Normally I stick with beer, having only done 3 batches (one mead, and two cider) of other types of fermented drinks. Although branching out can be a good thing for the experience of trying it and learning something new, it's likely that one needs to have at least a few batches of a particular type of drink before the product starts to be really good. And, it can be frustrating for me to try something that doesn't come out as well as most of my beers. None of my non-beer beverages have been great, and sadly, this cider may be the worst of my three attempts.Appearance: Very clear golden yellow. This glass was from the bottom of the wine-bottle, and had a little bit of yeast stirred up into it. No carbonation bubbles, as intended.
Aroma: Not sure what it smells like. I just smells. I think I detect some sulphur and sour apple smells. Doesn't smell like apple cider should smell.
Taste: Again, a faint hint of appley-ness but lacks good cider characteristics. It doesn't stay sour, but does have a sulphury quality. There's no alcohol burn or strong boozy notes. Quite dry, as expected since the final OG was around 1.000 or less.
Mouthfeel: Thin. No carbonation. Very dry.
Overall: Well, it's drinkable, at least to me. I don't really know what to make of it other than to say that it doesn't really taste like it should. It needs more sweetness, more apple like quality, and more overall good taste. Sadly, I made 4 gallons of it and may have to dump some. I suppose it happens to all homebrewers once in a while.
For me, Cider is a perfect case for 1 gallon brews. I've made 5, 4 of which were 1 gallon, and the 5th was a 5 gallon. I've augmented 2 with brown sugar (one dark & one light), 2 with candi sugar (same amounts, different yeast), and the 5th batch was a 3 gallon (blended juice). The first 4 were ok (brown sugar has been my favorite addition), and the 3 gallon blend came out pretty good. The only advice I can offer is give it time. My 5th batch (the 3 gallon blend aka "Blendtec") fermented two moths, and has been bottled for 8 months (it came in at 10%), and it really came around last week. Moderate fizz (nothing major, just a little ring of creme around the edge), and a really nice tart flavor. Keep trying, but maybe scale down. It's the same with mead. I keep that at 1 gallon until I find something I really like.
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DeleteThanks for reading and replying, Roger. No doubt you're right about making small batches of cider, mead or other fermented drinks that I don't normally do. For next year's cider batch I'll definitely go with a 1 or 2 gallon batch.
ReplyDeleteAs for age, I pitched this yeast for this cider in October so it's been 6 months. But I suppose it might improve with further aging. We'll see. I still have quite some mead that I made in February 2014 and it does seem to have improved from the 6 moth mark to the 1 year mark, at least to my palate.