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Vox

Vox

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Good morning all. After using three gallons of organic cider for my go at blackberry cider, I now have three glass gallon bottles begging to be used. My mind is already swimming with some small batch recipe ideas. A few questions on these one gallon batches... Do you split one yeast packet between the three? Does the fermentation still still take the standard time? Are the one gallon glass jugs that the juice comes in from Whole Foods good fermenting vessels?
 
I use one packet of yeast to make an approx 1/4 gal starter and split that between 2 one gal batches. No reason why it shouldn't work in 3. It takes off in a day or two depending on temp.
 
How do you do your starter? I just pitched the yeast dry.
 
Starter. I just use a clear growler 64 oz bottle. Fill it half full of apple juice or fresh pressed cider. No sugar or fruit. Pitch the yeast, cover and shake. Let sit 4-6 hrs with the cap loose. Every 4-6 hrs tighten cap and shake again. Don't forget to loosen the cap. After a day of this just add to your recipe. It also gives the Camden tablets a day to do their magic in your recipe before adding the yeast.
 
Can you just leave the batch in the primary til It's ready to bottle and not rack to a secondary? I've heard it won't hurt sitting on the yeast for a couple months, but some say it can give off flavors so rack or bottle a soon as the sg doesn't change for a day or two. Some recipes say to age for months before bottling for a good cider.
 
I don't know. I rack once one when the fermentation slows down. Twice if I add berries.
 
all ciders are different. some dry ciders (apparently) taste ok young. not so much with mine; they improve over a few months. semi-sweet ones tend to taste fine when young, but you still need the yeast to drop out or they taste bready. you can just taste it and see. my strategy for any cider is to leave in primary until it's well finished fermenting, rack once, top off with new juice, and leave it a couple months to clear, this takes 4-8 weeks in my tiny cidery, then bottle and age at least another 4 months. cold crash the racked cider if necessary/possible. never had anything i could identify as an off flavor from sitting on the yeast, even after 2ish months in primary
 
also, a bit late but i should add... i make a lot of 5L batches using glass 5L jugs probably similar to the 1g glass jugs mentioned above, the best strategy imo is to ferment first in something larger; anything will do, stainless pot w/ lid, or big carboy. i primary in a 10 or 12L carboy starting with just under 6L of juice, then rack 5L off to the jug after the bulk of fermentation has finished. then leave that until bottling. works great. after a couple times you will know exactly how much to start with and exactly how long to leave it to get the 5L jug filled right to the brim with no waste, and no danger of oxidation since there's still a bit of active ferment.
 
The something larger is a great idea. I'm looking for approx 2 gal buckets that bulk frosting comes in. I have an approx 1.5 gal jug but the mouth is too small.
 
dinnerstick said:
all ciders are different. some dry ciders (apparently) taste ok young. not so much with mine; they improve over a few months. semi-sweet ones tend to taste fine when young, but you still need the yeast to drop out or they taste bready. you can just taste it and see. my strategy for any cider is to leave in primary until it's well finished fermenting, rack once, top off with new juice, and leave it a couple months to clear, this takes 4-8 weeks in my tiny cidery, then bottle and age at least another 4 months. cold crash the racked cider if necessary/possible. never had anything i could identify as an off flavor from sitting on the yeast, even after 2ish months in primary
Click to expand...

What's the point of topping off with new juice when racking to the secondary? A little more fermentation for remaining yeast or more apple flavor? Or simply to replace the amount lost between racking/testing sg?
 
MarkKF said:
The something larger is a great idea. I'm looking for approx 2 gal buckets that bulk frosting comes in. I have an approx 1.5 gal jug but the mouth is too small.
Click to expand...

Ok. I'm just in an apt with two bigger batches going. Figured small batches would be a good way to experiment with brown sugar, cinnamon, and other ingredients I see others use.
 
That's why I'm doing 2 one gallons at a time. Getting my recipe down pat before labor day when fresh pressed juice (cider) becomes available.
 
I was thinking of getting some fresh pressed local cider here in AZ, but I read that many local farms can't tell you the exact mix or kind of apples in the juice since they throw whatever they have in.
 
Vox said:
I was thinking of getting some fresh pressed local cider here in AZ, but I read that many local farms can't tell you the exact mix or kind of apples in the juice since they throw whatever they have in.
Click to expand...

So what. I have no idea what's in frozen concentrate either.
 
Vox said:
What's the point of topping off with new juice when racking to the secondary? A little more fermentation for remaining yeast or more apple flavor? Or simply to replace the amount lost between racking/testing sg?
Click to expand...

you don't want a big air space after fermentation. minimize oxidation. reduce the head space by filling up with some new juice. it just ferments out
 
Racked today to get rid of fruit. Strawberry wasn't too successful. Lots of mush. One week in primary. Didn't take any sg.

image-2232832020.jpg
 
Racked today to get rid of fruit. One week in the primary. Strawberry had lots of mush.

image-1245013157.jpg
 
At one time I bought some three gallon buckets for use around the house from a Tillamook Icecream place. They were thin walled, but were only a dollar a piece.
 
Just made JOAM last night, my first attempt at mead and my first time using the 1gallon jug. Was pretty easy other than the rubber stopper slipping back up, but I didn't have time to let it dry enough after taking it out of the starsan and the honey on the inside of the neck didn't help any.
 

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