Sorry for the long thread...Need expert opinions!

[Pyro]

#1 - I just racked my cider into secondary after a little over 4 weeks & took a sample while doing it. It has a mild yeasty/rotten egg odor, & a very mild rotten egg taste...the same smell you get during fermentation. Will this odor go away in my secondary? I plan to leave it in there for about a month or more if necessary. If not, will it go away after 4-6 mos. or so in the bottle? I can be patient if I have to. FG was .998 w/ Nottingham Ale yeast. (about 7.86% ABV)

#2 - I'm going to start a second batch soon & plan to make blueberry cider. I know most home brewers wait to add fruit until they're ready for secondary fermentation...I plan to add 4-5 12oz bags of frozen blueberries. What are your thoughts about splitting half in the primary & half in the secondary? Is this too much blueberry or not enough? I really want the blueberry flavor to come through, but not completley overpower the apple.

#3 - I also plan on adding about 5 lbs of dark brown sugar to a 5 gallon batch to boost flavor & ABV. Is this too much? Keep in mind I would like a sweet, sparkling hard cider w/ a lot of bluberry flavor in the end...not a dry, sparkling blueberry wine. Would I be better off keeping the same ratio of sugar, but swapping out some w/ honey instead for a different flavor? My pilot batch of Raspberry HC had a OG of 1.080. I used EC-1118 w/ it & thought about using the same for this batch.

#4 - I have used yeast nutrient in my beer before during the last 10 minutes of the boil, but never in my cider. How do I go about adding it since I'm not boiling any of the cider(as I've heard that this kills flavor). I thought about adding it to my yeast starter(dry yeast + warm H2O...sit 15 min...add some cider & yeast nutrient to that & shake like heck...sit 10 more min. & pitch). Is this correct? Do I use the same amount of nutrient for cider as I do for beer? What about yeast energizer...do I need that?

I would like to thank all of you in advance for taking the time to read this & respond. This is a wonderful forum filled w/ very knowledgable people & if it was'nt for some of you, I would have dumped a lot of bad batches by now. I hope I can contribute something in the future to possibly help one of you as well.

 

[tf2]

I can't speak to all your points, but I've been wrestling with your #2 for a week or so now as I plot a batch of cranberry cyser (see my post in the mead forum).

After perusing these forums and other pages, talking to the well informed LHBS folks, and consulting a few of the mead-specialists at the local homebrew club, I've decided to add my crushed cranberries (and probably some raisins as well, for body) in secondary.

Lots of people said they thought it was common practice to add in primary, and recipes I've seen also suggest that's the more traditional method with wines and maybe meads.

However, the one local brewer I talked with who had actually experimented with both (albeit using raspberries) said adding fruit to the primary smelled great while fermenting -- but less of the flavor came through in the end. Adding fruit in secondary lent a stronger fruit flavor to the final mead. His theory was that more of the aromatics went out the fermentation lock when he added it in primary. I figure experience trumps recipes and hearsay for me, and if it doesn't work out I can always make another batch. (Or maybe it's time to do a controlled, side-by-side experiment. SWMBO would probably kill me though; I've already got 18 gallons of various beverages in various stages of completion around the house...)

On #3, conventional wisdom seems to be that brown sugar may add a tarter taste (from the non-sugar components) but honey flavors may take longer to mellow (evidenced by the long maturation times often recommended for mead.) I don't have any direct experience here.

As for yeast nutrient (#4), I added it to the boil in my first mead, and in my ciders (which I didn't boil or sweeten) I simply dumped in the amount indicated on the label before shaking/aerating. The mead turned out great, and the cider has been fermenting well, so I assume it worked both times.

 

[Darkdeacon]

I noticed my cider had the same issue, with the odour....but I let it ride and now all I smell is beautiful apple. So I think it is just a byproduct phase.

 

[Adolphus79]

#1 - Yes... if you can, let it sit in secondary, then bulk age for 3-6 months... a young cider (right after fermentation is finished) will still be cloudy, yeasty, and quite tart... if you can let it age for at least another month or two, or even 6 months, it will be completely different (and better)...

#2 - I think a pound per gallon would do you just fine... primary or secondary is up to personal preference, but I think you'll get more blueberry flavor if you add them to the primary (more color too). If you're looking for a hint of blueberry in your cider, then maybe a half pound per gallon in secondary would be good... I'm sure there are as many opinions on this topic as there are users on this board though...

#3 - Dark Brown Sugar will end with a very tart cider. It also takes a little longer to ferment & clear than corn sugar (but not as long as honey does)... 5 pounds is quite a lot... if you are looking to boost flavor & ABV, you might try something like 1 pound Dark Brown, and a couple pounds of corn sugar... for a 5 gallon batch, 1 pound of sugar is going to give you an approx. 1% boost in ABV... Honey would work fine, that would make a cyser (apple mead, honey cider, however you want to look at it)... a blueberry cyser sounds like a tasty treat... for meads, you will want to use about 3 pounds of honey per gallon, and you'll end up with a 15-25% ABV finished product (depending on yeast, stepping the honey, etc.)...

#4 - I've never used any nutrients or energizers, but from what I undertand, they work the same way, no matter what you're making. Making a starter sounds like a good idea.

Whichever route you go, just remember, RDWHAHB, and let us know how it turns out...