Head space

Making my first simple cider. 4 gal of juice in a 5 gal glass carboy. Hopefully the photo uploaded. Hit it with O2 yeast nutrient and 1 rehydrated pack of Lalvin CV D47.

Is this (about 6 to 8 inches) enough headspace? This is my first shot at cider and I have no idea how strong a ferment to expect.

my experience with wine says you have plenty. Basically 20-25% is for beer. fruits and mead ferments usually have less foaming because they have less free proteens to make bubbles. - that isn't to say 0 headspace, but you should have enough

So this is odd. At least to someone who brews mostly beer and has done a couple of kit wines. I am getting vigorous fermentation this morning. 3-4 bubbles of venting per second. Temp is solid at 72F. And if I shine a flashlight on the surface of the liquid, I see it releasing a significant amount of CO2.

But there is absolutely no krausen as I am used to with my beers. Unless you look close for the gas bubbles, the surface of the liquid looks almost completely calm. Most of the wine yeasts I have used in the past have been mild fermenters. And your remark about proteins above makes me think that's what I have going on here.

But no krausen? Just seems different.

I have been doing some reading on the cider sites mentioned in this forum. I am wondering if I should add some tannin after fermentation (I used the Musselman's cider from Wal Mart) Pasteurized juice plus ascorbic acid are the only ingredients.

Tannin looks like it should add a bit of the depth you'd get with orchard fresh juice. Wondering if I should go that route or wait and see how this turns out.

I'm also wondering when done is considered "done" with fermentation? What sort of attenuation should I expect? I measured with both a hydrometer and refractometer before I pitched. But this being my first shot with something like this, am I looking for an FG of 1.000 or lower?

I am planning on making this a sparkling cider so I don't want fermentation to die out early only to add sugar at bottling time and create a bunch of bottle bombs.

it's just normal. it's not beer. some ciders if they have a lot of gunk in suspension will foam way up, some will form a dense mat on the surface, some have no foam. if it's just juice that started in the 1.050 to 1.060 range it should finish somewhere just south of 1.000, my normal apple blend generally starts around 1.056 and finishes 0.998ish. once you're there you won't have bottle bombs, just prime with a normal amount of sugar, same as for beer.

Cool. Thanks. Any thought on adding tannin?

The only time that I had headspace problems with cider was when I used some (leftover) Wyeast London Ale III on it. That yeast was a serious top cropper

Do i need head space using ale yeast? I've never made a cider before, and am planing to once apple season kicks in.