I don't crush my own apples at home, but I usually use pretty decent unfiltered store bought juice and get great results. I also usually bottle after a few weeks or at most a couple months of fermenting. This time, because I planned to dry hop the cider, I got some cheap Safeway brand juice to see if I could get away with it when the apple taste wasn't going to be as important. The stuff was sickly sweet, like a juice box, and the flavor kept not improving with fermentation, so I let it sit for almost a year, as much out of lack of enthusiasm as out of hopes of the taste improving.
Well, I finally tasted it again to see if it was even worth putting hops in, and while it has a faint vinegar taste, there is actually a quite strong maple flavor. I did not add any brown sugar or anything else to the juice (including sulfites), and the bottles they came in only listed apple juice as an ingredient, with no added sugars or preservatives. So, what I'm wondering is, was there secret sugar in my juice, or is there some chemical process I'm not aware of that could create a maple flavor, perhaps? Could it have been from a wild fermentation?
Needless to say, I no longer plan on adding hops to it. It's not a terrible flavor, but maple and hops doesn't sound good. I learned my lesson about using weird juice. Just wanted to know if anybody has any answers about this.
Also, sorry if this has already been asked, but since there are so many posts about adding maple syrup or brown sugar to get this flavor on purpose, it seemed unlikely I would find a question about accidental mystery maple (which is now the name of this cider). Thanks!
Well, I finally tasted it again to see if it was even worth putting hops in, and while it has a faint vinegar taste, there is actually a quite strong maple flavor. I did not add any brown sugar or anything else to the juice (including sulfites), and the bottles they came in only listed apple juice as an ingredient, with no added sugars or preservatives. So, what I'm wondering is, was there secret sugar in my juice, or is there some chemical process I'm not aware of that could create a maple flavor, perhaps? Could it have been from a wild fermentation?
Needless to say, I no longer plan on adding hops to it. It's not a terrible flavor, but maple and hops doesn't sound good. I learned my lesson about using weird juice. Just wanted to know if anybody has any answers about this.
Also, sorry if this has already been asked, but since there are so many posts about adding maple syrup or brown sugar to get this flavor on purpose, it seemed unlikely I would find a question about accidental mystery maple (which is now the name of this cider). Thanks!
