One year old cider still too tart/sour. Dump?

[srbelow]

Last Fall I made a hard cider with pasteurized, preservative free apple cider and Nottingham yeast; no other ingredients were used. I tried one three months after bottling and it was very sour, almost like Warheads candy sour. I opened one every other month after that and they all have remained the same. Should I throw in the towel and dump this batch? Could I make a drinkable apple jack with this?

 

[d0nni]

have you tried taking a sample and back sweetening it to see how it turns out?

 

[srbelow]

No I haven't tried to back sweeten. I think I'll give this a try but I was mainly wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

 

[skadalajara]

Try a malo-lactic fermentation to remove some of the acid?
Also, how long did you let it sit on the gross lees? And how long did you bulk age prior to bottling?
Maybe this time try a different brand of apple juice to see if it was the juice blend that was the culprit.

 

[ICWiener]

I've done that a few times. Wine yeast pulls the cider down to 1.000 and it comes out tasting super dry and sour. Next time look into backsweetening.

As for this batch, if it's already in the bottle, you can always make a simple syrup. Crack a bottle, toss in half a shot of syrup and you've got sweetened cider.

Is it ideal? No, but you'll be able to drink it, and your next batch will hopefully be better!