First Cider, Quick Question!

Hey guys! New to the forums, but I've learned just about everything I know from here.

I started a small 2 gal batch Saturday morning to get a feel for all this.

Ingredients/equipment
- 2gal Whole Foods Organic apple juice
- S-04 yeast
- Pectic enzyme + Yeast Nutrient
- 5 gal Carboy Primary
- 2 One gal secondaries

OG: 1.059

It's been 4 full days and the bubbling has slowed waaaay down. I tested the gravity and its sitting at 1.010. Gave it a test taste, and it tasted pretty rough.

Is it a good time to rack to secondary or should I wait another couple of days? I'm also assuming it's not supposed to taste very pleasing during primary either?

Thanks guys!

Hi would leave it and test to see if fg stays the same.

Oops for the next 3 days

I imagine it has further to go. 1.010 seems high to me for a cider. I have only ever brewed one batch of apfelwein and it fermented from 1.067 to 1.004. I will be bottling it soon.

leave it alone for a few more days. wont hurt to leave it alone. whats the rush?

i have a cider fermenting right now and its been about 4 days. i plan on leaving it alone for 2 weeks before i even check the FG.

I usually wait 3-4 weeks before racking. wait till its done. us-04 should ferment that down to 0.998 easily. racking is mainly to aid in clearing. it wont start to clear till the yeasties are done

WayFrae said:

I imagine it has further to go. 1.010 seems high to me for a cider. I have only ever brewed one batch of apfelwein and it fermented from 1.067 to 1.004. I will be bottling it soon.

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be careful. once I bottled a apfelwine that went from 1.070 to 1.006. about two months in bottle, I came home to broken glass. depending on the yeast, it should go below 1.000. just takes a couple months when SG is that high

Terek said:

be careful. once I bottled a apfelwine that went from 1.070 to 1.006. about two months in bottle, I came home to broken glass. depending on the yeast, it should go below 1.000. just takes a couple months when SG is that high

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Yeah it seems to have stopped but I will keep an eye on it. I checked the gravity last week and it was 1.004 and then yesterday it was still 1.004 so I figure I am good. I will probably still wait another week to see if it changes any. The gravity samples have been tasting great! Thanks for the heads up!

Alright, looks like it's gonna sit a few more days. Tuff to be patient with a first batch ha. Thanks guys, happy brewing!

There is absolutely no need to do secondary with cider unless you need to free that bigger vessel for some other purpose.

Regarding the rough taste, it might be caused by the nutrient. If you're planning to bottle then let it ferment down to 1.002 or less. Sometimes, I cold crash at 1.020 by putting it in PET bottles and straight into the fridge. It drops clear in a day or two and tastes great (still a bit sweet).

podz said:

There is absolutely no need to do secondary with cider unless you need to free that bigger vessel for some other purpose.

Regarding the rough taste, it might be caused by the nutrient. If you're planning to bottle then let it ferment down to 1.002 or less. Sometimes, I cold crash at 1.020 by putting it in PET bottles and straight into the fridge. It drops clear in a day or two and tastes great (still a bit sweet).

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Well I wanted to get it to a secondary to free up my big one for a trial batch of mead. I plan on back sweetening to around 1.020 and bottle pasteurizing. Don't really have the ability to cold crash at the moment (winter I will though ha). Never thought yeast nutrient could negatively affect flavor considering you really don't add some big ammount