Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Last Year's Apple Juice  (Read 1922 times)

Offline neddles

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 281
Last Year's Apple Juice
« on: September 24, 2016, 07:49:48 pm »
I'm getting ready to do my first pressing this year and realized I have several gallons of juice from last year's pressing still in the freezer. These were frozen right after pressing. If I were to thaw them and toss in some yeast should I sulfite them first or should there be very little wild stuff left after a year below 0F? What would you guys do here?

Offline el_capitan

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 491
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2016, 08:42:39 pm »
In the past I have frozen fresh-pressed cider, and upon thawing it started to ferment on its own.  I let the wild yeast take it, and I enjoyed that batch the most out of the five batches I did that fall.  I did yeast trials, and here were my rankings:

1) Wild yeast
2) Cote des Blancs
3) Munton's Ale
4) Montrachet
5) Pasteur Champagne

Offline erockrph

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 7788
  • Chepachet, RI
    • The Hop WHisperer
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2016, 03:30:25 am »
There's certainly the possibility that some wild critters may still be viable, but even if they are they're probably really sluggish at this point. You could sulfite if you want to be 100% sure, but if it were me I'd just pitch some yeast and let it go. I'm really liking D-47 in my ciders lately, but I've had good results with 71B as well.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline dmtaylor

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4724
  • Lord Idiot the Lazy
    • YEAST MASTER Perma-Living
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2016, 07:20:05 am »
I'm a devout pasteurizer.  I'd bring to 160 F for 15 minutes, then pitch Cote des Blancs.  Should work out great.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline neddles

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 281
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2016, 06:04:25 am »
Thanks for the advice everyone. I took one of these jugs out of the freezer and thawed it with the plan to drink it fresh before using the others for fermentation. Upon thawing it smells and tastes great but it has a very thick gelatinous texture. Gloopy is probably the best way to describe it. It's pretty weird. It there something about freezing the fresh juice that would have caused this or is my cider somehow off? Thoughts?

Offline dmtaylor

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4724
  • Lord Idiot the Lazy
    • YEAST MASTER Perma-Living
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2016, 10:06:53 am »
It probably has something to do with pectin and a physical phenomenon known as freeze-thaw.  I'll bet if you add pectinase and/or ignore the slime, it will ferment out fine anyway.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline zwiller

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 570
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2016, 10:28:37 am »
For some reason this caught my eye...  Never made cider.  I am fortunate to have some good cider made locally.  Can you guys point in right direction to learn or give cliff notes.  Is it as simple as, pour cider into fermenter/add yeast/ferment/keg?  How long it take? 
Sam
Sandusky, OH

Offline dmtaylor

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4724
  • Lord Idiot the Lazy
    • YEAST MASTER Perma-Living
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2016, 10:31:02 am »
For some reason this caught my eye...  Never made cider.  I am fortunate to have some good cider made locally.  Can you guys point in right direction to learn or give cliff notes.  Is it as simple as, pour cider into fermenter/add yeast/ferment/keg?  How long it take?

You can keep it as simple as you want, and go as fast as you want.  Personally I recommend low and slow for the best tasting cider if you are patient, but you can have a halfway decent cider in as little as a month if you're super eager.  My copied & pasted cliff's notes for my best ciders:

Pasteurize at 160 F for 15 minutes, cool, pitch Cote des Blancs yeast (it's the best), let it ferment for a week or so, rack to secondary, then begin monitoring specific gravity every few days. Aim for 1.010-1.015. When gravity gets to that point, add gelatin to knock out most of the yeast, then a couple days later, rack again, add sorbate and sulfite to hurt the remaining yeast and keep the cider cold for another month or so, trying to prevent it from refermenting. If it starts up again, add more gelatin, sorbate and sulfite if necessary. Once the cider stabilizes fully, you can bottle or keg it. Then enjoy.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline zwiller

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 570
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2016, 10:39:35 am »
Thanks Dave!  Do I understand this right?  You are trying to keep the stop the yeast and retain some sweetness?   
Sam
Sandusky, OH

Offline dmtaylor

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4724
  • Lord Idiot the Lazy
    • YEAST MASTER Perma-Living
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2016, 11:39:58 am »
Thanks Dave!  Do I understand this right?  You are trying to keep the stop the yeast and retain some sweetness?

Yes, that's what my process does.  Most people don't do it my way, but then again I don't like their cider as much as I love mine, so...  ;)
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline zwiller

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 570
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #10 on: September 29, 2016, 12:24:10 pm »
I get that.  Just making sure I understood.  Around here the cider goes bad fast even refrigerated...  Not sure what bug would do that, but all the local hard cider is wild.  It's highly variable and never the same twice but rarely you get some and it's perfect.  Fresh/tart/refreshing.  In any event, I always thought the cider guys did campden.  Why heat/pasteurize?  Flavor thing?
Sam
Sandusky, OH

Offline dmtaylor

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4724
  • Lord Idiot the Lazy
    • YEAST MASTER Perma-Living
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #11 on: September 29, 2016, 01:12:20 pm »
Campden does not kill everything.  Pasteurization does.  I want complete control over my fermentations, nothing wild at all.  I have made good wild fermented ciders in the past.  However I have also made several not so good wild ones as well.  I want to be in charge.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline zwiller

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 570
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2016, 01:45:00 pm »
THANKS AGAIN. 

Sorry to steal the thread neddles.  Mom and Dad freeze most all their juice (no apple tho) and never had any issues.  I'd make applejack with it if it were me.   
Sam
Sandusky, OH

Offline el_capitan

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 491
Re: Last Year's Apple Juice
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2016, 07:02:25 pm »
THANKS AGAIN. 

Sorry to steal the thread neddles.  Mom and Dad freeze most all their juice (no apple tho) and never had any issues.  I'd make applejack with it if it were me.   

I made some applejack last winter.  Started with hard cider, and freeze-distilled it down.  It ended up pretty strong, but also really darn tart.  I froze some maple sap, planning to jack that down too to test whether or not I can save some fuel during syrup season next spring.  It does work.  I've thought about mixing the concentrated sap/syrup with the applejack and calling it Maplejack.  But for now, everything is still frozen in the freezer because it's not too high on my "I care" list.