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Wonderjojo

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I'm a day into my first attempt at cider and I am VERY excited and can't stop looking at the 5 gallons of juice sitting quietly in the corner!

I do have some questions though and I was wondering if anyone could help me. I've read a lot in the last couple of days about the best ways to carbonate and backsweeten your cider, which is what I want to do. I have 32oz back ez-cap bottles that i wanted to use and I was hoping for a sweetish fizzy cider.

The recipe I chucked in was:

4 gallons organic apple juice
1 gallon organic pear/mango - was a bit unsure of the mango-anyone done this?
3 cups brown sugar dissolved into juice
Cider Activator Wyeast ACT4766- 4.25 oz (which I just read isn't that great - good start)

Its sitting in the dark in a corner and I'm in the caribbean so it will be at about 74-75 degrees hopefully.

It hasn't changed yet. I'm just waiting....

Questions:

Do I HAVE to rack to a secondary? Can this be my 5 gallon bucket with airlock?

Racking - leaving behind the lees? Just getting the juice?

If I wanted to make carbonated cider in the bottles can i use priming sugar - most people seem to say to add it to the bottles before bottling? How much? A teaspoon?

As you can see I'm still trying to get my head round it and I'm slightly afraid of blowing up cider bottles in my house. What do ya think?
I forgot to add that I live in a country where you can't go out and buy home brewing equipment. We had one place selling beer kits and then they went under and sold off their old stock from the backroom of a lingerie shop.

THANKS! Jo
 
It may take 24-72 hours to start fermenting, did you take a gravity reading before you pitch your yeast? If you did, you could check it and see if theres a difference. Thats the only was to tell definitively. You cant always go by looking at your airlock, your lid mite not have sealed tight.

when yeast has consumed all the suger i will become 'dormant" and fall to the bottom of the container. Racking to secondary is a matter of preference its not needed all the time.

Bottling, add priming suger to fermented 5 gallons and fill bottles. Basically repeating the same process but in a bottle producing bubbles in beer.
 
Do I HAVE to rack to a secondary? Can this be my 5 gallon bucket with airlock?

Racking - leaving behind the lees? Just getting the juice?

If I wanted to make carbonated cider in the bottles can i use priming sugar - most people seem to say to add it to the bottles before bottling? How much? A teaspoon?


Racking to a secondary is good practice after 3-4 weeks of fermentation (it removes a majority of the lees from the cider and helps allow for clearing and prevents autolysing, which can produce off flavors). That all said I know an old guy who leaves his cider on the lees all year, but his cider tastes like crap and he wonders why.

Racking is just the liquid.

For priming I would do about 1oz per gallon of priming sugar (4-5oz per 5 gallon batch). Get your cider into a bottling bucket, add primming sugar and mix gently without aeration. let sit 15 minutes, then gently mix again and bottle and cap. Store bottles at about 65F-70F for a few weeks and test them once a week until you get teh carb you want, then you can pull back and refridgerate.

Don't worry about the yeast I am sure you will turn out just fine. I used that same yeast this year and after a natural malolactic fermentation it has produced a cider/wine that is in my top 2 for the season. i.e. that yeast does a good job when used correctly.


I would try to get your fermenter in a swamp cooler, get your temp to 65-68F to start 70-75F is borderline too high in my opinion. With the internal fermentation temps you might accidentally push into 75F+ and that is not a good heat range for the yeast, you will get funky things happening.
 
I would try to get your fermenter in a swamp cooler, get your temp to 65-68F to start 70-75F is borderline too high in my opinion. With the internal fermentation temps you might accidentally push into 75F+ and that is not a good heat range for the yeast, you will get funky things happening.

I may have to take it to the office where there's AC! But then I'll just be watching it all day - I reckon its gonna be too hot - its getting pretty hot here now.

Other comments are very helpful though, Thanks!
 
Ok. Stage 2 and I'm in a bit of a pickle. It's been very hot here even though I've had my cider in the coolest spot. I never took a reading before I pitched either. Whoops!

So it fermented away for about a week - not very very bubbley though but I got sediment on the bottom; about an inch or two of it. I then left it for another couple of weeks but it went a bit darker rather than clearing at all.

I racked to my bucket tonight and tasted the liquid but it tasted a bit yeasty and not that good. I added a gallon more apple juice and dissolved about half a pound of brown sugar into it (not enough?). It wasn't very alcoholic at all and I THINK i got a gravity reading of 1.12 which seems quite high.....

I think this may be a waste of juice but I don't mind waiting to see what happens with my secondary.

What do you think- funky apple juice?
 
Describe "not that good". remember, ciders need some time to age out the yeasty smell (will go away) and any cidery harshness.

Describe to us the flavors, but I think the plan will be to leave it under air lock for another week or two at a minimum.

That cider yeast should ferment out dry (.098-1.000)
 
So, months later and my cider hasn't cleared. Its kind of a darkish apple cider colour. A month or so ago I racked it again and added a little artificial sweetener and it's been sitting in the dark for months forgotten about. Today I'm planning on bottling it; for better or for worse!

My plan is to add Apple Juice to backsweeten it after testing to get the right amount for taste. A few I will put straight in the fridge to be had still and a few I will leave out for a couple of days whilst monitering a plastic bottle to check carbonation and when there is a gentle pressure I'll put them in the fridge too.

Can anyone foresee any problems with this? Once these ciders are in the fridge they should be alright, right? No bottle bombs?
 
The darkish color could be from the brown sugar. I would stop adding ingredients at this point and concentrate on getting the fermentation right. My first cider (and only to date) was super simple: 5 gallons juice that I pastuerized, chilled and pitched a cider yeast. I let it ferment in the primary for three weeks and then moved to a secondary where it sat for 8 more months. Temp was consistently at 68 degrees F (I'm blessed with a great basement for fermenting homebrew). Then I racked into a bottling bucket over a solution of priming sugar and bottled. Bottle conditioned for a month. It drinks great, clean crisp good carb. Just a good cider.

Maybe you should try another batch that is a bit simpler, take accurate gravity readings and control your fermentation temp.

With you current effort, get a solid gravity reading. If it's anywhere near 1.010 I'd bottle it and see what it's like in a couple of weeks. Then start formulating a recipe for that next batch.
 
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