Cider smells like Cat Pee

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Bryan19836

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*officially it's cider, from experience I'd describe it as cat pee.

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to homebrew my own cider, and batch #1 was just.AWFUL

I used No Name brand apple juice. No preservatives, just pure juice. Couldn't tell you what kind of apples.

I used Lalvin EC-1118 yeast (two packages for 5 gallons, because I suck)

So here's the whole story:

I poured my juice into a 5 gallon bucket, added some yeast, and closed it so the only apparent opening was my fermentation airlock. After a few days of no bubbles, I assumed I'd killed the yeast by not re-hydrating it. As such I prepped more yeast and dumped it in. Upon peeking in after adding the second batch of yeast I noticed a thick froth on the top of the mixture. Apparently fermentation was happening, but my bucket didn't have a perfect seal, so I assume the CO2 was escaping from the seams of my bucket. After sealing the bucket with saran wrap, plumbers vinyl tape and duct tape, the seal was complete. For real this time, because the airlock started bubbling happily.

After the bubbles stopped (~2 weeks), I transferred into a carboy for secondary fermentation. There was maybe 2 inches of air between the meniscus and the vapour lock. From here I let my mix settle so the cloudiness went away, then I started bottling.

My end product had a specific gravity of 1.004, and an alcohol content of 5.25%

I cleaned everything beforehand, I swear.

So why does my cider smell like cat pee, and taste watery?!?
 
Bryan-

Yuck! That sucks, man. Without a doubt, you have something funky going on. My first question (bear with me) is did a cat in fact pee in your brew? Hey, it could happen. The only reason I ask is because it is the most obvious cause. Cat pee is not an off-flavor that I am aware of. The closest I can recall to your situation would be what is called a Phenolic flavor like that of a Band-Aid smell. It can also be described as a plastic or rubber glove-type smell/taste. It is common when wild yeast gets in to your brew (like you said, you may not have had the best seal initially) or the sanitation process was not done properly. The watery attribute you describe is common when soap residue is present on the inside of the fermentation bucket.

Your yeast should be fine for the process. Lalvin EC-1118 yeast is good up to 18% ABV and is vibrant in a large temperature range (50°F to 80°F or 10°C to 26°C). One package is more than enough.

Give me some more info:
How did you sanitize?
What type of Juice specifically; was it in a frozen can or a jug?
How did you store your yeast packet before you used it?
What temp did you ferment at and what type of room was it?

Worst case, we just try again. When you write back, I will send you a recipe I love that is super easy and inexpensive, too.

I look forward to hearing back from you,
-Ritalin
 
It wasn't a good cat pee smell, was it?

Don't pour it out, give it a month in the bottles and try it again. EC-1118 is a "killer" yeast, so 2 packets of that should have overwhelmed anything wild that got in there.
 
Lots of folks in the thread about EdWort's Apfelwein talk about the "Rhino Farts" smell that comes during fermentation.

Any chance you're still fermenting? Getting bottle bombs? If the sulfur from the fermenting apples is building up in the bottles you'd be sure to smell it when you opened one.
 
Aging helps quite a bit.

Two month minimum. Better at six.

You might have done better with 71B-1122.
I find it requires less aging for good flavor.
It seems to pass it's peak flavor faster though.

All the Best,
D. White
 
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