clearing pasteurized cider

I thought I'd share all of this with you guys and get your thoughts. Last friday 10/17 I was at a local orchard that was pressing fresh cider and giving free samples. I tasted and thought oh man this stuff would make fabulous cider after looking at the jugs and finding that it was pasteurized I began to contemplate the decision but ultimately decided that it tasted way too good to leave my empty better bottle full of air. so I bought 6 gallons at 5.25 a gallon (the place I normally use is 4 a gallon and unpasteurized) knowing that I might not get as clear of a cider as I am used to. Pitched s-04 that night and it has been fermenting solidly since saturday around 70 degrees. I pulled off the airlock to get a SG reading today and found that it is at 1.020 which I immediately thought "a little sweet yet." Put the sample in a glass too. . . sample and it tastes fabulous, a little sweet yet plus it is at just around 3.8% ABV. My only concern is that it won't look as fabulous as it tastes bc I'll have trouble getting it to clear. Not that I mind drinking it a little cloudy but anyone with any experience wanna give any insight or advice? Also I was thinking cold crash tomorrow night but am afraid that might be a mistake if it tastes great now who cares what the ABV is(and no, I'm not into freeze distilling, if you like to do it kudos to you but feels like cheating to me)

Farmers pasturize by law, juices/ciders I've seen are always pasturized. I typically let my ciders go for about 3 weeks in primary then rack either to secondary or cold crash and keg/bottle (juice is always pasturized.) I'd let it go for a while longer. Maybe three weeks to a month or so I think that should at least help most of the yeast drop out which would clear it to some extent. If that's not good enough, try racking to a secondary with some gelatin finings then cold crash. Sometimes ciders can take up to a few months to clear. People are rewarded for their patience.

I'm not looking for a dry cider and I don't want to back sweeten. And in Ohio finding unpasteurized cider isn't very hard to find. I know a week seems like a short period of time but I've learned to trust my taste buds. When it tastes right cold crash right then. . . which will essentially make the yeast drop out. the yeast clearing isn't what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about pectic haze. Other than it's a biproduct of pectins being set during pasteurizaion anyone have any thoughts on pectic haze.

Oh, I see. Sorry, I guess I misunderstood you. Well yeah, you know what you want then. Cold crash whenever the flavor is where you want it. If it is indeed pectic haze, get yourself some pectic enzyme and it should work pretty fast. I'd try to let it clear b4 bottling though. I'd cold crash for a week or so b4 adding pectic enzyme and see what happens. Sometimes these things can take a while to clear.

no problem man, its amazing the amount of information that you inadvertently don't share. thanks for not taking it personally as it actually is sound advice. I may have to try the pectic enzyme. Also, i'll be kegging it so I can force carb it, another bit of info I guess I left out, still it has little to do with clearing pectic haze and I know I want in in the keg as clear as possible. thanks for the advice.

Yeah, you can also use other clarifying agents. Here is a little article on that http://http://beer-brewing.suite101.com/article.cfm/making_your_beer_clear
Hope that helps ya out.

J

Friends have got good results with bentonite. I'd just drink it cloudy when I used pasturized. If its good, people will not be staring through a pint glass to see if it has any slight haze - they will be drinking it.

My in-laws are from England and they swear the best cider is something called Scrumpy. Bascally they leave a barrell of runny apple sauce to ferment. The more cloudy it is the better they say it is. Might look a little cloudy but who cares if it tastes great.