Ferment temp fluctuations.

Addicted · 04-07-2010, 11:58 PM

Recently i started a five gallon batch of cider,and the room i have it in is varying in temperature.The cider is going from about 71 in the day,to about 67 at night.I used nottingham.Will this affect the quality at all?

brettg20 · 04-08-2010, 04:29 AM

I have a temp controlled chest freezer and the temps are varying between 2-3 degrees, never had a problem. I use white labs though but I don't think that you will have a problem if it's only 2-3 degrees....especially if your high during the day is only 71F.

CvilleKevin · 04-08-2010, 04:48 AM

71 wont hurt it, but try not to let it go over that, the cooler you can keep it the better. At that temp, Notty can ferment out all of the apple sugar in 8-10 days so keep an eye on it if you want any residual sugar.

Addicted · 04-09-2010, 12:20 AM

Thanks guys.Not even sure if i want any residual sugar,I'm just going to let it run It's course and see how i like it.

CvilleKevin · 04-09-2010, 02:40 AM

Sounds good. Even if you ferment it dry, I'd recommend tasting it every day or so once it hits 1.010 so you will know what the residual sugar tastes like if you want to do another batch later. Notty gets pretty dry left to its own devices. How that works with your juice is TBD. I've got 2 kegs of Notty and Johnathan apples from Sept 2008 that I fermented all the way dry. There was so much acid that it is just now getting drinkable.

If you like it dry, see how you like it between 1.002 and 1.004. At that point, the residual sugar is barely noticeable in terms of sweetness, but makes a huge difference from 1.000 or 0.998 in terms of apple taste.