Fermentation Complete...Now what?

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thomasgorff

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I just recently started my first attempt of making a cider. The recipe I used was very simple. 5 gallons of cider, 1/2 gallon of water heated with 1 pound of honey, 5 cinnamon sticks and I pitched champagne yeast into a fermentor. I have left the cider to ferment for about two weeks and the air-lock has finally stopped letting gas out. I have read that in doing this I will have produced a dry, not very sweet cider. I am curious what to do from this point? Should I rack it into my secondary and treat it like beer? ( I do want it to be sparkling). Would I prime it with dextrose like beer and let it condition in the bottles? I have read of horror stories of bottle bombs and other nasty things that I dont want to deal with. Anybody who has had any success with a recipe similar to this please let me know what direction I should go in at this point to once again enjoy another great homebrew! Thanks
 
If you want to make a semi-dry (not bone-dry), sparkling, and bottle conditioned cider, take a look at www.makingcider.com and the stove-top pasteurizing sticky thread for two ideas on how you might proceed.

If you are fine with the cider being completely dry, or still, or will be force carbing, then you have many more options.
 
I'm a beer noob but have a couple of successful ciders under my belt.

I personally would let it sit in primary for another week or two. You will notice it getting clearer and clearer every day. If you want even better clarity put it in secondary for a week or so. If you don't care about clarity than this is totally optional - but a clear, aged, tasty cider is impressive. =D

Cider always tastes better when it's aged for 6+ months, in my experience. My uncle has made cider my entire life and we don't even see his until it's at least 6 months old - the best stuff is a year or older. This is particularly true for really dry ciders, after 6 months all the flavors blend together very nicely, the "young" sour taste fades and becomes a lot less dominant, it sweetens up quite a bit and becomes very drinkable compared to a young cider.

If you bottle test this out by opening one up after a few weeks.. Good luck, cider is nommy!

ETA: I thought I'd mention this; My girl has patience issues.. She is often caught pilfering cider from the cellar. It's hard to wait when it's your first batch, but if you can save at least a few bottles for 6 or more months you'll see how much difference it makes.
 
so you think its my best bet to transfer into secondary fermenter to clear up the cider. But what about bottle conditioning? Can you carb with sugar and let the cider mature in bottles for the 6 month period?
 
Pappers_ said:
If you want to make a semi-dry (not bone-dry), sparkling, and bottle conditioned cider, take a look at www.makingcider.com and the stove-top pasteurizing sticky thread for two ideas on how you might proceed.

If you are fine with the cider being completely dry, or still, or will be force carbing, then you have many more options.
Click to expand...

I think he meant makinghardcider.com
 
thomasgorff said:
so you think its my best bet to transfer into secondary fermenter to clear up the cider. But what about bottle conditioning? Can you carb with sugar and let the cider mature in bottles for the 6 month period?
Click to expand...

Yes, transfer to secondary. Personally, I would let it sit there for at least a month. Cider will get crystal clear when left alone. You can always add gelatin finings to help with that.

And yes, you can add corn sugar (or table sugar or brown sugar or syrup or honey...) to a batch and bottle it as per beer to carb. The ratio of priming sugar is the same as beer, but I personally prefer a highly carbed cider so I typically add more priming sugar than I would for beer. Whichever you choose, after bottling is done, let it wait out the remainder of the six months.

I usually don't let it go that long, but it's sound advice. I just usually don't follow it :drunk:
 
cimirie said:
Yes, transfer to secondary. Personally, I would let it sit there for at least a month. Cider will get crystal clear when left alone. You can always add gelatin finings to help with that.

And yes, you can add corn sugar (or table sugar or brown sugar or syrup or honey...) to a batch and bottle it as per beer to carb. The ratio of priming sugar is the same as beer, but I personally prefer a highly carbed cider so I typically add more priming sugar than I would for beer. Whichever you choose, after bottling is done, let it wait out the remainder of the six months.

I usually don't let it go that long, but it's sound advice. I just usually don't follow it :drunk:
Click to expand...

So this is my first time with cider, and i am just curious what kind of timeline to follow. I used store bought organic juice with with a champagne yeast, and two pounds dark brown sugar in a five gal. All is Well a week into it. Also this being a college house project the fastest timeline is desired, but i am willing to stand up for some quality! What kind of alcohol content should be expected? Once again COLLEGE! On another note aré there any additives come bottling time that enhance flavor like cinnimon or nuttmeg? Thanks
 
davedave4420 said:
So this is my first time with cider, and i am just curious what kind of timeline to follow. I used store bought organic juice with with a champagne yeast, and two pounds dark brown sugar in a five gal. All is Well a week into it. Also this being a college house project the fastest timeline is desired, but i am willing to stand up for some quality! What kind of alcohol content should be expected? Once again COLLEGE! On another note aré there any additives come bottling time that enhance flavor like cinnimon or nuttmeg? Thanks
Click to expand...

Roughly speaking, without your particular starting gravity, I'd say you'd be looking at roughly 7-7.5% abv. Maybe more, but without gravity measurements, I can't say for certain.

