Still active fermentation at 3 weeks?

So, I bought a bunch of the spiced cider that was on sale at Target back in early February. Dumped in my carboy, added 2 cups brown suger and shook like bad. Then hydrated a packet of Nottingham ale yeast and poured in.

Noticeable fementation started at 3 days and is still bubbling approx twince a minute in my basement 3 weeks later.

Temperature has been stable at 63-64 degrees.

So, being a dreaded newbie, how long should I expect the fermentation to last?

Should I add a heat source and bump up the temperature?

Bubbles aren't necessarily an indication of fermentation, could just be gasses releasing.
have you taken a gravity reading? if not take one now, wait a week, then do it again. if you get the same # then fermentation is done. no harm in letting it sit another week in primary.
good luck

Did the cider have preservatives? I made that mistake once and it lead to a very slow, strange tasting fermentation.

It was preservative free. dummy me forgot to take an OG reading as well. What would is a typical cider FG?

Basically all the sugars in cider are completely fermentable. It should finish between 1.000 and 0.998. Take a reading and then take another in a week to make sure it's really done.

My batches from this fall, using fresh cider (at 1.06 og) and Nottingham, took 8 weeks. My temperature was closer to 60-58 degrees though. And fermentation never stalled, just a slow, plodding fermentation. This is the first time I used ale yeast and couldn't believe the marathon fermentation period.

Well, I've tasted it and it's mighty delicious, but it's still at 1.02

ColdBrains said:

This is the first time I used ale yeast and couldn't believe the marathon fermentation period.

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Thats a good thing (IMHO) with cider and ale yeast. Slow and low. I love how clean nottingham is at 58-60. It doesn't seem to strip as much apple flavor during primary.

I have a batch going right now and the ambient temp has dropped to 55ºF. It's slowed, but still blooping along. I roused it a little just to make sure nothing stalled.

ColdBrains said:

My batches from this fall, using fresh cider (at 1.06 og) and Nottingham, took 8 weeks. My temperature was closer to 60-58 degrees though. And fermentation never stalled, just a slow, plodding fermentation. This is the first time I used ale yeast and couldn't believe the marathon fermentation period.

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58-60, eh? 8 weeks? Wow. I have a little step fed cider project going. I'm up above 1.100 now. This thread gives me a bit more hope. Now I won't be as scared when my Nottingham slows down.

jeepinjeepin said:

58-60, eh?

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I just noticed that you are up near a friend of mine's winery. He's over in Thurmond, NC. They just bottled their first round a few weeks back. They mostly do french varietals, but they produced a Blackberry wine that was harvested from a neighbor farm and it was incredible.

Whats up with your step fed project? Do you have details you could share?

Pickled_Pepper said:

I just noticed that you are up near a friend of mine's winery. He's over in Thurmond, NC. They just bottled their first round a few weeks back. They mostly do french varietals, but they produced a Blackberry wine that was harvested from a neighbor farm and it was incredible.

Whats up with your step fed project? Do you have details you could share?

Click to expand...

What's the name on that winery?

Yeah, no secrets here. Just took a couple gallons of apple juice and am feeding it apple juice concentrate as the gravity falls.

Jones vonDrehle (.com) is the vineyard/winery. They are right next to McRitchie Ciderworks.

That actually sounds like an interesting project. I have something similar I'm working on. I was on my way back to Atlanta from Thurmond and I picked up a gallon of Peach Cider from Abbot's Farm in SC. I'm going to 'feed' that gallon to a 2 gallon batch I have going right now. After thinking about what you are doing, I might stretch this to 5 gallons with another 2 of AJ at the end. How long have you had your batch going?

Started on 3-6. It got active on 3-10. It has been fed every day since.

Feedings have fallen off to every 2-3 days now.