First Cider

[BrauHund]

I made a Pear Cider using a Brewer's Best Cider House Select Kit. The Cider has been fermenting since 15 February.

The Kit instructions say to check Gravity on the 6th day, which is today. Original Gravity was 1.041 on 15 February and today the Gravity is 1.010.

The Kit instructions say that the Gravity should be 1.009 or lower and that you should let the Cider continue to ferment until it drops to 1.009 or below. Then, wait to bottle until the Gravity readings are stable for two days in a row.

Everything seems fine up to this point except for the smell of the Cider. It has a slightly yeasty and sulphur like smell. Is this normal and will it go away?

How much longer should I let this Cider continue to ferment? The Kit instructions say that it should ferment for 1 week.

Thanks in advance for any help and insight.

 

[ErickJ]

No, You're stuck with it. The local brew shop owner warned me about it right away, he told me to pop the cap and blow in the bottle to try to get rid of the fart smell. That is just the way these kits are made. Go do an amazon search, people all complain of "Rhino farts". From what I gather, the kit cider lacks yeast nutrients, basically the yeast is stressing out and is creating the smell, but the kit is made to be simple. So they don't add all the extra stuff you'll learn about later.

So, I'm now making my own cider with plenty of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer.
It's so simple, I had no idea.
7 bottles of cheap store brand apple juice, and 3 tubes of frozen apple juice concentrate, got me an OG of 1.059. I pitched campaign yeast. In the recipe forum there's plenty of pear recipes.

From what I read on this forum that a happy yeast puts off pleasant smells, a stressed yeast puts off bad smells. Go look at the recipe forum, I'll never buy an overpriced kit again.

Also the sweetener pack is kind of nasty, it's artificial sweetener and it leaves that aftertaste in your mouth. If you don't mind a diet pop, you'll probably not mind the taste. I don't.

My bottles from my brewers best cider kit are almost done carbonating, I'll put them in the fridge soon. BTW, I'm enjoying a bottle right now! The smell is okay at best, the taste is great.

I'll also add this... The instructions say to go out and buy those carbonation drops or conditioning tablets, don't. From what other members on this forum told me to do is to use 3/4 cup of normal white cane sugar(the stuff you use in tea or coffee), boiled in two cups of water, add directly into the bottling bucket and gently mixed in. It's a ton faster than using the individual drops in every bottle, just hit the entire batch at once, then bottle / cap.

I made a Pear Cider using a Brewer's Best Cider House Select Kit. The Cider has been fermenting since 15 February.

The Kit instructions say to check Gravity on the 6th day, which is today. Original Gravity was 1.041 on 15 February and today the Gravity is 1.010.

The Kit instructions say that the Gravity should be 1.009 or lower and that you should let the Cider continue to ferment until it drops to 1.009 or below. Then, wait to bottle until the Gravity readings are stable for two days in a row.

Everything seems fine up to this point except for the smell of the Cider. It has a slightly yeasty and sulphur like smell. Is this normal and will it go away?

How much longer should I let this Cider continue to ferment? The Kit instructions say that it should ferment for 1 week.

Thanks in advance for any help and insight.

 

[BrauHund]

Man, who let the Rhinos get into my cider? I didn't know that Rhinos would be involved in the fermentation process!

In all seriousness, this is a shame, not exactly what I was hoping for or expecting from my first cider making attempt. I made this cider for my wife. She helped me draw the sample last night for gravity testing. As soon as she smelled the sulphur, she said that she didn't think that she could drink it.

I read the information on the yeast packet and it said that a yeast nutrient was added to the yeast packet. Apparently, there's not enough yeast nutrient.

In wine making, wine is degassed by mechanically aerating the wine. Could the cider be aerated after racking into the bottling bucket without adversely affecting the cider?

 

[ErickJ]

I read that as well. I did the same thing. Every thing I read said that cider will suffer from too much headspace and the aeration may cause problems. I'm sure a cider expert will correct us soon enough. I'm still very new to this and learning.

