What is a good time frame for aging cider/apple wine?

I am planning on tasting my cider in the fall (6 months from pitching yeast) and seeing how the flavor is then. How much would the flavors improve aging for a year? 2 year? 5? 10? At what point would I see diminishing returns?

Context

My second (ever) batch of cider is currently entering secondary fermentation, and has left me wondering how long I should age my Cider.

The first batch of cider I made was done "hastily" and I consumed it within a few weeks of bottle conditioning. The flavor tasted like biting into a green apple and was very dry since I didn't back-sweeten it. Based on the common knowledge available this appears to be characteristic of "young cider", whose flavors I would like to try mellowing out by aging.

I found that a period of 3-6 months is the typical recommendation for aging cider. I've also read forums on home-brewing sites that higher ABV ciders benefit more from a longer aging period. The initial hydrometer reading of my cider tells me that I can ferment up to just under 10% ABV if I ferment the cider dry (which my yeast seems to do). This is a bit higher than the typical cider abv.

As a side note about long aging times I'm not really concerned about the cider becoming vinegar (see cider notes*), so I don't think that is a factor for me. Obviously I don't really plan on aging my cider for super long periods of time (longer than 20 years), which I think would be excessive.

Cider notes (FYI):

  • Small 1 Gallon batch
  • Lallemand Belle Saison yeast
  • Simply apple juice
  • Additive: white refined sugar bringing abv from 6.6% abv -> 10% abv
  • Additive: Pectinase (Pectin Enzyme) for clarifying juice
  • Aiming for bottling at secondary fermentation (based on the currently clarity of the brew (golden-translucent) in primary fermentation, I do not believe I will need tertiary fermentation)
  • Xylitol backsweeting, aiming for 24 grams per 12 fl oz.
  • 1/4 cup Dextrose for back carbonation (4.1 Vol of Co2 according to this calculator @ 70 degrees F)

Topic aging flavor cider homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

This is purely anecdotal, but I feel like my ciders have been pretty harsh early on and have improved with time, but it was a quicker timeframe than I had expected (a few months, not years). If you ferment to dryness and don't backsweeten (as I do, I like a dry cider), it seems like the tart "green apple" flavor is par for the course, and doesn't really go away. However, once the "young" flavor goes away in a few months, you may find that the tart apple notes are nice once they stand more on their own. I agree with the 3-6 months that you're seeing.

My recommendation: once you have a fermentation vessel free, start another batch! By the time batch 2 has finished, batch 1 will have aged some, and you can directly compare the two (or 3 or 4...) You'll have no trouble finding friends who are willing to participate in a taste-testing experiment.

Side note: This may be due to my own imperfect attention to fermentation temps etc, but I feel like I've gotten more weird harsh flavors when I've used white sugar as an additive. The unfermentables in brown sugar lend a little bittering that's not a bad thing, malt extract will leave some residual sweetness plus contain nutrients for the yeast, and juice concentrate will probably thicken the body and add more super-apple flavor. Honey is my favorite, and imparts the impression of sweetness plus honey aroma, and has always made the cider go crystal clear after a month for reasons I've never known.

1
answered at

I don't age my ciders intentionally. I control the fermentation so they are clean.

While I have aged cider up to two years in bottles (Got lost in cooler) I prefer it fresh.

My friends that do spontaneous fermentation say they take up to 18 months to melow into something nice. It really depends on how you ferment.

Note: If you add sugar to boost ABV it's called an Apple Wine. You may find better search results using that phrase.

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