Checking in on Cider

I still cant seem to get myself to take a hydrometer reading. I did decide that I wanted to bottle the cider and then I tasted it. We have two. One is a blend of our apples and those from Hutchins Farm-I dont know the variety, I think they were drops. The other is mostly from our apples. The latter tasted vinegary, the former was bitter but very complex.

Here I am siphoning the smaller Ivory Silo Blend that is tangy but has slight taste of vinegar. I decided both of the ciders needed more time. For the 1/2 gallon, I used these smaller jars just until we washed and sterilized the original jar lid and airlock to pore the cider back into.

Leaving the sediment at the bottom I siphoned the 3 gallon cider blend into another carboy. This cider tasted a little bit like the blueberry wine I once made with my friends, while it was still young. I thought when I tasted that wine, it needed to age, my friends threw their portion out. In ten years my portion was delicious. However, this cider wasnt as bad as that wine, but the complexity gives me hope.

The sludge from both was composted. It was hard for me to discard it.

We also have 2 jars + of vinegar brewing. The smallest amount(not pictured here) even has a mother growing.

The mother of vinegar is forming even with the airlocks and in a lower than household temperature.

I took the airlocks off and replaced the top with cheese cloth to allow the oxygen to help in the process.

These I put back downstairs where they may be colder than ideal, but I wanted to keep them away from the cider.

Difficult Cider back on the bench to mellow. Although I feel next year I might have a better idea of what I am doing if we get any apples. (See 2 earlier posts: one in November "Making Apple Cider," and one in December "Hard Cider and Vinegar.)