I gave a bottle to my parents, they refused to drink it after they smelled it. My girlfriend loves it.

It cleared nicely after 3 weeks.

 

[bernardsmith]

You can remove some of the sulfur dioxide by a) whipping air into the cider and b) racking your cider into a sanitized secondary carboy or jug. But rather than placing the racking hose deep in the second or target jug, allow the cider to run down the inside wall of the target container. This increases the surface area of the cider exposed to air and that allows the hydrogen sulfide to blow off.
If these two actions do not seem to be effective, go to your local supermarket and look for copper scrubbing wool (no soap). You can siphon (rack) the cider through the copper wool. In this case, the idea is that the sulfur binds to the copper (copper sulfate) and the action produces a little water as a by-product. You don't want to leave the wool in the cider too long, though...
But bottom line - stress results in the yeast producing hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) and one reason that yeast are stressed is that they do not have the nutrients they need. At a low gravity - when most of the sugar has been fermented off - you do not want to add nutrient but for any next batch you can buy DAP or Fermaid O at your LHBS or you can simply boil a small amount of water to which you have added a teaspoon of bread yeast (the cooked dead yeast cells will be cannibalized by the yeast you pitched ) or you can roughly chop a handful of (oil free and preservative free) raisins (grapes being a near perfect source of nutrients for yeast)...

 

[mdennytoo]

You have plenty of time too. A week is too short for a good cider. You have some gravity to finish as well. You could just leave it in the primary for three more weeks. But to get rid of the smell, rack off into a separate clean container that you can stir in and agitate it to blow off some sulfur. Generally you wouldn't want to get any air in a finished cider so that it won't oxidize and give you sherry flavors, but consider whipping up a storm and pitching another pack of wine yeast (other than 71B, it will be killed) It will drop the rest of the gravity and take up the oxygen you introduced in whipping out the sulphur. Next time: 1)yeast nutrient 2)warm temps 70f-80f for most wine yeasts (technical wine/ cider makers use certain varieties up to 90f on purpose)

 

[dmtaylor]

Throw the instructions and most people's advice in the trash. Your cider will turn out just fine.

It just needs time. A whole LOT of time. Patience and time. To do it, to do it, to do it right. Gelatin would also help. You say gravity is at 1.010 right now? Perfect. Now take a half cup of water, microwave for a few minutes until it boils, then add a half teaspoon of unflavored gelatin (I use Knox brand), mix well to dissolve (it takes several minutes to all dissolve), cool and add to your cider. After about 24-48 hours, your cider will be clear as crystal. This removes most of the yeast (but not all). Then rack and refrigerate for another month (or more). Then bottle. Or just drink it straight out of the fermenter, I do that a lot too and then just skip the bottling. Yum. The sulfur disappears in a few weeks even without nutrient.

 

[laredo7mm]

Throw the instructions and most people's advice in the trash. Your cider will turn out just fine.

It just needs time. A whole LOT of time. Patience and time. To do it, to do it, to do it right. Gelatin would also help. You say gravity is at 1.010 right now? Perfect. Now take a half cup of water, microwave for a few minutes until it boils, then add a half teaspoon of unflavored gelatin (I use Knox brand), mix well to dissolve (it takes several minutes to all dissolve), cool and add to your cider. After about 24-48 hours, your cider will be clear as crystal. This removes most of the yeast (but not all). Then rack and refrigerate for another month (or more). Then bottle. Or just drink it straight out of the fermenter, I do that a lot too and then just skip the bottling. Yum. The sulfur disappears in a few weeks even without nutrient.

Aha, right on. I welcome the rhino farts. It lets me know my yeast is stressed and will be easy to stop and leave some residual sweetness. Typically, for me, the sulfur smell is gone a couple days after peak fermentation is done.

I have had a few batches where I really stressed the yeast through trying to ferment too cold and then warming it back up to room temp and the sulfur lingered. I have a batch in the keg right now that stunk to high heaven a few weeks ago, when racking to the keg, and even now still has a faint stink to it when first poured. After a minute in the glass, I can't smell it. I could never taste it.

