first brew done and gone, 2nd started and want 3rd to do better

[becon776]

o.k. so I brewed 10 gallons of cider, no hydrometer at the time in plastic water carboys that I stole (borrowed from work. fresh pressed pasteurized cider from a local mill, 2 lbs white sugar and one pound light brown split between them. Red star pasteur yeast. Ferment aromas were nice, lots of lees, racked to secondary... and whoa!! holy no apple taste and STRONG! wound up losing my wallet, my keys hahahaha... (found em on the lawn from when I tried to ride my bike which I had no business doing). Tasted DRY DRY and NOT "APPLe ey"
back sweetened with half a can of fresh apple juice per gallon (also to prime) and 1/2 tblsn per gallon of xylitol.

2nd batch same thing only apples are now late harvest, same mill. Used 1lb white 1lb DARK brown per 5 gallon car boy. red star pasteur yeast. Hydro reads 15%. yey more that I will have to resweeten and toy with the end product. fun for the friends. oh yeah, I'm 6 days in primary and both started with rhino farts... one has faded the other still reeks.

I am feeling like i am over the initial excitement that I actually can make stuff.... in my basement... that will cause inebriation. Now I would like to make something nice. That belongs in a beer bottle that will have a final abv of around 6-7 %. That still tastes like apples or whatever spice. and that I don't have to add back flavoring and too much back sweetening to.

I got an empty brew bucket staring at me.
recipe?
and more importantly what yeast makes the cider that I am trying for. I understand that it's ALL about the yeast. and I need one that shuts off sooner as opposed to the champagne that makes chablis seem sweet.

sorry for the long winded thread.

 

[becon776]

when I was younger I used to drink hornsby's that came in a RED bottle and i thought that was crazy good with an excellent mouthfeel and still potent enough to make you happy. maybe a touch a very slight touch less sweet than that.

 

[moorhead1976]

1. Maybe stop adding that much sugar up front. That kicks up the alcohol content and could contribute to the detracting taste.
2. What are your fermentation temps? The lower the better for not getting off flavors (just make sure the yeast you use can handle the lower temp).
3. If you don't care about carbonation, consider cold crashing your cider to stop the fermentation early. CvilleKevin has an EXTENSIVE string on this and yeast types. If you do cold crash, then adding sugar upfront will help you achieve your % alcohol, while keeping it sweeter.
4. If you haven't let your first batch age, then you are doing yourself an injustice. Cider is more like wine in the sense it needs to age. The general rule of thumb I have heard is 3 months for 5% and an additional month for each % above 5.

I fermented one batch with champagne yeast. My ferm temps were in the low 60s. I let it go to dry. My final alcohol content is presumed to be around 9.3%. It has flavors of sour apple, a little spice (I used 1 gallon of spiced cider to 4 gallons apple juice), and what I would call a champagne flavor. Again, I plan to let this age until July. I will likely open a bottle every once in a while just to check on the flavor.

I have 6 - 1 gallon batches going right now, using 3 different yeasts.

Have fun!

 

[CampFireWine]

Did you degas throughly BTW to bring the flavor back?

 

[Calder]

Straight apple juice with no added sugar will give you something in the 6.5% range.

I've just started with cider. I have 6 1-gallon batches going with different yeasts, and two gallons in the bottle. Apart from tasting at racking and bottling, I have not drunk any yet, the first will be at Christmas and that will probably be young. My tastings have had some apple flavor, more than expected from reading other comments on forums, and some sweetness despite fermenting down to 0.998. I suspect ale yeast (which is what I am using) may be gentler on the apple taste than wine yeast. I like dry wine and champagne, so I'm just going for it dry, and not messing with backsweetening.

 

[becon776]

I do like carbonation.... my ferment temp is between 60-66. Don't know about degassing I will search it out. But I did leave in in primary for five weeks, and secondary for three.

Was thinkin that this red star champagne yeast has such a high alcohol tolerance that it just leaves my cider dry dry and little apple flavor. And that if I used another yeast that petered out sooner I would be left with more sugar and more apple flavor and front sweetening with better quality fermentables e.g. honey, brown sugar or malts and less of them.

 

[CampFireWine]

I don't think your yeast ate your apple flavor. They like sugar. If it is over acidic from the gas buildup, the flavors will be detected as a tartness and not as a sweetness. The flavor is still there, just not being detected (tasted) the same way.


Here is a trick. Take a glass of it and poor it into another glass and then back and forth a few minutes and then let it sit for 5 minutes. Taste it and see how different it is. That should tell. I used to have a 1/2 drank and week old wine in the fridge taste better then a fresh one and it took me a while to figure out what it was. It was degassing it's self after opening.

 

[becon776]

Well I have two bottles left that are left from the first batch. Plan having them for xmas so should have a better idea of how aging affects it.

 

[becon776]

Drank.one of.the bottles last night. Perfect nice carbonation.. good taste.

Today im going and filling my spare brew bucket. Switching from red star champagne to nottingham yeast. Different cider mill. They do uv sterilization, I don't think the mill I've been using been using does a good job with their heat process.

I see alot of people on here use nottingham. What would everyone suggest as far as fermentables for primary with this yeast, im ready to start playing with different flavors. What is the alcohol tolerance of this yeast?