This year's TC

[calumscott]

:party:

 

[fbsf]

How long's that been going Calum?

Mine's been in the store for about 4 months now, but no sign of any MLF yet, and I chucked in 5tsp of malic acid and the dregs from an Old Rosie...

 

[calumscott]

Pitched on 01/12/2012. I did get the yeast cake from Alistair's batch. The post office (or perhaps I) managed to kill the yeast but the lacto survived and started it's work first!

I then pitched two rehydrated packets of youngs champers yeast which sorted out the sugar...

Racked on 23/12/2012 and been sitting at around 12C since then. The pelicle keeps getting thicker each time I look... :thumb:

 

[LeedsBrewer]

hmm... mine was done at around the same time as yours (with old rosie) but nothing yet... Mines a lot colder than yours though...

 

[graysalchemy]

Good to see it got going Calum :thumb: :thumb:

now leave till June before you bottle...................

And then leave it some more :lol: :lol:

 

[calumscott]

New pic from Sunday. It's really starting to thicken up.

The interesting thing with this stuff is that although it looks like a continuous sheet, it isn't. It seems more like a dense raft of individual bacterial colonies - I extracted a sample of the cider (for gravity and tasting) and a sample of the pelicle for a member to get his MLF going and it stuck to the turkey baster in little puffy balls. It also floated around in the clear patch from where I sampled in individual "dots".

The taste? Simply stunning. Already very mellow all the malic harshness is gone, and "that scrumpy farmyardy thang" is starting to come through nicely. Which, I'm afraid, leads me to have to wade into the MLF/ageing or not debate again.

My position on MLF is now clear and unshakable. MLF is ESSENTIAL for cider. The decision cannot be whether to MLF or not. It should only be "How much farmyard do I want in there?". If you like it cleaner, give it a month to just take the edge off the sharpness. If you like it proper west-country grotty farmyards, give it six. If you're not sure, go somewhere in the middle (or use it as an excuse to have a wee taste of your cider every few weeks! :drink: ).

 

[Jonny69]

So I take it when you syphon it out you try not to suck out any of the white skin with the liquor?

 

[calumscott]

It's fine, it sticks to the side as the level drops... You end up with hardly any once you've racked.

 

[narmour]

Hi Calum

I've just been reading through the advice you sent me on the PMs, and you say to wait until the pelicle has developed before racking into the secondary. Does it matter then if the pelicle doesn't make it into the cider with the racking? (As you are saying above that the pelicle stays in the primary as you syphon out). I'm guessing that the pelicle is just a small proportion of the bacteria present in the whole vessel, so it is more of an indicator that the bacteria are reproducing.

My cider is 3 weeks old tomorrow and has completely stopped fermentation so I will check the gravity and keep an eye out for a pelicle!!

PS still haven't got round to sending you a sample of wine yet as junior is taking up most of my time but will endeavour to send it asap. :hat:

 

[calumscott]

It doesn't matter - all that tells you is that the lactobacillus has got established - there will be tons of them in the cider itself.

So if you've got a skin forming (remember in the early stages it'll just look a bit sort of oily or dusty almost), go ahead and rack it, the bacteria in the cider will be plenty to get up and running again.

Then tuck it away until the summer! :thumb:

 

[narmour]

Cheers! as always you are a gentleman :

 

[shearclass]

I haev mine in a carboy, so the top is very narrow. Wonder how the pelicle will look? :hmm:

 

[calumscott]

Latest...

 

[calumscott]

As you can see, when racking most of the pelicle gets drawn to the side and sticks leaving very little on the cider by the bottom of the bucket. Very little makes it into the bottling bucket.

Now, as you would expect, I made sure to draw off a sample, just for QC purposes (honest' Guv...).

Well blow me. This is a top notch TC:
- The smell from the bucket was amazing. I'd been told that lactobacillus is really smelly. It's not. It was all apples, fruit, fruit, fruit and fruit. I think I would now be worried if I had a smelly MLF.
- Mellow, rounded, buttery flavour - exactly the flavour notes that should be there, the sharp acidity of the malic has completely gone.
- Dry, dry, dry... but still with body and depth.
- APPLES! The esters thrown by the lactobacillus do something to amplify the apple flavour. I know that some chemicals can heighten the senses to flavour (e.g. salt in cooking, get just enough in and all the flavours are heightened and you don't taste the salt itself...), my hunch is that there is something from the MLF that makes you more receptive to the residual apple flavour.

I've come to the following conclusions:

1. All the cider I like has been through MLF. Even the crispy clear Thatchers single variety ones that are stabilised and force carbed. The flavour profiles are similar.
2. All my ciders will be MLF'd.
3. I'm going to have to accept that I'll have an FV tied up permanently with cider!!

 

[calumscott]

In the bottle about a fortnight.

Properly fizzy, and tastes...

...like proper scrumpy!

Very very chuffed.

Oh, and I might have scored an empty Old Rosie polypin (or it might just be a bag in box afair - either way it should have tons of yeast...) from the pub. A good cider day. :thumb: