How long in the bottle?

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grreeknick

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TEAM, I bottled my cider last night - I had left it for six months at about 63 degrees. I had racked it into a new carboy at 1 month, and the ferment seemed to be going well, but it's not clear. The guy at the LHBS advised a packet of dry yeast and some brown sugar - not much, maybe 1/4 cup. I also added one can of frozen apple concentrate.

I bottled last night and had a "priming taste." It's pretty yeasty, but I like it.

Question: How long should it stay in the bottles at room temp before I refrigerate and drink?
 
Usually a couple of weeks to carbonate, then go for it. However, it will most definately improve the longer you leave it in the bottle.:mug:
 
placervilledan said:
Usually a couple of weeks to carbonate, then go for it. However, it will most definately improve the longer you leave it in the bottle.:mug:


+1 on the longer you leave it alone!

What I did was bottle and label the cap w/ the date. Crack one open at 1 week, taste and take notes of everything. Week 2 Crack one open and take notes again. Week 3 open one and take notes. If its good on carb, FRIDGE TIME. BUUUUT save a 6 pack or so and let them age for a long time and open one at different intervals of time and take notes on it. This will help you understand better about aging a cider. Trust me, you will notice the difference from week 1 to week 3, imagine the change after a year!
:mug:
 
Leave it at ferment temp for around 2 weeks to ensure good carbonation, then you can send it to your cellar or wherever it is cool to age. The sediment will always eventually drop out and you'll have crystal clear cider. You can hold the bottle up to the light occasionally and see the progression of the sedimentation. When it all settles out, I'd follow the taste-testing regime suggested above. It seems to me though that improvements over a year are minimal...but there may be some even longer time frame where it changes again, I dunno as 2006's batch is about 18 months old now. I have a few of them just for this purpose of age testing.
 
Thanks for all your guidance. It's nice to take part in a forum where people aren't uptight and are instead are helpful!
 
I've had some sit in my cellar for 7 years before drinking. Well, not on purpose. I discovered a 6-pack of very hard New England Cider while cleaning out the basement.

It was pure heaven. The tartness was almost totally gone. And very fizzy. Almost a bit like 7-up, except 15% ABV, but you could hardly notice it.

After those 6 bottles, I TORE my basement apart looking for more. I know I'd never have the patience to wait that long again. But in generally, 1 year seems to be the timeframe where much of the tartness has mellowed.

nick
 
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