How to sweeten

[SailorStan]

Hi guys,

So I got a new demi john as I wanted to try turbo cider. I used 4.5 ltrs of 100% pressed Tesco apple juice I made a huge error in adding half a Kg bag of brewing sugar. My first reading was 1.080.

I just transferred it to another demi john and got a reading of 1.011. I then topped it up with some more apple juice to not leave to much head space and put another air lock on.

My wife and I tasted it she said it is like vinegar I think that it is just very very bitter. Obviously the original juice was very cloudy and still is.

Should I now keep this for 2 weeks in the secondary and then back sweeten somehow And bottle for a few months?

I tried to add a bit of Apple juice to my sample but the bitterness was overpowering it [emoji52]

Cheers and happy New year..


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[LED_ZEP]

Hi

If it tastes like vinegar then it may have been infected. At 1.011 from a start of 1.080 it shouldn't taste bitter that would make a sweet wine/cider of about 8.8% before adding additional apple juice. What yeast did you use i.e. beer or wine yeast? I assume it's still fermenting as you mentioned putting it in a secondary, it's not going to taste great at this point but it shouldn't be bitter.

Paul

 

[SailorStan]

Hi

If it tastes like vinegar then it may have been infected. At 1.011 from a start of 1.080 it shouldn't taste bitter that would make a sweet wine/cider of about 8.8% before adding additional apple juice. What yeast did you use i.e. beer or wine yeast? I assume it's still fermenting as you mentioned putting it in a secondary, it's not going to taste great at this point but it shouldn't be bitter.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I used vineclass super wine yeast which I know have read is not a good idea to make a nice cider? My wife does say that it taste very slightly like vinegar. I think it tastes quite bland with a really strong off taste.

Yes it is still going strong 1 bubble every 5 seconds.

I'm thinking of ditching it and starting again?

Thank you for your reply and happy New year :)

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[LED_ZEP]

Unless you need the equipment I'd let it run it course and see what happens.

A wine yeast has a higher alcohol tolerance so will turn more of the sugar to alcohol, if it gets down to 0.995 you will end up with a dry apple wine of just short of 11%.

 

[SailorStan]

Hi

If it tastes like vinegar then it may have been infected. At 1.011 from a start of 1.080 it shouldn't taste bitter that would make a sweet wine/cider of about 8.8% before adding additional apple juice. What yeast did you use i.e. beer or wine yeast? I assume it's still fermenting as you mentioned putting it in a secondary, it's not going to taste great at this point but it shouldn't be bitter.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I used vineclass super wine yeast which I know have read is not a good idea to make a nice cider? My wife does say that it taste very slightly like vinegar. I think it tastes quite bland with a really strong off taste.

Yes it is still going strong 1 bubble every 5 seconds.

I'm thinking of ditching it and starting again?

Thank you for your reply and happy New year :)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[jojorose]

Just leave it a little wine. I made mine from a base of crab apples and then added apple juice. It was moouth shrivellingly awful. Being so tight i just shoved it in corner for a month or so longer and had a taste yesterday. It had improved considerably.