This is a picture of a cider with sour cherries (already racked) and a few oak cubes. I assume it is infected? Didn’t even know that was possible given the fact that a cider goes down to close to 1000. My question: should I keg asap? Original plan was to kill yeast, filter with gelatin and carbonate.
[EDIT: picture taken in relatively dark basement, so color is off]
This is a picture of the cider. It’s less muddy in reality than in the picture.
What’s the gravity and how does it taste?
I never bothered measuring original gravity, but assuming it was around 1.045, FG now is 1.005.
I racked the drink off the cherries about a month ago. At that time it was very dry and sour, obviously because of the malic acid and the sour cherries, which was ok as I am going to backsweeten with honey. Since then it has mellowed quite a bit, which is good, obviously, but I think I’m starting to perceive a vague phenolic flavor… But it’s not ruined, by all means.
Keep in mind that not everything that can find a food source necessarily needs a sugar source to eat. Many wild yeast, like brett, and some bacteria can feast on leftover fermentation compounds from the original fermentation and even some non-fermentation compounds in the liquid. So the fact that the cider went to 1.000 does not mean there is nothing that could be metabolized and you’re looking at some good evidence to that point.
If it tastes good now you might as well kill everything growing in it. No reason to create an opportunity for unpleasant flavors to develop unless you’re more curious about what might happen than enjoying what you intended to make.
I’m not curious at all. I have a Supplication clone in a barrel that I can’t wait to taste in 1.5 years. So the critter slaughterhouse it is.
Naturally fermented ciders are a beautiful thing. I know you dig on mixed fermentation. Might as well let 'er go. Or split off a portion for stabilization now, and allow the other portion to mature.
You can always sulfite and backsweeten the later.
If you used unpasteurized cider, the bugs came from the cider, which means you have truly ‘wild’ yeast to play with now!
No, this was pasteurized apple juice and Notty. Infection may have come from the oak cubes (from sherry barrel) which I boiled for five minutes. I’m worried about the phenolic flavor.