N3WWN

Recipes 

Hi!

Now that I've had my cider in secondaries for about 2 weeks, should I be considering some kind of sterilization/preservation for the rest of the time in the secondaries? How about before I bottle?

I put a crushed campden tablet in each gallon about a week after racking to the 2ndaries (based on a couple recipes I read). I waited the 1 week to make sure fermentation was complete.

I plan to keep them in the secondaries for another month to 6 weeks.... unless they clear up really well, in which case I'm planning on bottling earlier.

Do I need to keep adding more campden tablets during the time in the 2ndaries? Do I need add campden tablets in the bottling bucket to ensure that the batch is sterile going into the bottles?

Am I being too cautious? Am I completely crazy about bottling as soon as they're clear?

Thanks!

-Rich

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Planning - Cranberry wine, Tea Crabapple Lambic, Pinot Noir
Primary - 20 oz Rum in the Raw (experiment) - 1.150 OG
Secondary - 1 gal Chokecherry wine
Secondary - 5 gal California Uncommon (dry hopping)
Bottled - Cherry Apfelwein
Aging - 1 gal Still of the Night Mead - 1.132 OG
Drinking - ESB, Root Beer, Tank It Down Ordinary Bitter

OdinOneEye

Recipes 

Personally, I just wait until the bubbles stop passing through, then watching the clarity, then dropping the Campden tabs, but that's just me. Actually, it's a good idea to wait for your cider to clear out before bottling- there'll be a lot less crap in your bottles and it'll just look better.

Honestly, I'd say that before you put the stuff in the bottling bucket, drop one Campden tab per gallon into your carboy, wait 24 hours, then siphon your cider into the bucket and bottle. But definitely wait for the bubbles to stop passing, other wise you'll get bottle bombs.

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I never met a homebrew I didn't like.

N3WWN

Recipes 

Thanks, OOE!

When dropping campden, do you crush it and stir/agitate the batch?

I added a crushed campden tab into each of two carboys and had to stir it gently to get it to mix in (some of it was just sitting on top of some kreusen residue). Doing so also resuspended some of the sediment.

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Planning - Cranberry wine, Tea Crabapple Lambic, Pinot Noir
Primary - 20 oz Rum in the Raw (experiment) - 1.150 OG
Secondary - 1 gal Chokecherry wine
Secondary - 5 gal California Uncommon (dry hopping)
Bottled - Cherry Apfelwein
Aging - 1 gal Still of the Night Mead - 1.132 OG
Drinking - ESB, Root Beer, Tank It Down Ordinary Bitter

Caplan

Recipes 

Always crush campden tablets - then rack your cider on top of the powder. Trying to stir them to dissolve in a glass carboy isn't easy!

N3WWN

Recipes 

That's a great idea! Thanks, Caplan!

Speaking of difficult things to do... when I racked a cider last night, I had a hard time keeping the syphon going due to CO2 coming out of solution and gathering at the top of the racking cane.

I tried increasing the vertical distance between the fermentors and slowing down the rate (using one of those little pinch clamps) to try to maintain the syphon... but that didn't help much.

Any suggestions on how to:

A) Maintain a good syphon with lots of emulsified CO2

or

B) Remove some of the CO2 from the solution to improve the syphon

-Rich

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Planning - Cranberry wine, Tea Crabapple Lambic, Pinot Noir
Primary - 20 oz Rum in the Raw (experiment) - 1.150 OG
Secondary - 1 gal Chokecherry wine
Secondary - 5 gal California Uncommon (dry hopping)
Bottled - Cherry Apfelwein
Aging - 1 gal Still of the Night Mead - 1.132 OG
Drinking - ESB, Root Beer, Tank It Down Ordinary Bitter

Caplan

Recipes 

The fact you have CO2 and it collects in the racking cane isn't a problem. Just be patient when syphoning, it'll be fine.

Just to clarify my earlier post N3WWN I should have mentioned that you don't really need to add campden to a cider that's just being racked a third time (after only a couple of weeks in secondary) for an 'extra clearing'. I leave mine for months in secondaries without adding campden. The 'campden tip' is based on my wine making experience where they age for years and need it!

pariah

Recipes 

Wait are you guys serious? I racked a cider about 5 weeks ago and didn't bother adding any campden...am I still cool? I wasn't planning on using campden again on it at all.

N3WWN

Recipes 

Caplan, the problem I have with the CO2 is that it stops the syphon... I then need to reprime the syphon and expunge more cider as waste as I get purge the water. Any suggestions for that problem?

pariah, I don't think you NEED to use campden. I read that you can use and wanted to use it as an extra insurance policy But, I'm new to this and just learning... but I'd say that, if you're cider is clear and doesn't have a discolored scum on top, no "strings" through the cider and it still smells good, you're in the clear.

-Rich

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Planning - Cranberry wine, Tea Crabapple Lambic, Pinot Noir
Primary - 20 oz Rum in the Raw (experiment) - 1.150 OG
Secondary - 1 gal Chokecherry wine
Secondary - 5 gal California Uncommon (dry hopping)
Bottled - Cherry Apfelwein
Aging - 1 gal Still of the Night Mead - 1.132 OG
Drinking - ESB, Root Beer, Tank It Down Ordinary Bitter

Caplan

Recipes 

Its sounds odd - CO2 does slow some of my racking but not to the point of stopping it. Are you just using a racking cane and pvc tube?

N3WWN

Recipes 

Yup, just a clear plastic racking cane and that clear tubing that has the same inside diameter as the outside diameter of the racking cane.

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Planning - Cranberry wine, Tea Crabapple Lambic, Pinot Noir
Primary - 20 oz Rum in the Raw (experiment) - 1.150 OG
Secondary - 1 gal Chokecherry wine
Secondary - 5 gal California Uncommon (dry hopping)
Bottled - Cherry Apfelwein
Aging - 1 gal Still of the Night Mead - 1.132 OG
Drinking - ESB, Root Beer, Tank It Down Ordinary Bitter