Primary fermentation will finish up (typically) within 10 days, but it can take longer to get those last few gravity points. The reason those are important, is that if you decide to bottle and fermentation isn't done, your bottles have a good chance of exploding. Always good to spend a few bucks on a hydrometer to be sure.

So, if you want a super quick turnaround and you don't need it carbed, you could get in and out in 2-3 weeks. In order for it to clear up, you'll need at least a month. Add another 2 weeks if you are carbing in bottles. So for a clear cider carbed in bottles, expect 6 weeks total time. However, in cider (as in most fermented beverages) waiting longer is better. Having said that, as you are probably used to bud light, coors light, and the like (based purely on your assertion this is a college house project) 6 weeks should be fine.

You absolutely can add cinnamon and nutmeg. Especially with it being autumn, those would be good adds. However, for some people, those flavors are good for a few drinks in a sitting, but get tiresome all night long. I don't fall in that category, but I'd guess most do.
 
cimirie said:
Roughly speaking, without your particular starting gravity, I'd say you'd be looking at roughly 7-7.5% abv. Maybe more, but without gravity measurements, I can't say for certain.

Thank you very much. Quite helpful. But about that light beer jazz. Not all of us aré the same. Just kidding. actually trying to get into the beer brewing myself and this seemed the best way to gain support and equipment. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, maybe I rook a few liberties with the BMC crack, but there is a basis for truth in it on a general scale. People who's primary beer consumption is BMC typically don't have a highly tuned beer palate. Not a knock, it just has never needed to adapt. Without that palate, many of the things us beer geeks might object to wouldn't bug the "normal" person at all.

I really wasn't trying to be an arse. Anytime somebody tries to expand their fermentation horizons, I'm all for it!
 
You can bottle condition, and you should.. But if you don't rack to secondary first to get as much yeast out of the cider as possible you'll have yeast settle in your bottles.

You're going to have yeast in your bottles either way, the question really is how much?

You have a lot of options, all are viable depending on preference. Really you're going to have to make a few batches to start figuring out what YOU want out of your cider. I like a dry, clear, well aged sparkling cider, so mine spends a couple months in primary and usually 30 days in secondary, then another few months in bottles. You can start drinking it earlier, but you're going to be drinking a harsher, less pleasant cider.

It sucks when you first start because you want a quick turnover, and I understand that.. So just do what feels right and adjust subsequent batches accordingly.
 
cimirie said:
Yeah, maybe I rook a few liberties with the BMC crack, but there is a basis for truth in it on a general scale. People who's primary beer consumption is BMC typically don't have a highly tuned beer palate. Not a knock, it just has never needed to adapt. Without that palate, many of the things us beer geeks might object to wouldn't bug the "normal" person at all.

I really wasn't trying to be an arse. Anytime somebody tries to expand their fermentation horizons, I'm all for it!
Click to expand...

Oh no, no arseness received, but any more I consider the light beer a rarity. Shifted to local breweries while trying to find qualities I enjoy. And I would like to become a beer nerd. If I were to start brewing is there something that is best to start or can it all be done from the start. For intense I enjoy ipa but is that too complex to begin with?
 
Ok I racked the cider into my secondary and it looks very clear. After tasting it, PROBLEM, it tastes like a white wine with almost zero apple flavor to it. I have read so many different ideas about back sweetening but there seems to be no definite answers. I do not wish to have wine characters, I want this to taste as close to a store bought cider as possible (think woodchuck). Any ideas or food for thought welcomed greatly! Thanks
 
thomasgorff said:
Ok I racked the cider into my secondary and it looks very clear. After tasting it, PROBLEM, it tastes like a white wine with almost zero apple flavor to it. I have read so many different ideas about back sweetening but there seems to be no definite answers. I do not wish to have wine characters, I want this to taste as close to a store bought cider as possible (think woodchuck). Any ideas or food for thought welcomed greatly! Thanks
Click to expand...

Here's the issue with homebrewed cider. You can make dry sparkling or sweet sparkling if you keg. If you're bottling, you can only make dry (unless you use something unfermentable like splenda to backsweeten). If you bottle, if you backsweeten, the backsweetened sugar will just get fermented out - adding to the dryness.

The white wine character you talk of can be reduced some if you use fresh pressed complex cider, but the dryness you find will more or less still be there.
 
thomasgorff said:
Ok I racked the cider into my secondary and it looks very clear. After tasting it, PROBLEM, it tastes like a white wine with almost zero apple flavor to it. I have read so many different ideas about back sweetening but there seems to be no definite answers. I do not wish to have wine characters, I want this to taste as close to a store bought cider as possible (think woodchuck). Any ideas or food for thought welcomed greatly! Thanks
Click to expand...

Take a look at the web site I mistyped earlier - www.makinghardcider.com You'll see a method that you can use there: ferment to dry (as you have already done), then backsweeten with a non-fermentable, then prime and bottle condition/carbonate.

For future reference, if you take a look at the sticky thread on stove-top pastuerizing, you'll see another easy method for making semi-sweet, bottle conditioned and carbonated cider.
 
Also, after you backsweeten you need to give it time. After a few weeks (better, months) that dry wine flavor will mellow and more apple flavor will come out.
 

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