Couple cider questions

I am making cider from apples. So far I have got 7 gallons of cider (5gal carboy & 2 - 1gal jugs) fermenting away in the basement.

Here is the plan - Wait one week after primary fermentation completes then rack the cider.

Questions
1- how long should i leave it before bottling? (guessing until it clears and/or to taste but not sure here)

2- should i put camden tablets in before bottling if im planning on bottling it still or is this not necessary?

3- when aging in bulk or bottle what temp range is best? Basement is steady 70F now and will cool to around 50 in a cpl months

Thanks
Nobble

I'll give a crack at these:

1. As long as you can stand, well, at least untill it's clear, if you used fresh pressed cider, then that might take a long time, especally if you let the cider wild ferment, pectic enzyme is advised.

2. Nope, not necessary. Once it's all cleared (which you should do before you bottle anyway) there shouldn't be much yeast floating about anyway, and any amount that is there won't hurt anything.

3. basement is perfect, as long as it doesn't get above 80 or so, or below freezing it should be fine.

I always use campden tablets for wines and ciders, especially if I'm dealing with fresh or frozen fruit. I use campden tablets, one per gallon, at the beginning, and then at every other racking and at bottling. I don't have an so2 meter, so this is just guestimating, but I'd like to keep it about 50 ppm so that the cider or wine is protected, but be below any taste threshold.

Campden tablets kill wild yeast and bacteria, as well as help prevent oxidation. That's the sole purpose of campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite).

One big question from my end, what's your recipe? I assume it is just straight juice, but are you using natural fermentation? Because if so, you don't need any campden, because it will simple kill off the wild yeasts you are trying to use. Also, as the first response pointed out, you should probably pick up some pectic enzyme to help with the clearing.

*edit Where are the pictures! haha And what kind of apples are you using?

I know after thought was i shoulda took pictures.

I did some reading and got hooked up with local brew supply shot did all the sanitizing with a one step sanitizer, using the airlocks ect..

Not wild yeast the two one gallons i used champagne yeast(forgot to save the bag so not sure what kind think it was white labs) and the 5 gallon is nottingham. I did the camden tablets 1/gal at the start waited 48 hours then pitched.

FYI i am an experimenter so gonna prob split up the 5 gallon and add some different blends like cranberry, cinnamon and nutmeg spices, and possibly some honey & raisens. Not sure yet just thinking of ways to get different flavors to see what id like. Gonna keep atleast one straight from each of the yeasts to know what kinda base i got.

All the apples were from my in-laws new property which we were told had cider apples. I believe it cause i worked a local apple farm here in NY and all these trees are not your normal local eatin apples or id recognize em. Also had some crabapple trees which are suppose to work nice in cider We'll see.

Thanks for the quick replies
Nobble