Beginner Cyser

[dogpak]

After scrolling thru several forums, this seems to be the most appropriate one...

I've been making grape wine for several years, but last year got a crazy notion to try apple. I had a pint of wild honey that was too thick for any purpose, so I decided to throw that in too. I added sugar and followed the usual wine making path and the result was about 2 gallons of the most wonderful stuff I have ever tasted.
The trick now, was to reproduce it on a larger scale.

Last fall, I juiced up a couple of bushels of apples and added about 3/4 gal of honey from a local producer. Until recently, everything seemed to be on track for producing a good product. At first racking, the alcohol content was strong enough to produce a very nice flush in the cheeks and warming of the chest.

Recently, I noticed the egg white ropiness in one of the smaller bottles. (I have a 5 gal carboy, a 1 gal jug, and then 1 wine bottle, which is where the ropiness existed) I strained the offending bottle of wine, and heated it to boil. Just to cover my butt, I racked everything adding 1 Campden tab per gal plus a couple extra for good measure.
The batch tastes overall OK, however the alcohol has greatly diminished.
It's way too sweet for my liking.

That's the history, now here's the questions.

1. did I take sufficient action to save the product from the slime? or am I looking at future problems?

2. should I repitch yeast (like maybe champagne yeast) and restart fermentation to lower the sweetness and increase the alcohol?

I appreciate any help you can give!

 

[phug]

I've heard that ropiness eventually clears.

 

[DaMonkey]

That's the history, now here's the questions.

1. did I take sufficient action to save the product from the slime? or am I looking at future problems?

2. should I repitch yeast (like maybe champagne yeast) and restart fermentation to lower the sweetness and increase the alcohol?

I appreciate any help you can give!

1. The slime in the bottle just requires you to rack it to a clean container. I forgot what it is but its not an infection. I think you really only need to worry about infection on the surface where there is a lot of oxygen. Btw I would never boil honey/mead or cider.

2. What yeast did you originally use? What was the Starting Gravity and what is it now? You added 9 lbs of honey so that is probably 1.120 SG assuming the cider was 1.04. The majority of wine yeast will ferment out all the sugar without an issue up to 14% ABV some are higher like EC-1118. But yours seems to be hitting near 16% ABV.

Mead needs nutrients did you add any into your Cyser?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Last fall, I juiced up a couple of bushels of apples and added about 3/4 gal of honey from a local producer. Until recently, everything seemed to be on track for producing a good product. At first racking, the alcohol content was strong enough to produce a very nice flush in the cheeks and warming of the chest.

Recently, I noticed the egg white ropiness in one of the smaller bottles. (I have a 5 gal carboy, a 1 gal jug, and then 1 wine bottle, which is where the ropiness existed) I strained the offending bottle of wine, and heated it to boil. Just to cover my butt, I racked everything adding 1 Campden tab per gal plus a couple extra for good measure.
The batch tastes overall OK, however the alcohol has greatly diminished.
It's way too sweet for my liking.

That's the history, now here's the questions.

1. did I take sufficient action to save the product from the slime? or am I looking at future problems?

2. should I repitch yeast (like maybe champagne yeast) and restart fermentation to lower the sweetness and increase the alcohol?

I appreciate any help you can give!

That "Ropiness" is similar to egg whites? If so, sounds like a lactic bacteria infection. Here's what Jack Keller has to say on the subject:

Oiliness or Ropiness: The wine develops an oily look with rope- like treads or strings appearing within it. It pours slowly and thickly with a consistency similar to egg whites, but neither its smell nor taste are effected. The culprit is a lactic acid bacterium and is only fatal to the wine if left untreated. Pour the wine into an open container with greater volume than required. Use an egg whip to beat the wine into a frothiness. Add two crushed Campden tablets per gallon of wine and stir these in with the egg whip. Cover with a sterile cloth and stir the wine every hour or so for about four hours. Return it to a sterile secondary and fit the airlock. After two days, run the wine through a wine filter and return it to another sterile secondary. Again, this problem, like most, can be prevented by pre-treating the must with Campden and sterilizing your equipment scrupulously."

I had this problem with a plum melomel once, I followed Keller's instructions & it saved the batch; turned out to be very tasty. Boiling will likely have killed the bacteria, but it would also vaporize some, if not all the remaining alcohol, thus ruining the wine. Also, the rest of your containers may be infected; especially if you used the same racking equipment after racking the infected stuff. Usually, bacteria hitch a ride on the fruit and/or in the juice; I think I'd treat the remaining containers of juice/must for infection, then proceed from there. It's your choice though.

Just an fyi: Here's the filter I bought to save my infected melomel:
http://www.store.homebrew4less.com/...r-Plate-Filter-Head_Hoses/productinfo/CB6657/

Of course you'll need the filter pads, I used 1 micron size, which should also filter out yeast.

And the pump:
http://www.store.homebrew4less.com/TB-Pump-Tank-Assembly-Only/productinfo/CB6656/

On the up side, after you save a batch, you can use the filter setup instead of finings for all your wines if you like. Not trying to sell you anything, just telling what I did. Good luck.
Regards, GF.

 

[dogpak]

I only boiled the wine bottle that had the slime. The 5 gal carboy and gallon jug didn't have it, so I just hit those with the campden tablets. I had stolen out of the wine bottle, so I'm suspicious that was when/how it got contaminated, plus it allowed too much air space.
I had read that apple wine didn't need nutrients, so I hadn't added any. Didn't use it last year.
I did come back after a couple of days and reintroduce champagne yeast.
The flavor seemed fine when I racked, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will finish well.

 

[DaMonkey]

I had read that apple wine didn't need nutrients, so I hadn't added any. Didn't use it last year.

Apple Cider doesn't need nutrients but I still use them.

Mead does need nutrients.