high temps = fusals?

[GeneDaniels1963]

I just finished fermentation on two 1 gal batches of cider. One was my regular recipe with Nottingham ale yeast, and the other with wild yeast from my blackberries.

I normally like my cider young, kept in the fridge with some back sweetening. But these two batches taste like rocket fuel! This was the first time I have brewed in mid-summer, and my house stays pretty warm. The pantry is probably 77-78F. So, two questions:

1) are the extra fusals the result of the higher brew temp?

2) will this age out in a couple months?

I sweetened them a little more than usual, and they aren't bad, but still now nearly as nice as what I normally make.

 

[Maylar]

1) Yup.
2) I dunno. The one time I fermented with Nottingham at 75+ I got exactly the same results as you. It was early in my cider career and not knowing any better I just dumped it. Luckily it was only a gallon batch. I kinda wish I had let it age and see if the fusels would mellow with time, but back then I was unaware of that possibility.

Learned my lesson... I don't do summer ciders any more.

 

[bernardsmith]

1) Yup.
2) I dunno. The one time I fermented with Nottingham at 75+ I got exactly the same results as you. It was early in my cider career and not knowing any better I just dumped it. Luckily it was only a gallon batch. I kinda wish I had let it age and see if the fusels would mellow with time, but back then I was unaware of that possibility.

Learned my lesson... I don't do summer ciders any more.

Totally agree. Apples are not harvested until the fall or late fall so making cider in the summer was something that was unheard of in the past. That your supermarket sells "apple juice" in July does not necessarily mean that making cider when the ambient temperature is in the 90s is worthwhile.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Well, I am going to try some of the cider after one month, then the rest after 2 months. I will try to remember to post the results.

 

[Weezy]

Unfortunately most of that won't age out. Fusals are not especially volatile and aren't going anywhere.

I was just away last weekend and visited a 4 year old microbrew. I was excited actually. Website had their beer list. Nothing over 5.5%. Mosaic pale ale, dry stout, maple amber ale. I was excited. Every beer had fermentation issues. Poor temp control and maybe yeast slurry health issues. Biting finals and one was tart.. It was a really big let down. .

 

[MindenMan]

Saison ciders are fantastic and are quite happy during summer fermentations. My first fusel batch happened when I was new at making ciders; it smelled like acetone. The acetone smell went away after time, but it seemed like forever...