Krausen hasn't fallen. New to cider help me out.

So I cracked my bucket to look at some cider that had been fermenting for a little over 3 weeks. There was still krausen rafts floating which didn't seem strange till I took the gravity which was at 1.008. Should the krausen have fallen by now? Is that maybe not krausen but pulp and my noobness is showing? Recipe below.

Wlp060

3.5 gallons treetop 3 apple blend
.5 gallons cherry juice

Fermented @ 65 for 3 weeks didn't raise temperature was out of town.

Thanks in advance.

Do you have a carboy to rack it over to? The krausen not yet falling isn't a big deal, but now that fermentation has slowed, I'd want to put it in a carboy and airlock it and give it time to finish.

My other bucket is full right now. Do I have to rack it to a secondary or can I just raise the tempeture to finish it? Further more if it's near my target gravity why not just rack it to my bottling bucket and bottle? Would I create little bottle bombs?

BlainD said:

My other bucket is full right now. Do I have to rack it to a secondary or can I just raise the tempeture to finish it? Further more if it's near my target gravity why not just rack it to my bottling bucket and bottle? Would I create little bottle bombs?

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Well, you don't want another bucket, as the headspace is way way too wide, so if you don't have a carboy you'll have to bottle it when it's done.

I'd prefer to wait until it clears a bit (far less crap in the bottles) but you can bottle it when it's finished if you feel you have to and don't mind the sludge in the bottom of the bottle.

My preference would be to put it in an appropriately sized carboy for a month or two, at least, before bottling.

Yooper said:

I'd prefer to wait until it clears a bit (far less crap in the bottles) but you can bottle it when it's finished if you feel you have to and don't mind the sludge in the bottom of the bottle.

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Whats going to be the best way for me to clear it up: Cold Crashing or Raising the tempeture then cold crashing?

BlainD said:

Whats going to be the best way for me to clear it up: Cold Crashing or Raising the tempeture then cold crashing?

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Time is the best clarifier. It needs time for the yeast and suspended particles like pectins to fall out, once it's finished fermenting.

Yooper said:

Time is the best clarifier. It needs time for the yeast and suspended particles like pectins to fall out, once it's finished fermenting.

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ok... But cold time of room temp time? LoL I should have asked that to begin with. I have a mini fridge that I use as a fermentation chamber and I'd like to free it up for more of the good stuff.

Keep it on the warm side until it's completely done and clearing. Then you can cold crash it if you want. It'll age faster at room temperatures than cold.