just racked my first cider

I just racked my first cider ever from primary to secondary carboy. I'm only making 1 gal for fun and want to keep the batches small while I'm experimenting. This one consists of two 1/2 gal jugs of store bought cider with no preservatives, 1/2 lb of brown sugar, and a packet of EC-1118 champagne yeast. If fermented like crazy and it's been two weeks, the fermentation slowed to a bubble in the air lock per just under a minute. I just racked it into another carboy.

How do you guys siphon your brew without drinking half of it? I had a few gulps - it tastes great BTW.

I started another gal batch in another carboy, consisting of 4 frozen from concentrate apple juice mixes (again no preservatives, just juice and vitamin C) and water. I poured the yeast sediment into this one as a starter. I used a higher concentration of juice in this one to try and get more apple flavor.

I can't wait to bottle my first batch!

-Rob

When I need to do a siphon I sanitize an air lock and put that on the end of the hose.... lips only touch the air lock and not the hose. And make sure the hose is long enough to help hold the seal.

I normally have a bottling spigot installed in my buckets.... I connect direct to the keg and never need a siphon now...

I use an auto-siphon to transfer my brews. I'm afraid that if I sucked some good brew or cider down that hose, I might not stop until I slosh when I walk...

If you do not have an auto siphon the best way is to fill your siphon tube with sterile water or another sterile liquid before starting the siphon. Plug one end with finger and put other end into the brew. when you let go it should start the siphon. Let the water come out and be quick and stop the brew before it comes out. Empty water from the secondary and start the siphon again this time it should be all brew.

Putting any brew equip in your mouth before using is a HUGE no-no. I would get away from potentially disastrous habits like that before you move onto bigger batches. Trust me, you will regret not spending the $15 on an autosiphon, or taking a little extra time to siphon the way I typed out when you have a 5 gallon batch with mold floating in it.

How's she gettin on? I'm surprised to finally see another Nova Scotian online. Welcome to HBT!

When I have to transfer from one carboy to another I use my auto-siphon, which only costs about $17 at our LHBS. It's a great investment and something that'll help you keep your cider sanitary. Once you've graduated to larger batches of cider you might want to consider installing a spigot into the side of your primary fermentation bucket (like jtrainer suggested). All of my primaries have them and it makes transferring into secondary or a keg very easy. Then once secondary fermentation is complete it makes an excellent bottling bucket.

Thanks guys for the input. I'll keep my eye's open for an auto siphon.

Lunarpancake said:

If you do not have an auto siphon the best way is to fill your siphon tube with sterile water or another sterile liquid before starting the siphon. Plug one end with finger and put other end into the brew. when you let go it should start the siphon. Let the water come out and be quick and stop the brew before it comes out. Empty water from the secondary and start the siphon again this time it should be all brew.

Click to expand...

Great tip, thanks.

Lunarpancake said:

Putting any brew equip in your mouth before using is a HUGE no-no. I would get away from potentially disastrous habits like that before you move onto bigger batches. Trust me, you will regret not spending the $15 on an autosiphon, or taking a little extra time to siphon the way I typed out when you have a 5 gallon batch with mold floating in it.

Click to expand...

Yes, this raised some warnings in my head. I am concerned about contaminating my brew.

SeamusMac said:

How's she gettin on? I'm surprised to finally see another Nova Scotian online. Welcome to HBT!

Click to expand...

Awesome. What area are you in? Dartmouth here. What are the best places to get supplies?

SeamusMac said:

When I have to transfer from one carboy to another I use my auto-siphon, which only costs about $17 at our LHBS. It's a great investment and something that'll help you keep your cider sanitary. Once you've graduated to larger batches of cider you might want to consider installing a spigot into the side of your primary fermentation bucket (like jtrainer suggested). All of my primaries have them and it makes transferring into secondary or a keg very easy. Then once secondary fermentation is complete it makes an excellent bottling bucket.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of getting a bucket with a spigot. I'll do that when I move onto larger batches.

BTW I see you have an English bitter on the go. Have you tried Propeller's ESB? I like that one lots! Is yours anything like it?

