Beer Forum

Has anyone ever brewed a cider and then pitched souring bacteria? I was a huge fan of sour beers until a recent Celiac disease diagnosis. I'm investigating brewing alternatives and was wondering if anyone has had success with souring ciders.

My wife lived in San Sebastian, Spain for a year in college and fondly remembers the sidra that is one of the staple beverages of the Basque country. It's a naturally-fermented (malolactic I believe, along with present yeast) cider that is served fairly flat, put poured with some height to bring any CO2 in there of solution. I think Drew Beechum's cider book has a recipe for making something like this.

I feel like I remember the Mad Fermentationist doing a sour cider before. You may want to check out his site as well as the Burgundian Babble Belt for any info on sour ciders. I wouldn't think it would be too difficult. Couldn't you just pitch a huge, healthy lacto starter (a heterofermentive strain that produces both lactic acid AND alcohol) and let it ferment warm (80-85F) for a week or so, then pitch some brett to finish it off?

I made a Brett cider once. Just like the finest Spanish cider, it tasted like ass. I'm never doing that again.

If you want a tart cider, use tart apples. Or add malic acid. Or both. Done.

dmtaylor wrote:I made a Brett cider once. Just like the finest Spanish cider, it tasted like ass. I'm never doing that again.

If you want a tart cider, use tart apples. Or add malic acid. Or both. Done.

What do you think made it taste like ass? When did you ferment with the brett? Primary assumingly? What strain did you use? I have heard of people brewing all brett ciders with some mixed results.

brewinhard wrote:What do you think made it taste like ass?

Filtering it through his ?

mike____ wrote:

brewinhard wrote:What do you think made it taste like ass?

Filtering it through his ?

It probably would have tasted better through my .

brewinhard wrote:What do you think made it taste like ass? When did you ferment with the brett? Primary assumingly? What strain did you use? I have heard of people brewing all brett ciders with some mixed results.

I made this cider in 2011, so my memories are fading, but from what I can recall... I used Cote des Blancs for primary for about a month or so, then added some type of Brett, I can't remember which, and let that sit for a good 6 months or so at cellar temps in the upper 50s to 60 F. By the end of that, it was quite tart, and had that sort of pineapple and goaty funk thing going on, which I thought was okay so I bottled it. Then over the course of the next 2 years, I decided that I didn't like the Brett character in the cider, plus it went from dry & tart to super-ultra-dry-&-tart and way overcarbonated/gushers. At the tail end of 2013, I had only consumed probably 3 or 4 total bottles of the stuff and always found it very difficult to finish an entire 12-oz bottle, so I finally determined that it was time to pour all the rest of the bottles down the drain.

Like I said, if I'd called it a Basque cider, it might win accolades from people in Spain. I don't know any people from Spain. So, to me and anyone else I know, it tasted like ass. So bye bye, never again. No need for Brett in cider. If you don't use Brett, the cider tastes good. If you do, it might not taste good. Not worth the risk IMO.

For whatever else it's worth, if you leave cider sitting in an open bucket for a few months, you can make some absolutely fantastic cider vinegar. I have about 3 gallons left out of 5. I use it for cooking and salads and stuff. It's tasty and useful.

I made a sour cider a few months ago using ECY-20 Bug County. It tuned out really well, but didn't have any funky brett characters like the above post. It has a good sour with a lot of pineapple (this is form the brett but goes well with the apples).

It also fermented dry in just a few weeks.
http://hivemindmead.blogspot.com/2015/0 ... cider.html

It sounds like a real hit or miss thing depending on the bug blend you use. Or just pitch lacto and wine yeast to be safe.