I bought some cider from a local orchard, one that I have used in the past to create good homebrew cider (I used Cote de Blanc yeast for those). Their cider is pasteurized (no preservatives though) so it makes good cider to turn into hard cider. I bought 5 gal. for a batch and I just moved it to secondary and took a sample and it tasted pretty bad. I dont have a great palate and I cant quite nail what flavor I am tasting to determine what went wrong. Right now I think it is Mercaptan (ethanethiol), but it is hard to tell (getting that from here). Mostly it just has a rancid smell and made me gag when I took a whiff of it while racking it.
Here are all the facts that I can give you:
To aerate the cider, I pour half of each gallon in the fermenter, replace the lid and shake the remaining half, and then add it.
I used Nottingham Yeast, rehydrating it like the packet says, then pitching it. One thing I have noticed from the other batch of Notty I used was that it smelled very bad. The cider that I used it in before turned out ok (with no unexpected off flavors), but I also had to add a starter with Cote de Blanc because I used cider with Potassium Sorbate (amateur hour) and eventually powered through.
It only sat in the primary fermenter for two weeks, especially because fermentation started so slowly. So I dont think Autolysis is the problem, but maybe someone else can pin it on that.
I dont know what temp the cider was sitting at, but it was in darkness. I have never been too worried about temps, mostly because I dont have a place where I can keep the beer a fairly constant, cool temp. If I had to guess, I would say that it was probably in the high 60s to low 70s air temp, so that means the fermentation temp would be higher (which I have since found out that is not the best for Notty). Even with the warmer temps of the cider, it took nearly two days (I think) for the airlock to show any activity, and was never bubbling crazy fast, like I have seen with some beers.
One thing that I did different for this that I didnt use the commercial sanitizer I have access to. Instead I soaked the fermenter in Oxiclean Free for a day (mostly to get some of the light brown stain off), rinsed it out multiple times with hot water, and then sprayed it with BTF Idophor. I got turned off from the Sanitizer because it ruined my auto siphon quickly, but I think the plastic buckets hold up much better with the hot temps.
I put the sample I pulled in the fridge to let it cool, and it tasted much better. There wasnt an overpowering smell and taste, like it was just coming out of the fermenter. Also I let it warm up to room temperature again and it doesnt seem as bad, but that might be me not remembering the exact taste.
Mostly I just want to get someone elses opinion on this. I cant tell if it was my sanitation, was there was any Oxiclean left over in the fermenter? Or was it having such high temps while fermenting with Notty? Or just some bad luck? And if it does age well over the next few weeks, could I put some spices in it to help mask the off flavors?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Here are all the facts that I can give you:
To aerate the cider, I pour half of each gallon in the fermenter, replace the lid and shake the remaining half, and then add it.
I used Nottingham Yeast, rehydrating it like the packet says, then pitching it. One thing I have noticed from the other batch of Notty I used was that it smelled very bad. The cider that I used it in before turned out ok (with no unexpected off flavors), but I also had to add a starter with Cote de Blanc because I used cider with Potassium Sorbate (amateur hour) and eventually powered through.
It only sat in the primary fermenter for two weeks, especially because fermentation started so slowly. So I dont think Autolysis is the problem, but maybe someone else can pin it on that.
I dont know what temp the cider was sitting at, but it was in darkness. I have never been too worried about temps, mostly because I dont have a place where I can keep the beer a fairly constant, cool temp. If I had to guess, I would say that it was probably in the high 60s to low 70s air temp, so that means the fermentation temp would be higher (which I have since found out that is not the best for Notty). Even with the warmer temps of the cider, it took nearly two days (I think) for the airlock to show any activity, and was never bubbling crazy fast, like I have seen with some beers.
One thing that I did different for this that I didnt use the commercial sanitizer I have access to. Instead I soaked the fermenter in Oxiclean Free for a day (mostly to get some of the light brown stain off), rinsed it out multiple times with hot water, and then sprayed it with BTF Idophor. I got turned off from the Sanitizer because it ruined my auto siphon quickly, but I think the plastic buckets hold up much better with the hot temps.
I put the sample I pulled in the fridge to let it cool, and it tasted much better. There wasnt an overpowering smell and taste, like it was just coming out of the fermenter. Also I let it warm up to room temperature again and it doesnt seem as bad, but that might be me not remembering the exact taste.
Mostly I just want to get someone elses opinion on this. I cant tell if it was my sanitation, was there was any Oxiclean left over in the fermenter? Or was it having such high temps while fermenting with Notty? Or just some bad luck? And if it does age well over the next few weeks, could I put some spices in it to help mask the off flavors?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
