When to bottle a Cider?

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eatria

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My cider has been in the primary for over 3 weeks. It is still actively bubbling and the airlock pops about once every 30 seconds (down from once every 20 seconds a few days ago). My specific gravity reading is nearing 1.000. It's gotta be around 1.004 right now. Fermentation still seems highly active and I don't want a bunch of exploded bottles. I also don't want a 10% cider.

thoughts?
 
you could stop it if you choose to. Taste it and see how you like it..if you like it where it is...you can cold crash it, or you can sorbate and bisulphite it..and call it good. It's up to you.
 
+1 .. but cider is more prone to malolactic fermentation (beer doesn't have any malic acid to speak of) which can actually mellow the sour taste but it is a very slow process.
 
What was your starting gravity? If you don't want 10% cider, then just make up a brew with a starting gravity equivalent to the alcohol percentage you desire.

Is it clear? I doubt it is since it appears to be fermenting. Let it ferment completely, meaning confirmed by hydrometer readings consistent over a week. Also, let it age at least enough to clear completely. This means you should be able to read a newspaper through it. And any longer you can manage to wait is just going to make it taste that much better.
 
"you can cold crash it, or you can sorbate and bisulphite it..and call it good."

I"m not familiar with these tactics.

It's not clear clear, but there is a big separation from the liquid and the stuff that fell out of solution, dead yeast, etc.

problem is, I want it to be christmas presents.

As for starting gravity, it was off the charts high. I dropped the hydrometer in it and it sunk to the bottom of the testing glass, rendering an unreadable number.
 
Well that wouldn't be off the charts high, in fact that would be the opposite, so go check out your hydrometer. What was your recipe? Were there added sugars of any kind?

If you want to give them as christmas gifts, wait at least another week or two, give it a chance to somewhat clarify. Cider's usually take a couple months, and fantastic ones take much longer. So keep that in mind next time you have a deadline on your brew.
 
thanks for the good tips. I see what you mean about the hydrometer. I just dropped it in the liquid and it sank to the bottom, did'nt float at all.

The recipe was 5 gallons apple cider (w/o preservatives) and yeast.
 
Well if there is no added sugar, you don't need to worry about getting 10%. It's SG was probably somewhere around 1.050 if you would like to estimate your abv. Most juices range from 1.045-1.060 and will lead to ciders with abv of between 4-7%
 
if your hydrometer sank to the bottom, its either because it was broken and couldnt float, or that there was not enough sample juice in your testing tube for your hydrometer to float.

also i second what Tusch said about the potential alcohol content of your unsweetened cider.

good luck with your batch!
 
I actually would go so far as to say you're looking at more like 2-5% ABV instead of 4-7. When I make cider I ferment with two pounds of extra sugar per 5 gallons and that ferments out to about 6.5%. That 2 pounds of extra sugar gives it about 3-5% extra ABV.

If it turns out that your cider is actually looking like it will be too much on the light side, maybe dissolving a pound of sugar in 3/4 cup of water (boil, add sugar, stir until dissolved, then cool) and pouring it (after cooling) into your fermentor might help boost up that alcohol percentage. Not the best idea under normal practices, but I've found that you can be a little less delicate with the ciders than beers... that'll at least boost it up to that 4-7 range you're probably looking for.

Scott
 
E. Atria-

I think the cold crashing tactic would only work if you are kegging the cider. Fermentation would just pick back up again after you take it out of the fridge/colder environment.

Seeing how you didn't add sugar, it won't be 10 ABV. If I were you I would try to hold out a little longer before bottling. Another week if you can. If you give them away as Christmas gifts just tell people to wait a bit for carbonation. I'll be telling everyone the same for my cider that I give out.

The only surefire way to know that it is ready, however, is when the hydrometer reads the same for several days in a row.

PS Wonderful show on Friday (Jason says says we set the record for most people in and out of CG). Small internet, ain't it?
 
Not sure how you get the 2-5 range... Almost any yeast will take a cider to complete dryness, so conservatively assuming your cider's SG is only 1.040 and you only ferment it to 1.000, then you are still sitting at 5.3% Most juice's I've seen are a bit higher than 1.040 and all of my brews have gone below 1.000.

As a reference, EdWort's Apfelwein is 5 gal's of juice and 2 lbs of dextrose. And it leads to around 9%
 
hey dav8dav,

fancy meeting you here. The hydrometer is almost at 1.000 I'm going to give it till next sunday, as the airlock is still bubbling about every 35 seconds. We'll see
 
Just my 2 cents here. I'm on my 4th batch of Cider. I have been adding between 4-6 lbs of sugar. But it seems things clear pretty well between 6-8 weeks. As I have bottled my first two batches one at week 5 and one at week 4 due to the fact that I had no secondary which totally sucked. I have three carboys now....

I'll post a pic of a few bottles at week 6 here tonight if you want.

When my next two batches go into the carboys then I'll be happy (watching them clear). I'm thinking I really haven't had anything close to decent yet after reading here and I liked what I've gotten so far.
 

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