Trouble Fermenting

I started the fermenting process on monday and my cider appears to have stopped fermenting and from readings that i have taken it is not as stong as i would.should i add more sugar or stirr it or somthing?this is my first batch so i am not sure what to do.

I think we need to know a bit more about what you did. Start with your recipe, OG, ferm temp and current SG. It's hard to guide you without this information.

I have had a cider ferment out in as little as 3 days.

ok the og was 40 and now it is at about 11,it is fermenting in a room at 23 degrees celsius i used a cider making kit.http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/in...id=566&zenid=43c568af67b33d395fc136bae868d03c that is the kit that i got.hope that is enough information for you to help

Very interesting looking kit - you will have to let us know how it turns out.

Sadly - that link gives us little detail on your process. Did you add yeast nutrient? sulphites? if so when did you pitch your yeast after adding sulphites? What type of yeast did you use, etc. You have to give some details so people can lend you a hand.

40 is your brix reading? that seems ridiculously high. That would be a S.G. over 1.150. Did you mean 14 (1.057)? 11 brix is about 1.044 so you would have a ways to go for your ferment (unless you started with a brix of 40).

the fermentation temp is getting close to too high for me - I would shoot for 68-70F

i used brewers yeast and i pitched it but it did not react as much as i expected.i think the reading was 1.40 actualy.

I think you mean 1.040 for your reading - you are talking gravity right? if you went from 1.040 down to 1.011 you may very well be nearing the end of your ferment. Usually it will ferment dry at .098 or 1.000. I haven't used that yeast or that kit. Could be attenuation of the yeast, could be unfermentables. Did you use lactose? Like the kit suggested?

Give it a week and take gravity readings every 3 days. If it stays the same you might be done

ok thank you for your help.i just used 1kg of brewing sugar with it.i would like it to get a bit stronger though so is there anything i can do to make it kickstart again like stirr it or add some more sugar?

It should go down to 1.000 (or lower).

You can add sugar. You should dissolve it in a little boiling water first and then cool it and add it as sugar. Unfortunately we don't know what yeast was used, so we don't know the alcohol tolerance of it. But I would suspect half a pound per gallon would not be a problem. That would raise the abv by about 2.5%.

Alternatively you could add apple juice concentrate which would also raise the abv.

I think I would let it ferment out. I think you are tasting the sweetness of an unfinished fermentation which is disguiseing the alcohol.

Assuming 1.040 was the SG, if it ferments out to 1.000, you will have a little over 5% abv. At 1.011, it is almost 4%.

You do know that you can just buy apple juice (without preservatives), or juice concentrate and add yeast and you will get a higher SG that you got with your kit. I generally just buy juice, add yeast (no sugar), and end up with about 6% abv.

You could give it a stir to rouse the yeast back up, or repitch some yeast. Sugar would give it food, but I would also pitch in some yeast nutrient.