Wet dog taste?? Yuck!

[regjill]

My cider tastes awful the best way to explain it is that it tastes like a wet dog smells lol. Is there any way to fix it? I have sweetened it and stabilized it in campden and potassium sulphate and it seemed to help a little better but I am worried that it is spoiled. I would normally bottle this on the next step but not if it tastes like this.

 

[MarkKF]

How did it smell during active fermentation?

Any Sulfur or Fart smells?

Any growth on the surface or the neck of the carboy?

 

[bernardsmith]

what was your recipe and what was the process you followed?

 

[Yooper]

Campden and sulfite (I think that's what you meant) is the same thing, so maybe you meant sorbate?

Anyway, I don't know what the cause it, but if it's "musty" (is that wet dog?), then it is more than likely an infection process so if it tastes ok now, I'd drink up before it gets worse.

 

[regjill]

So there is no way to fix it?

 

[regjill]

First of all I would like to thank you Mark and Bernard and Yooper for responding to my dilemma. I will explain my procedure and recipe to you now:

ok so here is my recipe:
19 liters of fresh pressed Apple cider from crab apples
sugar syrup (enough to bring the sg up to 1.095)
5 crushed Campden tablets
3tsp pectic enzyme
6 tsp. yeast nutrient
3tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp. tannin
1 1/2 tsp. Potassium sorbate
lalvin yeast starter


It was a little hard to start fermenting so I ended up adding another 2 tablespoons of yeast nutrient and a yeast slurry, from another cider that had been fermenting well. (Now I am wondering if the slurry was a bad idea but I read on here that you should always start cider with a starter or a slurry.)

I started this batch on October 10 and it tasted so good!!!! it even tasted really good after I added the slurry on the 20th. And it was bubbling really well under the airlock(which I had filled with vodka, not water)

NOv 2nd is when I first noticed the bad taste.

the sg was 1.010
the temp 68

I racked it into a bit of honey solution of 3 cups wine and 3 cups cider twice.


Finally on Nov 19 I racked it into 5 campden tablets(rushed and dissolved in hot water) and 1 1/2 tsp of Potassium (dissolved in hot water)

Then I sweetened it with a sugar syrup to taste and left it in the fresh carboy.



There are no other signs of mold or scum or anything like that. It does not even smell bad it is just that "wet Dog' taste.

If it is an infection Yooper, is there any way that I can make it taste better? What would YOU do?

What do you think it is?

Thanks so much for your response.
Jill