 

[BrauHund]

Thanks for all of the advice guys! It's greatly appreciated!

When I took another sample for Gravity testing last night, the sulphur smell was noticeably less. It's still there, but not as bad as Sunday night. I don't know if that's because most of the sulphur smell was let out on Sunday night when I opened the bucket for the first time or if it really has decreased.

I tasted the sample last night (drank the whole sample) and it has great flavor. You just have to get past the sulphur smell.

So, I think what I'm going to do is to let the cider ferment longer. The only question is should I leave it in primary or rack to secondary? It's been in primary now for 8 days now.

 

[dmtaylor]

I would rack 'er and slam with gelatin immediately, right now.

 

[BrauHund]

I would rack 'er and slam with gelatin immediately, right now.

You're saying to rack to secondary, right? How long do I keep it in secondary?

I don't have a second refrigerator, so I can't lager the cider for a month. Can I continue to store the cider at room temperature?

 

[dmtaylor]

Yep, see my previous post. Actually, after you add gelatin, the cider will clear in about 24 hours, so you can drink it immediately after that, or as soon as the sulfur fades anyway. Maybe only a week or two, uncertain. Just..... don't bottle it, at least not without adding sorbate and sulfite to kill the yeast, otherwise the bottles might explode! Seriously. If you can drink the cider flat out of the fermenter, you can drink it right away. If bottling, you really do need to wait the month or so for it to finish. It might keep going below a gravity of 1.000. You've been warned.

 

[madscientist451]

I've had the sulfur smell problem in cider and found that although it faded with time, it never really completely went away. My G/F can't smell it or taste it, but it bothers me, so different people have different sensitivity levels. The best method I've found in dealing with this is to experiment with different yeasts and I've found yeasts that I can ferment cold, not add any nutrients and won't add a sulfur smell/taste.

 

[Sailingeric]

I have had great results with WLP002 English Ale Yeast. It has a lower attenuation and leaves the cider enough sweetness that I did not have to back sweeten.

 

[BrauHund]

I've had the sulfur smell problem in cider and found that although it faded with time, it never really completely went away. My G/F can't smell it or taste it, but it bothers me, so different people have different sensitivity levels. The best method I've found in dealing with this is to experiment with different yeasts and I've found yeasts that I can ferment cold, not add any nutrients and won't add a sulfur smell/taste.

The yeast packet in this cider kit didn't have any information on the label indicating what strain of yeast was in the packet. I have no idea what strain of yeast it is.

The kit instructions say to pitch the yeast between 68 - 86 degrees and to ferment between 64 - 77 degrees. The temperature in my house has been between 68 and 72 degrees during fermentation (VA weather is screwy sometimes, one day it's 40 and the next day its 72).

What strains of yeast have you found that work the best?

 

[madscientist451]

I use WL 002 for an off-dry cider, Brewer's Best Cider House Select makes an almost dry cider (1.001) and WL English Cider yeast makes a good dry cider. The first two will leave some apple flavor.
I don't use Nottingham or WL 007 because of Sulfur production.
I prefer wild yeast cider but your results may be different, I also ran some Saison yeast trials last fall, but haven't done enough taste tests to evaluate .

 

[BrauHund]

Sailingeric and madscientist451, did either of you use a yeast nutrient, and if so, which one did you use?

 

[dmtaylor]

The best cider yeast is Cote des Blancs. Ferment cool like a lager, 50-55 F for a couple months. US-05 isn't bad at all either, same temperatures. "They" will tell you US-05 doesn't ferment that cold. "They" would be wrong. No nutrient required. Just time.

 

[Sailingeric]

Sailingeric and madscientist451, did either of you use a yeast nutrient, and if so, which one did you use?

I have not used any yeast nutrients. I did use about half cup of brown sugar but I did not notice any molasses flavor that I was hoping to get.