Noob introduction and question

[chiliarches]

Howdy all. First time poster with introductory experiments and a question.

I made three small batches of cider in a burst of Amazon-purchase-fueled inspiration after some reading on this forum. I did not measure SG but I will for future experiments.



Batch 1: 1 half gallon of Store bought apple juice + S04 yeast + a LOT of turbinado sugar (probably over a lb - I hade a solid .75 in of sugar at the bottom of the juice bottle). Racked at four weeks.
Batch 1 Result: After four weeks fermentation, I have a sweet, peachy smell and a very strong strong alcohol taste - boozy. Some slight sweetness, very slight. I am guessing the yeast is done for and it will just need to age - I bottled this in 16 oz grolsch bottles and added a tsp of sugar to each in order to carbonate if at all possible.


Batch 2: 1 half gallon of juice from my apple tree in the backyard + S04 yeast + some sugar (.5 lb?). Added 1.5 camden tablets ~48 hours before adding the yeast. Racked at four weeks.
Batch 2 result: Strong boozy alcohol taste, very dry, strong sulfur taste/smell (like burnt matches). Not really pleasant, but kind of complex in a weird way. I aerated it by pouring it back and forth between two bottles for a bit and this dissipated about 75% of the smell and taste.

Batch 3: 1 half gallon of juice from my apple tree, nothing added. Racked at one week, bottled at 3.
Batch 3 result: Very tasty. Light, sparkling, dry (but not super dry) refreshing. Imperfect (a little thin) but overall delightful.


My big question is what to do with batch 2? Should I let it continue to sit in "secondary" fermentation? Aerate it more? Bottle it and age it? Toss it?

 

[buMbLeB]

Definitely don't toss it. I've never dealt with this myself, but I've read others say the off flavour/aromas will dissipate with time. Not sure whether secondary or bottling is preferred, though instinct tells me it's the former. Good luck!

 

[Jessiegaddy]

Do not aerate cider after primary fermentation. The introduction of O2 will oxidize the cider. The sulphur smell is from the yeast being stressed during primary. The high alcohol content and no nutrients added to the must is the cause of the smell. Time and patience cures all. With that much sugar in such a small amount of juice and no nutrients is just asking for trouble. The higher the alcohol content the longer it takes to become drinkable. It could take weeks or months to make it drinkable now if it doesn't turn to vinegar first.

 

[bucketnative]

Do not aerate cider after primary fermentation. The introduction of O2 will oxidize the cider.

Agreed. If the cider still has a sulfurous odor at serving time, it usually means that it was bottled/kegged too soon.

To dissipate the sulfurous odor at serving time, I have had success in pouring the cider from glass to glass and back again to aerate it out. This works best with still ciders.

 

[bernardsmith]

I believe a smell of burn matches signifies the presence of mercaptans. Their presence suggests extremely stressed yeast. The treatment for mercaptans is the addition of copper and the copper binds with the sulfur to form copper sulfate. To add copper you might sanitize and then drop into the container some copper scrubbing "wool" (you can get that from your supermarket. They sell the wool with dishwashing cleaners and scrubbers). I am unsure how easy it is to remove mercaptans from a wine (or cider).

Sulfurous odors (@ bucketnative) are usually caused by hydrogen sulfide, another sign of stressed yeast (but less extreme stress). Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs and are typically referred to on this forum as "rhino farts". The smell is due to the yeast having insufficient nutrients, including organic nitrogen (solution is to add DAP when you pitch the yeast , or Fermaid K or Fermaid O). The smell can usually be removed by aerating the wine. But if you can smell hydrogen sulfide it is too late (I think) to add the nutrient. If aeration is what it takes to remove the smell - and that process might oxidize the cider then my preference would be to take the risk this time and next time to improve my protocol so that the yeast are not stressed. Another technique to remove the smell is to rack the cider (or wine) through a filter made of copper wool - Again, the sulfur binds to the copper.