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BullFrog

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Canton, GA
So - I found myself at an orchard in Ellijay, GA a two weeks ago. I spontaneously decided to buy 5 gallons of unpasteurized cider. Having never made a cider before I asked the guy at the orchard how it was done and he recommended unscrewing the cap every few days and letting the wild yeast do it's thing. Instead of this, I sanitized a 5 gallon glass carboy, dumped in the cider and added champagne yeast.

The obvious problem is that only now, two weeks later, am I reading on how to make cider... backwards I know :)

I added no sugar or spices and simply have a straight up cider with the yeast. It has been in the primary for two weeks and has cleared a lot but is a bit hazy. It started out a nice rich orange/brown and is now the color of slightly hazy white wine. I did not take an OG, but it is at 1.008 two weeks later.

It is a bit tasteless. Is this the champagne yeast or lack of aging?

Should I do anything at this point or just put it in a keg?

Thanks in advance!
 
You can call it "done" if you want, but it doesn't sound like you like it at this point. The champagne yeast tend to chew through all the sugar and leave you with a very dry cider. If that your thing, then cool. If you want it sweet, add some Camden tablets, sweeten to taste and your done. The Camden tabs are to kill the yeasts still in your cider thus preventing them from eating up all the sugar you just added. Basically you need to ask ourself if this is they way you want your cider to taste or if you want something different.
 
Potassium sorbate is an anti microbial preservative, so yes it will kill your yeasties. Not sure if it will produce any off flavors (it's basically a salt) so I would wait for a more definitive answer, or look it up on the interwebz.
 
To boost the taste you could top it off with more cider, straight up apple juice or a can of concentrate.
 
I don't have camden tabs, but I do have potassium sorbate. Same effect?

I haven't used either of those (yet), but from what I've read here is that you should use both when trying to kill of the yeast after primary fermentation. I've heard that they work better in the presence of one another and also less likely to give "off flavors". Someone please correct me if that's innacurate.
 
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