Aldehydes in Cider

Slid · Mar 7, 2014

Hi All

Last night I has a 500ml bottle of some Kit based cider made with grape and apple juice. Bottled it 4 weeks ago and moved it 2 weeks ago to the garage.
It is still in contact with its yeast, not "stabilised" and it tokk a long time to get going. I bottled it early for domestic reasons and it continued fermenting a bit in the bottles, more than the priming sugar would have accounted for. I undid the caps several times to vent off gas.
It tasted a bit sicky and unpleasant, but I drank it anyway (don't ask!) :doh:

Today I have a headache and am breaking even more wind than usual.
Thinking back I was sick on the day I bottled it after a significant sample, which also did not taste good.

From a bit of investigation on the site, I think I have identified the problem - aldehydes..
I am unsure what best to do - I have 26L of the stuff.
Should I:

A - Move it back into the warm for a few weeks and try one of the 500ml bottles?

B - Pour the whole lot back into a FV onto all or part of the trub from a beer brew I have going (Coopers Stout based), leave it week or so and taste it?

C - Leave it where it is and hope something good happens?

D - Chuck it?

Any suggestions, please?

Slid · Mar 7, 2014

Not too surprised that no-one want to venture a comment on this. :doh:

As SWMBO says, I can be somewhat (she uses another word, when she's annoyed) stupid at times...

Decided to move the cider back upstairs, vent some more gas, give it a swirl, warm it up, leave it for a while in the warm and hope something good happens over the next couple of weeks. Only took a few minutes.

Might be some some chance of rescuing what might be at best a mediocre effort.

Story of the Lost Sheep springs to mind, from Sunday School. (It's Luke 15:3-6).

Made some really nice beer since getting back into Homebrewing, so why am I worrying over the bad batch?

Human nature. I guess.

LeithR · Mar 7, 2014

There is another option.

You could boil the whole 23L up, killing off the yeast and sanitizing the brew, keep it at the boil for 20 mins or so then crash cool and start the process again from scratch.

That sounds to me like it would work. What do you think?

p.s. Don't use the old yeast again go with new yeast.

Slid · Mar 7, 2014

LeithR said:
There is another option.

You could boil the whole 23L up, killing off the yeast and sanitizing the brew, keep it at the boil for 20 mins or so then crash cool and start the process again from scratch.

That sounds to me like it would work. What do you think?

p.s. Don't use the old yeast again go with new yeast.

Thanks, LeithR, I count that as a vote for Option D, which is a good option.

Any other suggestions?

Slid · Mar 12, 2014

Decided to move it all back into the warm and agitate it a bit, in the same bottles. Still appears to be fermenting as have vented gas out a further few times.

Slid · Mar 25, 2014

After another fortnight in the warm, I think it has finally pretty much stopped fermenting. Will maybe move it back into the garage and see what it tastes like at the weekend. Naturally I am very keen not to repeat the previous experience.

graysalchemy · Mar 25, 2014

If you got a banging head ache and it smelt tasted solventy then it was Ketones which are formed due to high initial fermentation temps. Aldehydes are formed at temps closer to 21c but are precursors of Ketones if the temp is allowed to rise. Aldehydes are what give beer fruity notes.

Slid · Mar 26, 2014

That's interesting re ketones.

I keep records, of sorts, and I put this on at the same time as a Wherry, which I've not sampled yet, as that was also bottled a bit early and has since slowly thrown a fair amount of sediment. The FV it (cider) was in has an aquarium style thermo and both were pitched on Jan 26th. High initial fermentation temps, is a possibility, but I'm not too sure about that, somehow. That said, I have almost no experience on cider making or slow ferments.

The taste & smell of the cider now is radically different to what it was. It now looks and tastes like some average cider that just happens to have had cold tea poured in it out of the teapot.

Thanks, as always, GA, for the input.

tonyhibbett · Mar 27, 2014

LeithR said:
There is another option.

You could boil the whole 23L up, killing off the yeast and sanitizing the brew, keep it at the boil for 20 mins or so then crash cool and start the process again from scratch.

That sounds to me like it would work. What do you think?

p.s. Don't use the old yeast again go with new yeast.

Ever tried boiling 23 litres of cider? Heat treating cider makes it undrinkable and I speak from experience. Please don't suggest things you have not actually tried.

Bernie · Mar 27, 2014

The aldehydes won't boil out

Slid · Mar 29, 2014

Well, it's still sat here in the warm of the boxroom. Am still venting gas off the 2L PET bottles it's in every couple of days.

I think the main issue may have been with the yeast being a bit aged and degraded.

Tasted much less nasty this time than last, so may be getting there.

Very interested in the comment that aldehydes would not "boil out". I had thought vaguely in terms of cooking cider or cider vinegar as possible uses for some of it.

Thanks for the comments, guys. Any others will be considered :thumb:

Slid · May 11, 2014

I left it in the warm until yesterday and tried a small bottle, refridgerated.
Good news is that the problem seems to have gone now. So moved it into the garage today.
Bad news is that it is not a great drink at this stage, but maybe it is just a bit soon for a kit / turbo cider first effort since I tried a Boots kit Cider many years ago. From what I recall, I was not impressed with that much, either.

Slid · Apr 9, 2015

Never did trust this, so with the "new" garage, out goes the old.

Aldehydes in Cider

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

Slid

Forum Friend

Slid

Forum Friend

LeithR

Landlord.

Slid

Forum Friend

Slid

Forum Friend

Slid

Forum Friend

graysalchemy

Active Member

Slid

Forum Friend

tonyhibbett

Landlord.

Bernie

Landlord.

Slid

Forum Friend

Slid

Forum Friend

Slid

Forum Friend

Similar threads

Latest posts

Aldehydes in Cider

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

Forum Friend

Forum Friend

Landlord.

Forum Friend

Forum Friend

Forum Friend

Active Member

Forum Friend

Landlord.

Landlord.

Forum Friend

Forum Friend

Forum Friend

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!