fredthecat

Recipes 

im just starting out with homebrewing, but i really want to practice, practice every kind of fermentation, and i realized that my ale fermenting at the moment wont need to be moved to the secondary for at least another 10 days, and want to see if i can ferment some cider in my unused glass carboy in the mean time and bottle it quickly.

im thinking i will pour 1 gallon of pasteurized apple juice into the 5 gallon carboy, add some leftover coopers ale yeast, (should i put in about 5 grams of dried?), wait 10 days, check to see if the FG is low enough to bottle and put it in bottles.

any recommendations for speeding up the fermentation or if this is a bad idea, should i make a yeast starter?

CandleWineProject

Recipes 

Cider does better if allowed to age and mellow. If indoors with sterile juice at SG 1.055 or so, I say around 2 weeks in the primary and at least 2 weeks in the secondary, with much more time in the bottle, like 3 months or so. Craft cider makers would think I'm rushing that, as they work on a year long calendar like winemakers, but they have fresh raw juice, and it would be a waste to rush that.

jcobbs

Recipes 

Cooper's ale yeast makes a decent tasting cider, but (a) 1 gallon of juice in a 5 gallon carboy is way too much headspace--begging for trouble; (b) there will almost certainly be enough fermentation and sugar left after 10 days to create bombs if you bottle it.

I make cider/apfelwein in 1-gallon batches in the jug it comes in--why waste a container? Open it up, pitch the yeast and stick an airlock on it, and don't worry about your carboy.

After 2-4 weeks in the original jug then I rack to a one-gallon carboy, or even a PET water bottle if I don't have a glass carboy open, and allow another 4-6 weeks to finish clearing. Then treat it with Campden & potassium sorbate to make sure all fermentation is stopped. At that point you have something that you can bottle without an explosion and should only vaguely remind you of paint thinner. But it is drinkable at that point and will improve with age.

Do a search for the term "rhino farts" on this website--once your nose gets a whiff of apple juice that has only been fermenting for 10 days you'll have no problem letting it age for a few more weeks

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Hickory Glynn Winery & Brewery

fredthecat

Recipes 

thanks for the advice, but yeah its just not worth the effort i guess for a likely failure or mediocre drink. yeah ill just wait until i have a totally free primary