bottle aging?

[j8715]

Hi. . .

Ok I brewed this (one case):

2.5 gallons of cider
2lb of dark brown sugar
1 package of Lalvin 71B (wine yeast)

for 3 weeks. Tasted it. WOW, strong. Lots of alcohol.

So following the rest of directions, added:

~1/4 lb lactose (didn't have a scale)
3/8 cup white sugar (guy at the brewing store said I didn't need corn sugar for cider, was this good advice?)

And bottled and left them sit for 10 days. First few bottles tasted a bit too sweet for me. After a while longer in the bottles (a week or two) I thought they were pretty good. Now we are at about 6 weeks in the bottle and they already seem a bit acrid. Not sure of the right word to describe the taste. Harsh? Anyway, my question is, is this normal? Do they just have a short shelf life? Did I do something wrong? I've heard they get better when age, but this seems to have gotten better, then worse? They were in the dark basement with a temperature around 65-70 degrees.

 

[donjonson]

I have never brewed a cider and have only brewed one beer but it sounds to me like the yeast may still be slowly eating the rest of the sugar. What level is the carbination in the bottles? is it very high? If so I bet that is what is happening.

 

[j8715]

I was thinking that might be the case. I think its average carbonation but when it went into the bottles it was clean and clear. . . now there is stuff at the bottom of the few bottles left. Dead yeast like at the bottom of a wheat beer plus... something. Cider leaves a big pile of nasty looking crap at the bottom of the bucket. So yeah the yeast are still working i think.

not sure if its getting more alcohol because i ordered what i thought i needed to measure SG but what i got is some sort of tube??