Thanks for the info Kevin. You definitely deserve a lot of praise for everything you do on this forum. I bought the s-23 prior to finding your post... my newest batch that I started Monday is using nottingham. I'm going to use your method of rack-crash-rack and hope that is enough. I dont have keg equipment yet. But I am gradually getting swing cap bottles and plan to use them once fermentation is complete. Thanks again
wCarter - good luck with the US05 batch. Tinfoil and holes will work OK while the cider is fermenting hard. Once it slows down, I'd recommend getting a new bung - it will be worth the 65 cents or whatever your LHBS charges. Bungs can sometimes have off flavors - there was a batch of fermenthaus bungs out a couple years ago that were really obnoxious smelling and the smell would transfer. FH seems to have got that straightened out recently so if you have a new bung, you should be OK.
I went down and picked up a few bungs just be safe in the future. I got a little worried about the tinfoil, i took it off and the underside turned black. My thoughts are that the aluminum reacted to the oxegyn based sanitizer i use.
Think the juice will still be ok?
I also moved the juice to a different container. The bungs i bought at the store didnt smell but i dont want to take the chance.
thanks for the feedback
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Last edited by wcarter1227; 12-30-2009 at 11:50 PM.
Damn, apart from an amazing, informative post, you my friend (the OP, Kevin) have what I'd call:
An APPLE problem! (just see my sig )
For my next cider I'll reread, ingest, say thanks, and drink to your health!
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- I drink, therefore, I dram.
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When you rack, do you backfill it with anything to fill in the extra space in the bottle? I am about ready to rack a 1 gallon batch, and am not quite sure what to do. In your pictures on page 15, you show a batch that you racked, crashed and then racked again... and it seems to be as full as the 3 carboys next to it? Shouldn't it be less full after crashing it?
jrss13 - when I rack, I usually fill the headspace with CO2. Sometimes for test batches I skip this step if I dont care about it oxidizing a little bit. Dont worry if you dont have CO2 - I skipped this step for years and nothing horrible ever happened, it just wont keep as well.
I use a converted keg charger, which is in that same picture on p15. One 16oz CO2 cartridge holds about twice as much CO2 as a big can of wine conditioner. If you are doing gallon batches, a can of wine conditioner will last a long time.
In the pic on pg15, both carboys on the left have been racked. The two on the right are still fermenting. They are a little more full than the ones on the left
Thanks for the info Kevin. I didn't realize id need a wine conditioner. Perhaps i should make something similar to what you use. I have a 1 gallon carboy going with cider. A 6 gallon carboy going with cider. A 1 gallon carboy going with mead and 1 gallon carboy going with welchs grape juice wine for curiosity/fun. I didn't plan to use any conditioner or co2... but I should probably look into it huh?
You can skip the wine conditioner if you are going to be drinking this in the next few months. If you want it to last more than 6-9 months without chemicals, then it helps to keep contact with air to a minimum.
Sounds good. Thanks. I'll have to look around for a keg charger. I assume you blast the co2 in while the bung is in... and just shoot it through the opening? Would it be wise to do the same in swing cap bottles too... or just while aging in carboys?
I add the CO2 after racking, before putting the new bung on the carboy. I've never tried to do it to bottles, as that is a much smaller proportion of air to cider.
I made my 14 gallons, boosted with dextrose ans honey, OG was 1.068. Pitched 3, 11g sachetes of S-04. It has been 2 weeks almost and it is only at 1.022. It has been fermenting around mid 60's. When I checked the gravity it was at 67 degrees, so that should be about the right temp. Never used 04 before, the sample tasted fantastic. Do you think it will go down some more? What should I do? No activity in the airlock, but that doesn't mean there isn't activity. Thoughts?
CvilleKevin
You know your SO-4 yeast and cider for sure. I transfered it to secondary today and it was @ 1.002. It fermented mostly in the mid 50's. I ramped the temp up to 70 a few weeks ago and it took off and finished pretty quick. Temps dropped to the mid 50's again with the weather. Tastes great! No doubt the best combo of cider I've made. Love the S-04. Do you think I can just bottle as usual with some dextrose, or should I use a little bottling yeast? I want to make half of it carbed and the rest still. Would it be OK to bottle the still as is? Thanks again for all your input. It is awesome how much info is in this thread.
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