first cider

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fleas

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Mar 21, 2007
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madison wi
i want to start out by saying i havnt brewed in a few months do to the fact i was just buying my beer (what a nasty habit) and this is my first cider so i used a really basic and easy recipe:
4 gl. cider (i will add the 5th gl. after my krausen falls)
3 lb corn sugar
pitched 2 campden taplets 550 mg
24 hours latter
pitched pectic enzyme
and wyeast sweet mead temp around 63

now for the questions:
my house this time of the year sits at around 65 some times less but never more
should i try and heat it up with a heating blanket i havnt checked the temp of the cider since i pitched the yeast any suggestions?
question number two:
wile moving the bucket today it got a little shook up and some of the krausen came out the air lock and got in the water, their is some cider in the airlock now should i boil more water for it or just leave it??

thanks and happy brewing

cheers :mug: fleas
 
My house is around 65F as well...from what I've read here, 70 - 75F is optimal, but 65 will work fine, only slower fermentation as a result. Don't know about an electric blanket, but you can get a "Brew Belt" @ your LHBS for $20 that will keep it @ what you need it to be. Also, do yourself a favor and invest in a stick-on thermometer for $2...best way to keep an eye on fermentation temps.
About the airlock question...I would remove it, wash it in sanitizing solution and then put it back on and fill it. I would think that once your cider comes out of the airlock, it's probably contaminated...and if there's bacteria sitting in there, and you get suckback, you've probably just contaminated your entire batch. I go w/ EdWort's suggestion and use the cheapest vodka you can find in the airlock. No bacteria can live in it. Got mine for $2.99 a bottle @ local grocery store.
As far as your recipe goes...everything looks good, but I was told to use 1 Campden tablet per gallon of cider...I don't know if that's overkill or not, but I would think 1/2 a tablet would be fine.
 
Pyro is correct... 65 will cause your cider to take longer to ferment, but it should still be OK. Depending on the strain, yeast will still work down to about 50. The brewbelt/fermwrap/heating pad would help, but I don't know about an electric blanket.

Also, +1 for the vodka, dump your airlock, sanitize it, and fill it back up with cheap vodka, then you have no worries of contamination.
 
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