I did a couple different things with two of my most recent batches (in part due to being really busy) and ended up with cider that is more cloudy and buttery than I'm used to. They are part local blended sweet cider and part Whole Foods glass jug juice, champagne yeast, with fermax yeast nutrient. They spent almost two months in primary around 67 degrees and then did a full 5 weeks of cold crashing at 40 deg in the keezer and were never moved or bumped into. I was expecting very clear cider after such a long cold crash but when I transferred to the next keg, it was cloudy enough that you can't see through the pint glass at all, almost but still can't see through. It's my first time using yeast nutrient and I'm guessing the yeast nutrient contributed to the cloudiness. I know I can use some pectic acid to clear it up, but I'd like to understand what happened.
They also taste very buttery, and I'm assuming diacetyl is to blame. I'm conflicted on whether to bring them up to 75 deg for a few days for a diacetyl rest. I'm not sure if that will let the remaining yeast clean up the batch or if the culprit is naturally occurring LAB. If there's LAB, then I'm afraid the diacetyl will only get worse by raising the temp. This one is outside my paygrade, can any of you seasoned pros chime in?
They also taste very buttery, and I'm assuming diacetyl is to blame. I'm conflicted on whether to bring them up to 75 deg for a few days for a diacetyl rest. I'm not sure if that will let the remaining yeast clean up the batch or if the culprit is naturally occurring LAB. If there's LAB, then I'm afraid the diacetyl will only get worse by raising the temp. This one is outside my paygrade, can any of you seasoned pros chime in?
Last edited:
Perhaps using yeast nutrient contributed to a healthy culture that couldn't be hampered by 5 weeks at 40 degrees... I'm going to pull them out of the keezer and bring them up to the second floor (around 72 degrees) and burp the kegs once or twice a day to see how much fermentation is happening.