Thanks,
-Rob

Lunarpancake said:

If you do not have an auto siphon the best way is to fill your siphon tube with sterile water or another sterile liquid before starting the siphon. Plug one end with finger and put other end into the brew. when you let go it should start the siphon. Let the water come out and be quick and stop the brew before it comes out. Empty water from the secondary and start the siphon again this time it should be all brew.

Putting any brew equip in your mouth before using is a HUGE no-no. I would get away from potentially disastrous habits like that before you move onto bigger batches. Trust me, you will regret not spending the $15 on an autosiphon, or taking a little extra time to siphon the way I typed out when you have a 5 gallon batch with mold floating in it.

Click to expand...

If you don't have the auto siphon you can skip the filling with water and use an air lock.... YOU REMOVE THE AIR LOCK before letting the flow go... So your not mouthing the tubing.... Nothing unsanitary about it.... Also plugging the tubing with your finger is a contamination point...


A Bottle Spigot and 'J's Keg Filling Apparatus' is all you need.

Hey Rob,

I live in in the South end of Halifax (close to school) and I've found that the Noble Grape has just about everything you'll need for brewing. Although Water 'n' Wine in Lower Sackville has a lot of not-so-common items and better prices on most items. There's a place in Clayton Park called Wine Kitz that is pretty good too, but they don't know much about making beer.

In regards to Propeller's ESB, I think it's probably my favorite beer. Garrison's Hop Yard Pale Ale would be a close second though... I'm hoping that my Special English Bitter is somewhat similar to Propeller's ESB but I haven't tried it yet so I can't say ha ha ha. It has been in secondary for 2 or 3 weeks so I'll be kegging it this weekend and I'll know how she turned out by this time next week.

Thanks man, I'm going to try to get to Water 'n' Wine tomorrow. I've been there before I was really interested in home brewing and noticed they had a lot of stuff. I work in Bedford so it's close.

About the ESB, I got onto that stuff over the summer when I discovered buying beer in growlers. It's been my favourite ever since.

I don't own a growler myself... I've been told that they're only good for a week and loose carbonation after a day or two. If I buy a pack of ESB I only have one or two a week. I drink cheap home brew when I want more than just a couple of drinks on a friday night ha ha ha.

Regarding your cider, where did you find the 1/2 gal jugs and at what price?

SeamusMac said:

Regarding your cider, where did you find the 1/2 gal jugs and at what price?

Click to expand...

I used PC brand cider from the Superstore, 1.9 L or so containers I think. It's cloudy stuff with sediment, juice and no preservatives. Actually I didn't find much that had preservatives. They were $3.99 each. My next batch is using cans frozen from concentrate, at just over a buck each (x4).

rshortt said:

I used PC brand cider from the Superstore, 1.9 L or so containers I think. It's cloudy stuff with sediment, juice and no preservatives. Actually I didn't find much that had preservatives. They were $3.99 each. My next batch is using cans frozen from concentrate, at just over a buck each (x4).

Click to expand...

I don't make hard cider unless I can find juice or fresh cider for around $1/litre, which isn't too often. Frozen concentrate is usually really inexpensive though. If you could find a good brand and the proper concentrate:water ratio for a 5% ABV cider I'd be really interested in trying it myself.

I use some food grade silicon and apply a thin coat the gaskets on my growler's and flip tops. Even stored at room temperature for a couple of months I can throw them on ice, serve them three hours later and carbonation and taste is just as or better than bottling.
I bought a tube around 5 years ago that I use for flip tops, kegs, growler's, and scuba diving parts to treat seals (NOT ON NITROX or TRI-MIX (enriched oxygen) unless you like big fires!)
I think I still have around 4/5ths of it still left. A little goes a long way to make a seal air and water tight.

Kauai_Kahuna said:

I use some food grade silicon and apply a thin coat the gaskets on my growler's and flip tops. Even stored at room temperature for a couple of months I can throw them on ice, serve them three hours later and carbonation and taste is just as or better than bottling.
I bought a tube around 5 years ago that I use for flip tops, kegs, growler's, and scuba diving parts to treat seals (NOT ON NITROX or TRI-MIX (enriched oxygen) unless you like big fires!)
I think I still have around 4/5ths of it still left. A little goes a long way to make a seal air and water tight.

Click to expand...

I've been looking for this stuff, but I've found it hard to come by...