truckjohn

Recipes 

There's got to be a typo in there... OG = 1.56 = sugar syrup with sugar in the bottom that forms crystals on everything... Perhaps you meant 1.056.. which is within the right range for starting out with store juice and a little sugar....

You can add pectic enzyme any time.

My typical recommendation for using Store jug juice is to supplement and/or backsweeten it with Apple juice concentrate rather than sugar. The more expensive "Organic" stuff works best in my opinion.. This helps add some "Character" back to the cider..... Otherwise, it ferments out pretty bland.

Thanks

Matt723

Recipes 

Yes, definitely a typo! Thanks for point that out.

I'm trying to make a small 1G batch of 5 Day Sweet Country Cider.

My intent is to try and drink some this weekend for the NHL All Star game with some buddy. One of them prefers cider to beer so that's why I'm doing up this small batch for him.

It's been fermenting since Monday night (so almost 3 days), I'm going to take a reading tonight. I figure (correct me if I'm wrong) that if I bottle the cider at 1.02 that it will carbonate slightly faster and be ready by Sunday (3 more days) I know it will be close but I'm hoping it's somewhat drinkable. I also plan on pasteurizing the bottles Sunday morning depending on the level of carbonation.

Am I thinking in the right direction or would it be better to let the yeast finish then bottle with priming sugar (or organic juice). Obviously it wouldn't be ready for Sunday.

Thanks again for all your help!

truckjohn

Recipes 

If you only made a 1 gallon batch to start with... then you can't possibly get more than 10 beer bottles (128 oz/gallon)... Now.. Realistically - you are more likely to get 8 or 9 bottles since you don't want each bottle 1/4 full of yeast sludge..... You will most likely drink this during the game.... If not - you will probably have 1 or 3 bottles left (Unless it tastes horrible....)

If you are planning to drink it on Sunday... It's Thursday now... Stick your fermenting jug in the fridge when it hits 1.02 or 1.01.. Rack it off the yeast 12 or 24 hours later... You will probably be left with enough cider to fill a 3L jug... but don't get greedy and suck up a bunch of yeast sludge.... Leave this in the Fridge till Game Day Morning..... Sunday morning - Rack it off again and mix in Apple Juice Concentrate till it tastes good... and then drink it all up during the Hockey game... For most people, this ends up around 1.02 range.

Don't fool with bottling it and pasteurizing it if you are going to drink it 3 hours later.... It will take a couple days of sitting to get over the "Bottle shock"..... which puts you into next week.... If you were doing this in October - planning for the NHL Stanley Cup game, my advice would be different....

Thanks

Pickled_Pepper

Recipes 

I agree. I don't see any way to get it carbonated by Sunday. There might be enough CO2 in suspension to give it a little fizzle so I'd just try and be delicate when racking it.

Matt723

Recipes 

Thanks for your suggestions guys!

I ended up racking to secondary on Friday night at 1.028 then cold crashed the overnight at 34F in my shed. Sat morning I bottled (no priming sugar) and let them sit on my kitchen counter to warm up for about 2-3 hours (house is at 72F). I gave them a good shake 2-3 times while they where warming up then put them back in the fridge to get them cold in time for the NHL Allstar skills competition on Saturday (maybe 6-7 hours). The end result was very good, maybe not quite as carbonated as I had hoped for but the taste was great! FG was 1.024.

The next day (Sunday) there was considerably more carbonation, almost perfect in my opinion. I never actually ended up pasteurizing any of the bottles (most got drank this weekend). Also, I'm not really sure if the shaking I did really did anything or not... my assumption would be that it would help get the yeast back in suspension but I don't know if the bottles ever actually warmed up enough for the yeast to get active again.

When I opened the bottles (grolsh flip-tops) there is a very nice 'pop' just like when you open a new grolch beer. I'm new at this (bottle carbing) but a lot of the pressure seemed to be in the airspace in the top of the bottle, my assumption was that the pressure would eventually force itself into the liquid and thus carbonate the cider. If someone could comment and let me know if this is a correct assumption or not I would love to know. Another reason I'm thinking that theory is correct is because after leaving the bottles to sit a day longer in the fridge there was more carbonation in the cider.

Anyhow, I love this recipe and I put down a second batch Saturday that I can hopefully have ready in time for the Superbowl! All my buddies loved it and a lot of them were asking me for the recipe as if I am some magical cider maker now... hahaha. Thanks for all your help guys!

truckjohn

Recipes 

Yep - the yeast are still working away... Just a bit slower.... Kinda like lagering a beer...

Don't bother shaking them up - there's plenty of yeast in suspension to go around...

What you will find is that as it sits - it gets less and less sweet and more and more carbonated until you hit the limit of what your flip top cap will hold - and then the excess just leaks out... Your best bet is to not let them sit too long - or it gets pretty bitter.. and then you gotta age it out a long time to make it taste reasonable again...

Thanks

Matt723

Recipes 

Would this be where pasteurizing would work well? Stop the yeast and then I can simply age it? Although I only have one bottle left now, that'll be gone tonight... but I'd still like to know.

Also, are you saying that my flip tops won't break but rather leak? That's good to hear cause it was definitely a concern of mine! I search around for information as to what they can take for pressure... found lots of info but nothing I could understand that well.