherry 3 qt apple. Ascorbic acid was the only other ingredient in the juice. Followed a YouTuber recipe. 1/2 packet SafAle so4, peptic enzyme, fermaid, ferment o.
My OG SG was lower than theirs so I added a 1/4 cup honey and brought it up to SG 1.054. Put on the air lock. Few days later I feed it a little yeast nutrient and swirled a little. After 8 days the bubbles were very slow. Checked SG 1.006. The smell was very strong of yeast and the taste was very cheap wine. Racked it to 2nd fermenting. My question is about the strong yeast smell, nothing unpleasant or off, and is cheap wine flavor the same as 'gone dry'? I don't like dry wines but slightly sweet like pick Moscatos.
Thanks for your replies.

 

[Christa Lindblad]

My first forum, so I hope I'm replying in thr right place.
Here's my situation. My first ever brewing is a black cherry apple cider using juices only. I qt cherry 3 qt apple. Ascorbic acid was the only other ingredient in the juice. Followed a YouTuber recipe. 1/2 packet SafAle so4, peptic enzyme, fermaid, ferment o.
My OG SG was lower than theirs so I added a 1/4 cup honey and brought it up to SG 1.054. Put on the air lock. Few days later I feed it a little yeast nutrient and swirled a little. After 8 days the bubbles were very slow. Checked SG 1.006. The smell was very strong of yeast and the taste was very cheap wine. Racked it to 2nd fermenting. My question is about the strong yeast smell, nothing unpleasant or off, and is cheap wine flavor the same as 'gone dry'? I don't like dry wines but slightly sweet like pick Moscatos.
Thanks for your replies.

Hi! so, we personally don't use SafAle anymore. We have used it before, and couldn't figure out the weird yeasty smell and weren't a fan of how it fermented. For ciders (or cysers since you added honey), we use the same kinda of yeast that we use for our meads/wines. We go with Red Star or Lalvin brands. Depending on what we want to try for tolerance-wise and what goes best with what kinds of fruit/wine, etc.

1.006 is VERY close to dry as you probably know 1.000 is considered dry. We've had some of our brews go down to .992! That was SO DRY. You can backsweeten with a nonfermentable sugar, OR pasteurize your brew so it kills the yeast, and add some whole fruits in secondary, like some black cherries or something if you want a stronger fruit flavor profile.

As for the yeast smell, time may be of the essence with that. Or, if you pasteurize and wait a few days for everything to settle, you can rack it again and hope it helps at least a little. I also personally feel like adding both fermaid and fermaid o may be an issue as well. We use 1 tsp fermax and 1 tsp of nutritional yeast as our nutrients and add them at the time of creating our must on day 1. Pectic enzyme is added if we are making something that needs it also. (I'm not an expert when it comes to the fermaid and fermaid o comment, it just seems like it would be one or the other in my mind ).

I'm not sure if my comment helps at all, I know it's long winded lol

 

[sandycove777]

Hi! so, we personally don't use SafAle anymore. We have used it before, and couldn't figure out the weird yeasty smell and weren't a fan of how it fermented. For ciders (or cysers since you added honey), we use the same kinda of yeast that we use for our meads/wines. We go with Red Star or Lalvin brands. Depending on what we want to try for tolerance-wise and what goes best with what kinds of fruit/wine, etc.

1.006 is VERY close to dry as you probably know 1.000 is considered dry. We've had some of our brews go down to .992! That was SO DRY. You can backsweeten with a nonfermentable sugar, OR pasteurize your brew so it kills the yeast, and add some whole fruits in secondary, like some black cherries or something if you want a stronger fruit flavor profile.

As for the yeast smell, time may be of the essence with that. Or, if you pasteurize and wait a few days for everything to settle, you can rack it again and hope it helps at least a little. I also personally feel like adding both fermaid and fermaid o may be an issue as well. We use 1 tsp fermax and 1 tsp of nutritional yeast as our nutrients and add them at the time of creating our must on day 1. Pectic enzyme is added if we are making something that needs it also. (I'm not an expert when it comes to the fermaid and fermaid o comment, it just seems like it would be one or the other in my mind ).

I'm not sure if my comment helps at all, I know it's long winded lol

Thanks so much. I was thinking it might be the yeast was the wrong choice. I was going for a low ABV. I also started a traditional mead at the same time using a Lalvin yeast. I will practice my new stills on the cyber and not be too worried if it goes wrong =)