It’s not that hard to make a great cider even at home, but sometimes off-flavors arise.
These off-flavors can be a result of bad practices and poor ingredient qualities, so I created a list of the common off-flavors you may experience if you make ciders.
If there’s a way to fix it, I have also mentioned how to!
Vinegary taste
If your cider turned into vinegar or has a strong resemblance to it, it means that there’s been serious contamination somewhere in the process of making.
Vinegary taste is always a result of bacteria such as lactobacillus or acetobacter and it happens as a result of poor sanitation protocol.
On the other hand, a pleasant tart taste which can also be characterized as acidic just means there’s a high amount of good acid that comes from the juice. So, don’t accidentally make the assumption that your cider is bad just because it tastes tart.
Although it’s not difficult to brew ciders, it’s important to have strong fundamentals and leave no room for contamination by cleaning and sanitizing the equipment.
You should use products such as Star San sanitizer at all times and apply it to all equipment such as a fermenter, spoon, spigot, and more tools that get in contact with the cider at any stage.
I recommend that you check my guide on sanitation where I explain how to sanitize equipment and share other useful tips.
How to fix this?
Unfortunately, the vinegary taste is impossible to fix as the contamination already did its job and destroyed the cider, so it’s impossible to do anything to fix it at this point.
Acidic, tart taste
An acidic, tart taste is not the same as a vinegary taste by any meaning.
Ciders are often made from juices such as green apple juices or pears that can have high acidity levels, so it’s expected that the cider will taste acidic.
It’s also worth mentioning that every cider will be more acidic after fermentation than prior because there will be fewer sugars left.
How to fix this?
However, this taste is somewhat enjoyable depending on the preference, so there’s no need to panic. If you want to make the cider less tart, simply increase the sugar content as sweetness balances acidity.
You can check my guide on how I do back sweeten and carbonate ciders as you’ll find some recommendations for dealing with this problem.
You should also count on that high Co2 amounts will mask some acidity and make it more pleasant after bottling!
Oxidation
Oxidation is a common problem that occurs when oxygen enters the cider after fermentation. Oxidation gives stale, wet cardboard-like off-flavors to the cider.
Oxygen is beneficial and acts as a nutrient for the yeast prior to fermentation, but when the fermentation is complete it’s important to limit oxidation.
Oxidation can occur during racking from one container to another, bottling, or by not using an airlock correctly.
Avoid splashing, and whirlpools when stirring (if you bulk prime prior to bottling), use airlocks filled with liquid during fermentation and the entire time while the cider is sitting in the container, and use quality bottles with a good seal.
How to fix oxidation?
It’s not entirely possible to fix oxidation but there is something you can do about it.
First, the longer the oxidated cider ages, the worse it will become as the oxidation effect doesn’t happen instantly.
So, by drinking your cider quickly or in other words, enjoying it fresh you can at least prevent it from going bad to the point where oxidation gives off serious off-flavors.
You can also add more sugar, spices, or Co2 to the cider to mask the effects of oxidation, but it will be hard to really neutralize it.
Sulfur
Sulfur, or rotten eggs off-flavors in ciders are a result of the yeast producing sulfur during primary fermentation and it’s normal.
All yeast strains produce sulfur, but some do more than others, so depending on what yeast strains are used, there will be a greater or lesser amount of sulfur during and after primary fermentation.
You should use yeast strains with minimal sulfur generation if you are in a hurry and want to enjoy your cider without long conditioning.
How to fix this?
Fortunately, sulfur will disappear entirely from your cider if you give it enough time. It’s important that you don’t bottle a cider with a strong sulfur presence as it will be impossible for sulfur off-flavor to completely disappear as there won’t be any way for the fumes to escape.
So, let the cider sit in the secondary fermenter with an airlock on until the sulfur evaporates out.
The time needed for this could be 7 days or more depending on how much sulfur there is.
Cider is still sweet after fermentation?
Ciders should be dry after fermentation, meaning there should be a minimal amount of residual sugars left.
Yeast will usually leave some residual sugars left as rarely the yeast consumes 100% of available sugars, but some yeasts and especially with the help of nutrients and enzymes can make the cider so dry that there are practically no residual sugars left.
The important takeaway is that if your cider tastes sweet after fermentation it means that there are plenty of residual sugars left which means the fermentation didn’t complete for some reason.
I’d first check to see what happened as even if you like the “unfinished product”, the yeast may later activate and ferment the remaining sugars and cause bottle bombs, so don’t bottle!
If you are experiencing stuck cider fermentation, move the fermenter to a warmer temperature and keep it there for a way days. Ideally, you would take a gravity reading so you can notice the difference.
Can cider get skunked?
Cider can’t get skunked as it doesn’t contain any hops. Skunk off-flavor is typical for beers and especially those high-hopped beers like IPAs.
This effect is caused when the hops are exposed to the light, most notably the UV and strong artificial LED lights.
This is the reason why it’s important to keep the beer away from the sun and strong lights at home and it’s suggested to use brown bottles as they offer good protection against light exposure.
Does your cider have a weird taste?
Does your cider have some other weird taste you didn’t find in this article? If so, it could be caused by wild yeast or bad-quality ingredients such as low-budget apple juice or yeast strains.
Wild yeast acts like any other yeast but it’s unpredictable and can create a weird taste in a cider.
Moreover, this taste can vary as every wild yeast is different so you can expect that that weird taste you can’t characterize as a major off-flavor is there due to the wild yeast intervention.
Wild yeast is found in the air and it’s found in the trees and other forms of natural life, so if you live close to the forests or have a tree in front of the house, there might be a strong presence of the invisible wild yeast in the air.
If the wild yeast drops into a fermenter, you can have this problem.
Poor quality of ingredients can also be responsible for weird flavors as you’ll always have better results from good, quality ingredients.
Any, preservative-free juice can be used for making ciders at home, but the low-quality juices are less flavorful, so that means the cider will also be less flavorful and some negative off-flavors may arise due to the lack of desired fruity flavors expected in the cider.
For instance, the yeast will give its contribution alone, so if the juice is not good on its own, the yeast will overwhelm it and the cider will be unbalanced.
And finally, if you used the wrong yeast type it could affect the taste too. For instance, it’s possible to make cider even from regular bakers yeast if you have some in the kitchen, but it won’t produce desired flavors every time.