First Carbonated Cider

Hi all,
I had a few quick questions about my second batch of cider, which is currently in secondary right now. It spent a week in primary, went from 1070 down to around 1000 (i used a nottingham yeast with 5 gallons of unpastured, fresh cider, 5 pounds of brown sugar, and a pound of honey). It has been in the secondary for around a week now...and the bubbling has essentially stopped. I wasn't planning on priming and bottling until after the holidays...any harm in waiting? I don't really have the time to do it until early january at the earliest.

I also just started a new batch of "super cider". I took 5 gallons of fresh, unpasturized cider, 6 pounds of honey, 5 pounds of granulated sugar, and 2 pounds of brown sugar, which pushed the OG to around ~1130. I pitched in white labs high gravity ale yeast. It got off to a really slow start (nothing happened for the first 2 days or so)...but is now bubbling at around 80 times per minute. The yeast is supposed to be able to ferment up to 25% alcohol...but my initial gravity reading shows only around 17% potential alcohol. My question was...would it be possible to add any more sugar or honey down the road to boost the alcohol...and if so...how do I go about it?

Thanks,
Chris

A little strong... but yeah you can add sugar when racking to the secondary... or whenever for that matter

There is a risk with very high gravity yeasts of over-heating and killing the yeast or getting really high fusel alcohol levels. You might get better results next time by starting with the cider and honey and once the ferment slows add more sugar, a pound at a time. The only risk is ending up with a very sweet cyser when the yeast finally quits.

This is going to take a long time to mellow, a year or more.

So I had realized today that I neglected to add any yeast nutrient in the batch of super cider when i started it...and after some reading about the WLP099 yeast, i realized it could probably use some. I dizzolved some in bottled water, poured it in through the airlock hole, and shook it up just a little bit. Bad idea? Good idea?(that would be a rare thing if so)

Why so long to mellow the cider?

purcell429 said:

So I had realized today that I neglected to add any yeast nutrient in the batch of super cider when i started it...and after some reading about the WLP099 yeast, i realized it could probably use some. I dizzolved some in bottled water, poured it in through the airlock hole, and shook it up just a little bit. Bad idea? Good idea?(that would be a rare thing if so)

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Wouldn't have harmed it to add the nutrient now - it'll help the yeast to deal with the very high sugar levels.

purcell429 said:

Why so long to mellow the cider?

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With that predicted alcohol level you're making an 'apple wine' really - It needs to mature or it will probably taste 'harsh' or even have unpleasant flavours if you drink it too early.

I just racked the cider over the secondary tonight. The gravity had dropped from 1130 to around 1022...all told, somewhere around ~15% alcohol. It smelled quite strongly, though i sampled some, and could detect a sweet taste in the background. I figure i will leave it to mellow out for a few months before bottling, and perhaps add another pound or two of honey sometime in the next few days. The yeast jar said to keep the temperature around 70-75 during fermentation...my question was...what temperature can i leave it at to mellow for a few months? I could leave it in my basement, which has a constant temperature around 50-60, and I also have my furnace room, which runs a constant 73-77 degrees. Is colder better for ageing while in the bucket?