Going All Out!

A little over a month ago I made my first attempt at a hard cider. I did 5 gallons, added a coup of brown sugar, 2 tsp of yeast nutrient and pitched Nottingham. It was FREGGING delicious!!!

So, I've got a 18 gallon fermenter and I just filled it with 17 gallons of cider. I'm going to wash and use the yeast from the first batch, tonight I'm putting in some pectic acid (for clarity), put in two pounds of brown sugar.

I've been reading a lot of posts in here and I think i'm ready for this, but I'd appreciate any other warnings and experiences about doing a large scale batch like this.

Thank you.

Biggest tip: don't drink it all at once! Hard cider is goooood!

Remember that it's going to be much, much heavier and more difficult to move...

First off, congratulations and welcome to the obsession!

Second, I would MUCH more than 2lbs of brown sugar. I just finished a 5gal batch of hard cider and I used 2lbs of brown sugar in that along with Nottingham's, so a very similar recipe to what you're using. If you're doing 17gal, I would recommend something more like 5-10lbs of brown sugar if you want any hope of getting a residual taste from the added sugar/molasses.

That being said, you don't HAVE to add any sugar at all. Adding sugar bumps ups your ABV by giving the yeasties more food to much on, and to convert to alcohol. Adding specialty sugars like brown sugar, turbinado, cane, honey, etc. *CAN* add some subtle flavor profiles depending on the amount used. Also, you can use regular dextrose (corn sugar) which will ferment completely and leave no added flavor, if that's what you're going for.

I hope you plan on kegging that massive batch, I'd hate to have to bottle 17gal!! haha

Either way, have fun, enjoy your brew!

2x 5 gallon kegs then bottling the rest is the plan. The hard part for me is going to be moving to a secondary, as I only have 1x 18 gal fermenter.

Now, I'm using UV pasteruized cider. Do I have any risk of getting one massive batch of vinegar if I let it sit for 6+ mos? O2 won't be a problem, so I'm assuming I should be fine.

If you plan on using yeast nutrient/energizer, make sure you have a blowoff tube installed on your fermenter.

Its been my experience that nutrients/energizer tend to make for a healthy ferment, albeit messy at times.

Eric

You will be fine to leave it sit for a few months, make sure it's in a dark, cool but dry place.

Holy rhino farts!!! This thing stunk up my basement bedroom! lol. I hope that's normal for a big batch.

I had to open a window last night to let the fartiness out.

Update.

Well, the rhino farts have subsided. I hope nothing has 'set in' as a result of it's farty-ness. I read mixed results after primary fermentation farts. Some say just wait and it'll be great, some say it still had a bad taste afterwards. I have no intention of cracking this open until the end of spring, when I can afford kegging equipment, at the soonest. So, here's hoping for the best.