New cider guy with various questions

Hi guys!

New here and I had a few questions. Just a little background: My uncle gave me a 6 gallon carboy for my 25th birthday (with the caveat that he gets to try everything I make) and I did a run shortly after just to get a nice baseline.

It came out all right. I used a wine yeast and it came out kind of bitter which wasn't what I was going for. On the other hand it'll get you where you wanna go if you know what I mean.

So about 20 days ago I started a new batch: I'm doing 3 gallons of Apple, a gallon of Peach, and a gallon of Pineapple. So just a few questions:

1) How long should I keep it in the primary fermenter? My uncle told me 30 days at least but I've been reading a few things and some people have said to transfer it out after two weeks or whenever it stops bubbling.

2)If it's safe to take out and rack should I?

3) If I do will I need to put an airlock on whatever container I put it in? I was thinking about doing quart sized canning jars and just putting them in my closet but if they need an airlock I'd need something different.

The reason I was thinking canning jars is because I put my uncle's share from my first batch in a small canning jar and everything else in large jugs. The jugs are really murky still but the canning jar is crystal clear and the taste between the two is quite noticeable. Just a thought.

4) I put actual fruit in the carboys and I was wondering how to handle that. Should I take that out before the secondary? I bought a metal mesh strainer but it's kind of flimsy. Would cheese cloth be better or would it soak up too much cider. Don't want to loose too much.

5) What's a good length of time for the secondary? In all honesty I've been drinking my first batch when I know it should be left to sit for a little while. I'm just impatient.

The plan is if I can take the run out of the carboy sooner than 30 days I can just make 7 gallons of apple back to back and have enough back stock that I can drink my own supply but let the rest of it age a little bit.

I'd love to hear opinions from some veterans!

Thanks! And cheers

If the fermentation has stopped (no bubbles in the airlock) then it is fine to rack to secondary.
You could let it sit another week and clear some more and then transfer to whatever you plan to store it in ( jars, bottles etc)
The longer it sits the more "refined" it will become.
Most people rack to a secondary and continue under an airlock to 1) clear the cider 2) make sure fermentation is complete 3) add any flavorings (fruit, cinnamon etc).
If you rack it to a sealed container before the fermentation is complete it will keep building pressure and could result in exploding bottles, although that is exactly how carbonation is done. But carbing should be done with a measured and known amount of priming sugar to avoid the bottle bombs otherwise its a whole new set of problems.

1) When the hydrometer reads the same three days apart, then fermentation should be finished. You don't mention you are trying to carbonate your cider, so canning jars will be alright for that. You could bulk age in secondary until cider is clear, and then bottle. 2) Complete clearing of cider can take two months or more. 3) Do not try to secondary in canning jars; there will collectively be too much much head space leading to oxidation and/or vinegar. 4) Some will leave cider on fruit until fermentation is done before racking to secondary, and some will rack out after two or three weeks. 5) Any time aging will improve a cider's flavor.

Hey guys!

Me again,

First off thanks for the responses!

Second off I have some updates with new questions:

So I decided to go ahead and start my secondary. I started with my pineapple and it went fine. I decided to forgo the canning jars and i just transferred the cider from the carboy to a mixing bowl that I had sterilized before hand, cleaned out the carboy, cleaned the air lock, and then put the cider back in the carboy with the airlock back on to start the secondary. Hope I didn't mess up anywhere.

Here's where the question came in. The peach cider smelled fairly bad, like rotten eggs bad. I looked at the fruit on top and there was no sign of mold or any type of bacteria in there. I looked up some posts on this matter and I guess I got rhino farts, is what they're called. So I did the same process with peach as I did with the pineapple, the whole mixing bowl, back to the carboy thing. Will the smell dissipate in the secondary? I decided to be bold and I poured a small glass of it and took a few swallows. It didn't taste THAT bad actually. This was about 2 hours ago and I'm not feeling sick or anything, a little hungry, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I moved on to the apple and it had a little hint of sulfur but not nearly as much as the peach. Again I took a small swig of it and was delighted to find that it actually tasted really good, way better than my first batch, so I can't wait to see what happens when I bottle it out of secondary.

So to sum up: What's the deal with the sulfur smell? There was no mold or anything so will it dissipate?

Thanks again for answering my questions guys!

I didn't see what yeast strain you're using. Some are pretty notorious for producing that sulfur smell. Especially if the yeast was stressed by underpitching, underairating, or high fermentation temps. The odor will dissipate within a week or two.