Ready for Christmas?

I started my first batch of cider Thur. night. I was hoping to have it for Christmas, all the receipes I read said 7-10 days in primary, another 7 - 14 days in secondary, then bottle (unless clarifieing or sparking) But I just read several threads saying it takes months. Below is what I've done so far, please tell me it it will make it for Christmas, or you have any advise how to continue from here: (I'm on day 3)

Day 1
1) Added 5 Campden tablets to 5 gal. pasurized but absorbic acid and preservative free apple juice/cider (4 gal. cider, 1 gal juice...it's all my little town had without preservatives)

2) Covered with airlock.

Day 2 (S.G. of 1.048)

1) Siphoned 1.5 gal from fermenter into pot, heated pot to 120 deg. F.

2) Dissolved 2 LBS. brown sugar in pot then dumped pot back into fermenter.

3) Read S.G. of (1.062 @ 84 deg. F.) Floated one pack of Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast on surface for five min.

4) Stirred for 2 min.

5) Covered with airlock.

Day 3
Getting 1 bubble every Min. or two.

Looking at that recipe, I'd say let it sit in primary for 4 weeks, then rack to secondary until clear (2-4 weeks). The brown sugar does take a little longer to clear than corn sugar, but I think you should be ready for christmas.
If after a month, it isn't perfectly clear, you could always crash cool it, and then bottle. A couple days in the fridge will help it settle out.

You can drink cider that young, but it improves with age. If I was in a hurry, I would have used less brown sugar or added it after 4-5 days of fermenting.

Basically, it'll be READY by christmas, but there's no telling whether it'll taste nice by christmas. Realistically it takes a long time for cider to reach it's potential taste wise, so maybe you should try for a quick beer instead/as well :cross:
I'd pretty much follow Adolphus' advice when it comes to the timing of everything, but this sorta makes me think about how slack I've been lately - I really should've gotten a cider ready ages ago myself to be ready to drink on christmas day. Ah well.

I know it's not an 'easy' thing to do, but if you really want something special for the Holidays every year, make your ciders for NEXT Christmas NOW !

GrantLee63 said:

I know it's not an 'easy' thing to do, but if you really want something special for the Holidays every year, make your ciders for NEXT Christmas NOW !

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That all depends on the recipe you're using...

If you're making EdWort's Apfelwein, then you really only need a month or 3...

If you're making 'real' cider (fresh pressed apples & yeast only, like my New England Hard Cider), then it will be ready to drink in a month or 2 also, but will mellow and get better with bulk aging. Last year's cider is generally good, but that also depends on the recipe. Depending on what apples you used (and the ratio of each), not all ciders will be better a year later. That's why I recommend 3-6 months for bulk aging on a cider. If you have perfected your recipe, and used the correct ratio of sweets, semi-sweets, acidics, etc., then yeah, a year is a good idea. But that takes a few years of perfecting your recipe, and having the orchard on site to have the ability to get a perfect blend.

You also have to figure in the ABV and acidity of said cider, if you don't have enough of one or the other, the cider may not last that long. Unless all of the above have been figured in, you're looking at a really fine cider in about 6 months... 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, then rack into bulk aging for 3-6 months.

If you can get the right recipe, and the right storage conditions, then a year or two will make the best cider you've ever had. But then again, how many people do you know that have had enough cider to know the difference?

SWMBO and I bottled Sept 1st Apfelwien this weekend in Champagne bottles for Christmas....I kinda planned this one out......but I should have done it sooner, just forgot, still should be excellent though

Adolphus when you say bulk aging for 3-6 months, do we still need an airlock, or does it just get capped and stored? (assuming we weren't carbonating)

stinkiestbink said:

Adolphus when you say bulk aging for 3-6 months, do we still need an airlock, or does it just get capped and stored? (assuming we weren't carbonating)

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I still airlock it, just to be safe... I'm also looking at the vented carboy bungs for future use, just to free up my airlocks for active fermentation...