Kviek Cider Notes

These are my taste notes on the Kviek Cider. Its now been two weeks now since I bottled it.

The quick rundown of where we are now. 3 gallons Walmart Great Value apple juice, 1lb brown sugar, 1 pkt Voss Kviek DRY yeast, 2 tsp nutrient at pitch. Fermented at 60F. Bottled, no priming. I wanted to keep it as simple as I could to get the best profile of what this yeast will do. I added ALL of the nutrients at pitch, since this yeast works so fast the normal staggered dosage would not work.

The first time I tasted the cider was two weeks after pitch. It was done probably 2-3 days after pitch, but because this yeast doesnt like to drop I let it sit as long as I could.

What I initially was getting from it at bottling day was a semi sweet cider with little apple character left. Not much for apple, but there was a bit of nectarine. And what I take as residual sweetness. But at .996 i find that hard to believe,, but it even has a little body to it.
I wasnt surprised that the apple wasnt there because this was a violent 2ish day ferment, and that drives off a lot of the character of the fruit.
Aroma is somewhere between a cider, and a blast of Kviek yeast cake. Mostly because there is still a bit of yeast in suspension.
Very slight Alcohol burn,, but so little you might almost miss it unless you were looking for it. But at the 10% that it finished at,, I was sorta expecting some heat. But a lot more than this.  

At bottling day, two weeks after pitch. It was a very drinkable cider. As far as 10% goes.

So here we are now 2 week after bottling. 4 weeks since pitch. It has really cleared up. But very little sediment. Seems quite compact for how long it takes to flocc out. 

Now it smells like a cider. Not a big apple bomb, but apple for sure, plus some of that nectarine. Nothing for yeast like before. Taste is pretty much the same thing, but more apple now and more of that nectarine or peach maybe now.
The alcohol burn has mellowed, making this a pretty easy drinker. But at the 10% it jumps on ya pretty quick.

The dryness is now a bit more noticeable, but I don’t think I would call it dry. There is a sweetness there and it still has an OK body to it. This certainly does not feel like a 0.996 finish at all. 

So I think this cider combo was a complete success. Getting a drinkable 10% cider thats not gasoline would have been fine. Getting one that tastes as good as this is unbelievable. 

None of the flavors are overpowering, so this will be the perfect candidate for adding flavor to. I don’t think I would have thought peach would go well in a cider, so maybe we should get on that wagon next.. After all, peaches are at the farmers markets right now. We will see

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