bad aftertaste?

[cider_erp]

I've some ed's apfelwine (montrechet) from commercial pasteurized glass bottle cider crashed at 1.05 and some local unpasteurized plastic jug cider allowed to ferment to 1.15 with natural yeast.

Both ciders were fermented in 80 degree ambient temp. The apfelwine was aged for 3 weeks in bottles, but was not handled properly during racking and bottling and probably suffered oxidation. I believe the local cider was handled to reduce oxidation, but has been racked twice (still sitting in secondary).

Both have an initial pleasing "tip of the tongue" flavor, which turns a bit yeasty and then hits with a thick aftertaste that has a yeasty feel, but doesn't actually taste much like yeast. Such that the initial reaction of my testers was, "[sip]Hey, this is actually pretty goo - oh. yea, that's not good"

Obviously I know now to try fermenting closer to 60 deg. and be more careful handling, but thought I'd see if anyone has had experience and could state definitively that this sort of off flavor is a temperature issue rather than something else I need to address. Even though the natural yeast might do some funny things at 80, I would have thought Montrechet would have done better, but it actually has a stronger flavor. I've read that oxidation imparts a "sherry" flavor, but I've never had sherry to know the flavor, so could that be the issue?

 

[gregbathurst]

It's hard to diagnose a fault with such a vague description. Oxidation is often acetaldehyde, sherry is one description but it is also kind of like nail polish remover (acetone). Other common faults are vinegar, caused by oxygen with acetobacter, and band aid flavour, often caused by fermentation of residual sugar by nasty bugs. 80 degrees isn't too bad, stable temperature is more important, cooling followed by warming can cause problems.

 

[cider_erp]

After some consideration (and some tostitos) I have decided the off flavor is exactly "corn chip burp" flavor. Quite possibly could also be described as "soggy cornflakes"

Not sure that helps narrow it down.

I will bottle a remaining cider shortly that is still in primary, so should hopefully reduce any flaws from bad handling.

 

[gregbathurst]

It may be a slight oxidation or infection or nothing at all, only time will tell, some flavours improve with time, a few get worse.

 

[jcobbs]

Give it some time--I just bottled up a couple of batches that were fermented earlier in the year, and started out OK, then developed some strong tastes that I thought were going to ruin them, and now have mellowed back out till they're tasting very nice. The higher the ABV the longer it will take.

 

[warispeace]

3 weeks is way too young for apfelwein. Try it again at 3 months.

 

[cider_erp]

Just wanted to update. The apfelwine has lost much of the off flavor, though it's still quite harsh.

What prompted the update, though, was a bottle of "Samuel Smith's Organic Cider" which has the same foul flavor as my apfelwine, which was brewed from Whole Food's Organic Apple Juice.

The more I sample it , the more the unpleasant flavor seems to be whatever characteristic I find in wines that makes me dislike them as a category. I'm thinking perhaps it's a characteristic of the yeast..

Just as a measure of my palette, I like scrumpy even though it's too sweet, and magners even though it's too dry (not that you notice after 2 or 3).

 

[emr454]

Maybe try a clean fermenting yeast like Nottingham in your next batch. My latest batch of straight juice cider turned out great using Nottingham. The Montrachet made my first batch taste like hooch!

Eric

 

[Pappers_]

Maybe try a clean fermenting yeast like Nottingham in your next batch. My latest batch of straight juice cider turned out great using Nottingham. The Montrachet made my first batch taste like hooch!

Eric

+1 If you want to make a dry-ish english style sparkling cider, its easy and an ale yeast like Nottingham works great. If you want to see my keep-it-simple method, follow this link http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Apple-Cider.html

 

[Pappers_]

What prompted the update, though, was a bottle of "Samuel Smith's Organic Cider" which has the same foul flavor as my apfelwine, which was brewed from Whole Food's Organic Apple Juice.

The more I sample it , the more the unpleasant flavor seems to be whatever characteristic I find in wines that makes me dislike them as a category. I'm thinking perhaps it's a characteristic of the yeast..

If you don't like wine, my suggestion is not to make apple wine. Rather, aim for a light, refreshing sparkling cider.