How long to let ferment????

I got two different 5-gallon batches of cider going last saturday with 10 gallons of 100% "not from concentrate" applie juice that I bought locally. They have been fermenting for about 8 days at about 65 degrees. I pitched champagne yeast into one and Cotes De Blancs in the other. I did not add any extra corn sugar and am just letting the yeats eat the sugars from the juice. How long should I let these ferment. I have not checked the SG but assume that they are getting very close to being finished. Does anyone have any suggestions on this?

Thanks guys.

are they in glass carboys?

if so alot of people have been using the 'rule of thumb' that if you can read a newspaper article through the glass its ready to bottle....

ive had my cider in primary for 2 weeks using lalvin 1116 and its still fermenting and pretty cloudy, i racked it to secondary because it was in a plastic ale bucket...

i also cheated and filled a grolsch bottle before i racked and put it in the fridge.....its SUPER tasty and seems to have quite a punch to it, but the flavor is definitely still dominated with that yeasty taste.

personally i would give it a couple more weeks and use that newspaper trick....although the more experienced members of the forum may suggest otherwise?

let them sit for 2-4 weeks, then rack and let sit for another month or so, then either bottle, or rack again into bulk aging for 3-6 months...

without using any extra sugar, you'll hit about 5 or 6% when done...

5% or 6% abv is what were shooting for with these. We made a batch of ed worts apfelwein and although it tastes awesome, the stuff is way too strong.

Adolphus79 said:

let them sit for 2-4 weeks, then rack and let sit for another month or so, then either bottle, or rack again into bulk aging for 3-6 months...

without using any extra sugar, you'll hit about 5 or 6% when done...

Click to expand...

after that much time, when you bottle, can you carbonate, or do you go still?

Andy77 said:

after that much time, when you bottle, can you carbonate, or do you go still?

Click to expand...

Yes, you can still carbonate... the ABV isn't high enough to have killed off the yeast...