Sour cider

[Lympicit]

Last month after a bit of scrumping i made some apple and blackberry cider. No precise recipient but this is it there abouts

7kg apples juiced, but I threw in the pulp and juice
About 300g blackberries
2kg sugar
Pectolase
Yeast nutrient
Champagne yeast
We didn't have the volume that we were looking for, and this is why we added some water and thus some sugar.

Everything went fine, it burbled, I strained it, it burbled again. Racked and bottled. All seemed well. I made this for my boyfriend, who said that it was lovely, if a little sharp. So I back sweetened 4 heaped teaspoons for 3l bottle, which he said was much better.

Thing is, I tried some yesterday and it isn't tart, it is sour it does however take great if you ignore the sharp/sour quality. Have I done something wrong. Do you think that this can be rescued? There is about 23l sitting in my kitchen, on the good side, it's nice and pink.

At the time I didn't have a hydrometer, so I have no clue of where it was on the scale.

Your advice not only is solicited but welcome.

Thanks

 

[Pirate_Pete]

I'm no expert on this. But from what I understand you have to back sweeten with the artificial sweetners like candrel.
Am I right in thinking you added sugar to sweeten it and then bottled it? If so it probably tasted OK when you first added the sugar but the yeast has now
turned all the sugar to alcohol.

I'm sure when some of the others wake up they'll tell you how much candrel to put per litre.

 

[Lympicit]

Hello

I haven't given you all the info. I did back sweeten, and I used stevia, which I understand is stable. I did this about 4 days ago.

Thanks

M

 

[Wraeccan]

Young cider is heart-burn inducing stuff.
It's best treated similar to a wine.

Now this is tough advice I'm afraid, but the best thing to do is to leave it. Ideally for 6 months but even in 3 it will be much more pleasant.

Wraeccan

 

[Lympicit]

Young cider is heart-burn inducing stuff.
It's best treated similar to a wine.

Now this is tough advice I'm afraid, but the best thing to do is to leave it. Ideally for 6 months but even in 3 it will be much more pleasant.

Wraeccan

Hey Wraeccan,

So if it's left for a few months, the sour will mellow out?

You are right about that being hard advice, I got home from work this morning and found one bottle open! If i find he is chasing with some gavascon, I will use my Mum voice and put it in the don't drink place.

M

 

[Wraeccan]

Hey Wraeccan,

So if it's left for a few months, the sour will mellow out?

You are right about that being hard advice, I got home from work this morning and found one bottle open! If i find he is chasing with some gavascon, I will use my Mum voice and put it in the don't drink place.

M

I can't guarantee it as I don't know all the factors. However, time is one of the most important ingredients in a good drink.

It's really hard when first starting out as you want to know you did everything right before trying again. I've made around 200 gallons of cider over the last 4 years (including turbos) and it always seems disappointing (and sharp as razor blades) when young. I finished the last gallon of last years brew about a month ago and it was one of the best ciders I've tasted.

It's also important to try to keep the brew stored at quite low temperatures. This kicks-off the secondary malo-lactic fermentation which converts the sour malic acid into the much more palatable lactic acid.

It's perfectly safe to drink after a few weeks when you back sweeten, but will improve vastly with a bit of ageing.

Incidentally, as a rough guess I would say I drink around 15% of my brews aged correctly. Just because I know what to do, it doesn't mean I'm very good at doing it!

 

[Lympicit]

I can't guarantee it as I don't know all the factors. However, time is one of the most important ingredients in a good drink.

It's really hard when first starting out as you want to know you did everything right before trying again. I've made around 200 gallons of cider over the last 4 years (including turbos) and it always seems disappointing (and sharp as razor blades) when young. I finished the last gallon of last years brew about a month ago and it was one of the best ciders I've tasted.

It's also important to try to keep the brew stored at quite low temperatures. This kicks-off the secondary malo-lactic fermentation which converts the sour malic acid into the much more palatable lactic acid.

It's perfectly safe to drink after a few weeks when you back sweeten, but will improve vastly with a bit of ageing.

Incidentally, as a rough guess I would say I drink around 15% of my brews aged correctly. Just because I know what to do, it doesn't mean I'm very good at doing it!

Thanks for that. I will indeed say a little 'the Internet told you so' should he develop an ulcer, and hide a couple of bottles.

M

 

[tonyhibbett]

Maturing with oak chips will reduce the harshness of a young brew.