,Recently made an offering to the porcelain god. Apple cider with a 96 oz can of Vintner's Harvest peaches, s-04 and burton ale yeast.
Where I erred: adding Lactic acid bacteria, and/or adding citric acid. Supposedly initiating an MLF will eat up some of the acetyl aldehyde, citric acid to some extent, and of course malic acid. Burton yeast creates a decent amount of green apple, I wanted to see how MLF would change that.
http://vinestovintages.ca/LaffortHelpfulHints/Citric Acid Metabolism.pdf
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6968.2000.tb09318.x/pdf
Everything was fine until I started MLF, Wyeast, but I did add 1/2 tsp of what I thought was citric acid I purchased from a natural foods store, so no guarantee of purity. Just a wild hair idea.
Gravity readings showed 1.002, MLF took off after three days, followed by a gagging geranium smell, I mean my stomach turns thinking about it. I forced myself to taste it before dumping...
My Question, what was the most likely source for LB to create geraniol?
My suspicions include:
1. either the Kirkland apple juice or the Vintner's peaches had potassium sorbate (were not labeled as such, not likely)
2. the 1/2 tsp acid I added was not citric but actually sorbic acid.
What a waste, I have a packet of Mangrove Jacks' cider yeast, when I get over my disenchantment I'll try another cider. sans bells and whistles.
cheers
