TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Hi, all -
After several false starts and a lot of other little things getting in the way, I finally got to make a 1-gallon batch of cider late last year.
I kept it very, very basic, simply using a gallon of Musselman's natural apple cider (pasteurized, but with no preservatives) and some Red Star Premier Cuvée yeast.
I fermented for about 4 weeks, then bottled with honey as a priming sugar. It was quite cloudy going into the bottles, but somewhere in there, the cider settled and it was amazingly, beautifully clear after 3 or 4 weeks - absolutely beautiful!
After several weeks of bottle conditioning, I sampled a bottle. It was very light, effervescent and clear, as mentioned above; no over-carbonation issues, but still very bubbly in a refreshing way - the bubbles kept rising after quite a long while in the glass, and never did quit that I can remember. Since it was still quite young, I was expecting a "rhino fart" smell, and it was there, of course.
The rhino farts were was also in the flavour, quite a bit. I wouldn't go as far as to say it tasted bad, because it had an honest, no-frills quality that could actually be appreciated if drinking it chilled on a hot day after doing some work outside. Having said that, it is definitely not what most people would think of, and it is probably not something you would want to serve to friends, family or the preacher visiting for dinner.
I let the cider condition another month or so, and then sampled again. The rhino fart aroma was still there, but not nearly as much. My understanding is that by the time we get well into summer, that smell will be pretty much gone. The flavour, however, was still pretty rhino-ish; it was less, but not as diminished as I expected.
Considering that there was no back-sweetening involved, is this what I should be experiencing? I really can't say that I didn't like it - it was a man's drink, not candy-sweet at all. but there wasn't much actual apple flavour that I could detect, unless it is underneath. All-in-all, it was good enough that I prefer it over a bunch of complicated engineering of the drink.
I started this looking for a farmhouse-style cider with no frills, and my guess is that this is what I got - and I want to fiddle with it as little as possible. But it was my first batch, so any guidance would be appreciated. My first try managed to get me nearly everything I was trying to get, except that actual apple flavour, which might be a myth of false expectation anyway; however, if there is a yeast or other method (such as starting with juice rather than cider) that will help with this, I am certainly all ears.
After several false starts and a lot of other little things getting in the way, I finally got to make a 1-gallon batch of cider late last year.
I kept it very, very basic, simply using a gallon of Musselman's natural apple cider (pasteurized, but with no preservatives) and some Red Star Premier Cuvée yeast.
I fermented for about 4 weeks, then bottled with honey as a priming sugar. It was quite cloudy going into the bottles, but somewhere in there, the cider settled and it was amazingly, beautifully clear after 3 or 4 weeks - absolutely beautiful!
After several weeks of bottle conditioning, I sampled a bottle. It was very light, effervescent and clear, as mentioned above; no over-carbonation issues, but still very bubbly in a refreshing way - the bubbles kept rising after quite a long while in the glass, and never did quit that I can remember. Since it was still quite young, I was expecting a "rhino fart" smell, and it was there, of course.
The rhino farts were was also in the flavour, quite a bit. I wouldn't go as far as to say it tasted bad, because it had an honest, no-frills quality that could actually be appreciated if drinking it chilled on a hot day after doing some work outside. Having said that, it is definitely not what most people would think of, and it is probably not something you would want to serve to friends, family or the preacher visiting for dinner.
I let the cider condition another month or so, and then sampled again. The rhino fart aroma was still there, but not nearly as much. My understanding is that by the time we get well into summer, that smell will be pretty much gone. The flavour, however, was still pretty rhino-ish; it was less, but not as diminished as I expected.
Considering that there was no back-sweetening involved, is this what I should be experiencing? I really can't say that I didn't like it - it was a man's drink, not candy-sweet at all. but there wasn't much actual apple flavour that I could detect, unless it is underneath. All-in-all, it was good enough that I prefer it over a bunch of complicated engineering of the drink.
I started this looking for a farmhouse-style cider with no frills, and my guess is that this is what I got - and I want to fiddle with it as little as possible. But it was my first batch, so any guidance would be appreciated. My first try managed to get me nearly everything I was trying to get, except that actual apple flavour, which might be a myth of false expectation anyway; however, if there is a yeast or other method (such as starting with juice rather than cider) that will help with this, I am certainly all ears.
