Something went wrong with cider.

[Wellington1]

Hi everybody, first time post here. And first time having a go at cider. If anybody has any idea what has gone wrong i'd be grateful.

I sampled my turbo cider after a week and it was the most disgusting thing i've ever had. Sour, acidic, poisonous tastes, well beyond off-flavours that one might expect with brewing errors.

Given I only had 2 ingredients I can't see where the problem has come from. I brew beer regularly and have never had any issues with that, and I have used the same sanitation techniques with this cider.

All I can think of is:
1. Volume of liquid in fermenter (6L out of 10L) caused Co2 issues?
2. Miscellaneous infection ? (although cider was clear with no inconsistencies)
3. Something in the juice?
4. Oversight in my sanitation (did not sanitise paper towel used with strainer)

Turbo cider recipe:

6L Tropical Juice bought from store (no added sugar/preservatives)
2g Fermentis Cider Yeast

Method:

Filtered juice through paper towel and strainer. Added to 10L fermenter bucket. Pitched 2g of yeast at 20C/68F. OG measured at 1.046.

Fermented at 18-20C/64-68F for 7 days. FG measured at 1.002. ABV ~ 5.5-6%.

Used airlock filled with water. Observed regular bubbling throughout fermentation.

I must stress how awful this was. Undrinkable.

 

[madscientist451]

Nothing went wrong, when you use "tropical juice" whatever that is, and ferment it fast, its not going to come out very good.
I've tried fermenting all kinds of juice blends from the store and none
have made an acceptable drink.
My Suggestion:
Get some decent apple juice and try fermenting it in the mid 50's or low 60's, let it age for a couple of months and see what you get.
I've made decent cider with "Simply Apple" juice available in cold juice section at Walmart and Grocery stores. It goes on sale every 3-4 weeks if you want to save some money.
You can try cheaper Sam's club, Costco and other brand juices that are usually reconstituted from imported (Chinese) concentrates, but I don't like the taste of the cider made from them. Everyone has different tastes, maybe that will work for you, maybe not.
Good Luck

 

[akthor]

Cider will turn to cider vinegar if the fermenting, time, temps go wrong.

 

[MindenMan]

There are certain juice blends that produce great ciders, but not many of them. Welch's and Great Value brand white grape peach blend makes a fantastic cider used by itself or added to apple juice/cider. A large percentage of the white grape peach juice is made up of apple juice already, so it makes a no-brainer very tasty cider when fermented.

 

[Paps]

Stressed yeast throw off some off-flavors.
High temps can stress yeast, so can lack of nutrients.
Cider on it's own lacks the nutrients yeast need to be happy.

Try using ample amounts of yeast nutrient and energiser and ferment a touch cooler.
Also let it age a bit.
I tend to think of myself as pretty impatient when it comes to ciders and usually i never touch it until it's 3 months plus in age. Many wait a year or two.

Hope this helps.

 

[dmtaylor]

"Tropical Juice" will not taste good fermented. And in general, "turbo cider" will not taste great either.

Here's my quick 'n' dirty recipe for success:

Good apple juice from an orchard, no preservatives. No added sugars, nutrients, or pectinase. Cote des Blancs yeast. Ferment a little bit cool if you can, 55-65 F is best (13-18 C). When gravity hits 1.010-1.015 (takes a week or two), add gelatin to remove 90% of the yeast. The next day, rack to secondary and add sorbate and sulfite, and chill to prevent refermentation. Monitor for a couple more weeks to ensure fermentation does not continue, and if it does, add more gelatin, sorbate and sulfite. Then bottle. Done.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Wellington1 and welcome.
I see that "turbo cider" is the term given for making a cider at near light speed using the cheapest ingredients and most basic processes imaginable. OK. But I wonder if what you have made is a dry wine with a low pH and high TA. Do you know how acidic the "tropical juice" is? At a final gravity of 1.002 there is almost no residual sweetness to balance the acidity from the fruit. (As a brewer your brews will have an FG of about 1.010 - 1.015) What fruits were in the cocktail? Was there added sugar? (the fruits themselves may not have been very ripe when pressed - so perhaps more acidic than fruit for eating).
A possible solution: You may want to stabilize your cider with K-meta and K-sorbate, as dmtaylor suggests above, and then back sweeten (add sugar) to see if that might re-balance the flavors...The problem may not be anything spoiled. It may simply be that the cider is simply too acidic for the level of dryness you have achieved. AND , being a turbo cider... you may be drinking the cider months before it is ready to be tasted. I know that these days gratification must be instant but wines (including cider) and cheese need months , rather than days to mature.

 

[Yooper]

Cider will turn to cider vinegar if the fermenting, time, temps go wrong.

No, it won't. It requires acetobacter infection to produce acetic acid, that classic "vinegar" bacteria where the alcohol is digested by the bacteria and produces vinegar.

You can make some terrible hard cider with high temperatures and bad ingredients, though!

 

[MindenMan]

Wellington1, after re-reading your post and those of the above posters, you may have an acid-balance issue. The pH won't get changed with adding sugar, but adding sugar by the glass may make it tolerable to drink.
And I agree with Yooper, (I always agree with Yooper) Unless your cider has sat out in the open air uncovered after fermentation was finished, it is unlikely you have vinegar already formed. If by adding sugar it is tolerable to drink, make a few bottles up and stash them someplace dark and cool to age; in a year or two it might become something you want to drink.

 

[Wellington1]

Thanks for the responses everybody.

I have tipped this one down the sink, no amount of sugar or anything else for that matter would have made it drinkable, but hey. **** happens.

The reason I thought this recipe would work is because it is based on a brewtuber's video (also from New Zealand) who made turbo cider with Pat Mack's Home Brewing Caps.

He had great success with his so I thought I would emulate the recipe but in a fermenter instead. Perhaps that was the problem.

Here is the link if anybody is interested.




Cheers