jon_bennett

Recipes 

Hi any info would be gratefully received myself and a couple of friends are attempting to make our own cider we have tried one batch where we have crushed and pressed the apples and have had in fermenting buckets for 2 weeks the fermentation has died down and we have racked off into demijohns anyone advise what to do next or if we have gone wrong also how to make the abv higher many thanks

hellpatrol

Recipes 

make sure the carboy is filled close to the top, you want to eliminate space in there. it will continue fermenting if you keep adding sugar or fresh juice. that is until the yeast is pushed to its tolerance. nottingham is 12% lalvin 1118 is 18%

jon_bennett

Recipes 

Gone to it today and it appears to have stopped doing anything I mean completely flat is there anything I can do to restart it I am thinking about adding sugar and maybe some yeast any thoughts

DanU

Recipes 

Did you take any gravity readings with a hydrometer? That would be one way to tell if your fermentation stopped early or finished fermenting all of the sugar. Since you say it has been over two weeks, my guess is that all of the sugar has been turned to alcohol. If you want it to be stronger you can add more sugar and it should start fermenting again, adding yeast should not be necessary.