Damn! It's good now!

Wow.

I've had bad luck with ciders in the past, but this was the first time I just poured unsweetened apple juice in with nottingham and let it go. I took a sample today, 2 weeks in, and it's PERFECT!

OG was 1.050, current gravity is 1.012, it has the perfect apple taste and nose, enough residual sweetness to keep the body and flavor where it needs to be, but it isn't straight apple juice. I don't want this to go much drier, I want to drink it now!

The yeast has dropped, but there is still a fair amount of particulate matter in there, I assume from the unfiltered apple juice I put in. It's still wanting to ferment more, but I don't want it to! I guess I should just rack to secondary, and wait it out.

Current question: I want some of this sparkling. What would be the danger in bottling some now, as is, no more sugar, no more yeast, and letting the remaining gravity drop to make carbonation? Anyone done bottle conditioning by simply bottling when the gravity got to a certain point?

If you like it how it is now, why don't you bottle it, let it sit for a few days, sampling one every day untill it gets to the carb you want, then put them into the fridge to stop the fermentation, drinking them young. As for the non-sparkling ones, stabilize the cider and just bottle her up.

You could add some potassium sorbate to half the batch to halt the fermentation then bottle or rack to secondary to clear if you want to then bottle. As for bottling as is and hoping for the correct carbonation, you could but it would be hard to know exactly where it's going to stop. Could be flat, could go boom. Might be better to let the second half finish, prime and bottle.

I would rack to secondary. Split into 2 containers. One I would put in the fridge to stop fermentation and to clear up. Then I would bottle it.

On the batch you want carbonated I would rack to secondary and let settle for a week or 2 then add priming sugar and bottle. you can also add some juice concentrate to the secondary to keep the flavor you are looking for. I have never tired adding juice, but I have read stories of great success.

Well, I racked it to a few gallon jugs, drank a fair amount of it, and realized that the sediment on the bottom of the carboy looked lonely Ran out to the store, bought 3 more gallons and tossed them in there. Lag time? 1 hour. Yes, thats right. 1 hour. Bitchin

Wonder how many times I can do this? What's the limit on batches you can toss on a yeast cake? Eventually the yeasties will crap out, right?

What brand of apple juice did you use? clear or cloudy? Did it clear for drinking?

I used Motts, and a no name, unfiltered, not from concentrate natural apple juice. The cider is still cloudy, but there was a nice compacted layer of yeast when I racked. I put a gallon and a half in the fridge to clear a little (and to chill for consumption) and I kept a half gallon out with an airlock, just to see where it ended up. OG was 1.50, SG is 1.011, about 5.3%

I did pretty much the same thing. I used a clear Mott's (only additive is asorbic acid) I coldcrashed at 1.012 for a day, racked and continued coldcrash. But I have not tried it other than tasting hydro sample. I was hoping it would clear more. I'm sure if I give it more time in fridge it will eventually but I wanted this to be a quick cider. I made only 1 gallon and ended up with about 3/4 gal and I would like it carbed, so I am going to fill a 2 liter soda bottle and and force carb it with a carb cap. I am going to keep it cold so fermentaion does not restart, the rest I'll add to a 1/2 gal growler and let it warm just to see if fermentaion restarts or if enough yeast actually dropped out.

My only suggestion: get a bigger carboy! I think I'm going to dedicate my 3 gal glass carboy for cider only, this is so easy, so quick, and so good! This cider is 3 weeks old, and while I'm sure it could go longer, I want to retain some of the sweetness and not allow MLF. I'll carb the next batch up and let it sit for a while. A little age will be nice on this, but honestly I've had commercial ciders that are crap compared to this simple approach.

MikeRLynch said:

My only suggestion: get a bigger carboy! I think I'm going to dedicate my 3 gal glass carboy for cider only, this is so easy, so quick, and so good! This cider is 3 weeks old, and while I'm sure it could go longer, I want to retain some of the sweetness and not allow MLF. I'll carb the next batch up and let it sit for a while. A little age will be nice on this, but honestly I've had commercial ciders that are crap compared to this simple approach.

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I do but that was a trial to get a quick sweet cider. I just finished filling a 2 liter and it is sitting on 25 psi. and the rest in a 1/2 gal growler filled about 2 inches high, I'll let it sit a few weeks and then take SG to see if fermentation starts back up. In the future, I'd like to bottle this from the keg to take it to friend's houses. Don't need exploding bottles if any are left over.

I also currently have 10 gal of apfelwein (in secondary to fully clear - 3 months old), 6 gal of chardonnay (in secondary), 6 gallons of another trial cider made with mott's natural (might have an infection, but I'll wait and see to be sure). And today I am picking up my first 5 gal of unpastuerized from a local mill.(and I don't even know what I want to do with it yet, ha ha) I have some ideas though. and tuesday I will be brewing my first all grain homebrew. (Edworts oktoberfest ale)

Sounds good, make a cyser (cider/mead) with the new juice, I hear its real nice. I think that's my next project when I get a carboy I can dedicate to it (little short on fermenting vessels right now).

I decided to do just a plain old cider. This is the first time I am making it from unpasteurized cider so I figured I should know what it should taste like before I start adding things. I added 5 camden tablets, pectin enzyme and yeast energizer. Now I have until tomorrow night to decide what yeast to use. I am either going to use EC-1118 or Nottingham. OG 1.052 not a bad start 6.8% potential. I'll age this 6 months to a year and experiment with quick ciders while this ages. And the best part I just found out the cider mill I go to makes pressed cider from Sept to May, I have 9 months of the year that I can get fresh unpasteurized cider.:rockin: