Didn't this go waaay too fast?

First attempt at brewing anything...

- 6g of 100% natural apple cider, pasteurized, lots of suspended stuff
- Yeast Nutrient (1/2 teaspoon per gallon)
- Acid Blend (tartaric, malic and citric)
- Lalvin 71B-1122 Yeast

Day 1 : Pitched it all in a fermenting bucket, left the lid off and covered with a towel (SG 1.049)

Day 2 : SG 1.046

Day 3 : SG 1.040 (put lid on bucket, and attached airlock as it didn't look like the fermenting was risking a blow off)

Day 4 : SG 1.020 (yesterday, I freaked out that it was dropping too quick so I racked off to a glass carboy, leaving some "gunk" behind in bucket. Hoping that would slow it down.)

Day 5 : SG 1.008 (tonight, *shock*)

The cider is _VERY_ cloudy, like nothing has settled. It tastes just fine as far as I can tell. I prefer a carbonated sweet cider. I'm wondering what to do? Should I cold crash it in my garage and then rack it off again?

I have pectic enzyme on order, but I didn't think the SG would drop so quickly so I don't know if it will help to add that when it arrives in a few days. The guy at the homebrew shop said I was at least a few months away from bottling when I started so I don't have any bottling gear either!

Thoughts?

Why are you checking your gravity everyday? Leave that cider alone for a month or two and let it do what it needs to do. It should clear up in a month or so.

I was trying to keep tasting notes and measurements in an effort to learn what's going on Also, I believe my Cider book says to rackoff at 1.005 or there abouts..so that's why I was taking dailies waiting for that number.

So is the above "normal"? I had assumed the fermentation period didn't have a cyclical nature and that the SG would always go down until it hit a maximum low.

Sounds pretty normal to me. I'd leave it be for a while & let it finish, a month will do it good. Regards, GF.

71B is a fast fermenter. Mine went from 1.060 to 1.000 in 6 days which is when I cold crashed it. My guess is that if you leave it alone it will get every last bit of sugar. If you age it a year, you may have a decent dry white wine. If you want something that is recognizable as cider, you want to cold crash it soon. That will probably help with the clarity as well

bit earlie to really look at it. but looks like a nice exponential growth of the yeasties. Probably perfectly normal.

Update to this thread...

I semi-cold crashed in the garage about 10 days after pitching the yeast and waited for the pectic enzyme to arrive. This seemed to slow down the fermentation process, but obviously did not kill the yeast (see below).

When the pectic enzyme arrived, I brought the 5g carboy in the house again and added it. (I purchased a 5g carboy sling/carrier and it was _WAY_ easier to handle...I highly recommend one)

I let the pectic enzyme work for a couple days and it cleared a little, but not enough for my tastes so I added some Sparkolloid and let it sit another week or two. During that period the fermentation kicked up a little bit, but not much.

When the Sparkolloid finished it's job the cider was nearly crystal clear. Absolutely beautiful. Taste was still sweet, a bit like Strongbow or Woodchuck.

I ended up priming and bottling 2 gallons worth of Growlers and 2 gallons worth of various jugs/plastic bottles. 3 gallons went into the refrigerator and 1 gallon I pasteurized in Growlers using my canning boiler for longer term storage at room temperature. (I haven't tried the pasteurized stuff yet)

I had a glass a few nights ago of the refrigerator cider and enjoyed it immensely. It had a light sparkle to it. It's awesome as is, only 30 days after pitching. Or as awesome as a first timer can expect A couple friends have tried some and said it was good, and they are the kind of friends that would tell me it sucked if it did.

I put the remaining liquid in a 1gallon carboy and it's still slowly bubbling on the counter. I want to let it sit until I run out of the "sweet" stuff and compare against the aged version.

The 1gallon apple cider is on the left

congratulations on your happy result.
Cider really should be drunk fresh, like beer not like wine. So I think your timing was right on. If you leave the ferment a little longer at a higher temp you will get a dryer drink - its just a question of style.

BTW you will find that you can add pectinase at the beginning of your ferment rather than in the secondary. Also next time you might find that drinking it right at 5 days is very tasty. Sure its not clear and it has a bit of a yeasty note but a lot of people like this cloudy type of drink as well.

Agreed, I make my cider with nottingham and nothing else (og 1.050), and after three weeks it's down to about 1.008 or so. Perfect for me, not clear, but has plenty of apple character and just enough sweetness left. I find that the wine yeasts take away alot of the flavor and mouthfeel. My .02.

I started my first batch a few weeks ago, I hope to bottle in about another week.

I used the Nottingham yeast, but then I read that Wheat yeasts work well to help keep them more sweet. So my next batch I am going to try that.

Mine is 100% fresh pressed juice no additives, not pasteurized, but they do a UV thing that is supposed to kill bacteria. SG was 1.058

mysigp226 said:

First attempt at brewing anything...

- 6g of 100% natural apple cider, pasteurized, lots of suspended stuff
- Yeast Nutrient (1/2 teaspoon per gallon)
- Acid Blend (tartaric, malic and citric)
- Lalvin 71B-1122 Yeast

Day 1 : Pitched it all in a fermenting bucket, left the lid off and covered with a towel (SG 1.049)

Day 2 : SG 1.046

Day 3 : SG 1.040 (put lid on bucket, and attached airlock as it didn't look like the fermenting was risking a blow off)

Day 4 : SG 1.020 (yesterday, I freaked out that it was dropping too quick so I racked off to a glass carboy, leaving some "gunk" behind in bucket. Hoping that would slow it down.)

Day 5 : SG 1.008 (tonight, *shock*)

The cider is _VERY_ cloudy, like nothing has settled. It tastes just fine as far as I can tell. I prefer a carbonated sweet cider. I'm wondering what to do? Should I cold crash it in my garage and then rack it off again?

I have pectic enzyme on order, but I didn't think the SG would drop so quickly so I don't know if it will help to add that when it arrives in a few days. The guy at the homebrew shop said I was at least a few months away from bottling when I started so I don't have any bottling gear either!

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

What's the easiest way to take the SG so often without contamination? Do you use a siphon tube to just pull out a bit quickly for the hygrometer? I am a little nervous about opening up my fermenter every day.

Get a wine thief or just use a turkey baster. However, make sure to sanitize anything that touches your brew.

jaginger said:

What's the easiest way to take the SG so often without contamination? Do you use a siphon tube to just pull out a bit quickly for the hygrometer? I am a little nervous about opening up my fermenter every day.

Click to expand...

I got tired of constantly sanitizing and wasting samples, so i tied some floss around the hydrometer, sanitized, and left it in the carboy to float around. it keeps attracting bubbles that collect on the surface, but i can lift it out with the floss and deposit it back in a clear spot if need be.

mysigp226 said:

First attempt at brewing anything...

- 6g of 100% natural apple cider, pasteurized, lots of suspended stuff
- Yeast Nutrient (1/2 teaspoon per gallon)
- Acid Blend (tartaric, malic and citric)
- Lalvin 71B-1122 Yeast

Day 1 : Pitched it all in a fermenting bucket, left the lid off and covered with a towel (SG 1.049)

Day 2 : SG 1.046

Day 3 : SG 1.040 (put lid on bucket, and attached airlock as it didn't look like the fermenting was risking a blow off)

Day 4 : SG 1.020 (yesterday, I freaked out that it was dropping too quick so I racked off to a glass carboy, leaving some "gunk" behind in bucket. Hoping that would slow it down.)

Day 5 : SG 1.008 (tonight, *shock*)

The cider is _VERY_ cloudy, like nothing has settled. It tastes just fine as far as I can tell. I prefer a carbonated sweet cider. I'm wondering what to do? Should I cold crash it in my garage and then rack it off again?

I have pectic enzyme on order, but I didn't think the SG would drop so quickly so I don't know if it will help to add that when it arrives in a few days. The guy at the homebrew shop said I was at least a few months away from bottling when I started so I don't have any bottling gear either!

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

FYI: the lalvin 71B-1122 (narbonne) will metabolize a good percentage of the malic acid into alcohol & raise your ABV a bit. You might find this useful: Winemaking: Strains of Wine Yeast Regards, GF.

I just finished a 3 gal batch of cider using the Narbonne, and it did turn out a little soft/flat, so I was going to use 3 tsp of Acid Blend, is that too much? My OG was 1.08, FG is 1.002 and I wanted it a little sweeter. Also, I concur that the Narbonne did take away a good amount of the apple flavor. Makes a nice dry white though. The apple taste is there, but very subtle, I'm planning to carb with about 3/4 frozen apple juice concentrate to get some apple back into it. So if I were to use a different strain, it would have left more malic acid and therefore, possibly ended more "crisp"?

mysigp226 said:

I ended up priming and bottling 2 gallons worth of Growlers and 2 gallons worth of various jugs/plastic bottles. 3 gallons went into the refrigerator and 1 gallon I pasteurized in Growlers using my canning boiler for longer term storage at room temperature. (I haven't tried the pasteurized stuff yet)

Click to expand...

Does the pasteurizing kill the yeast, meaning you could sweeten and then pasteurize without getting carbonation?

I presume the real purpose in your case was to make it safe from bacteria for the long-term storage, no?

Yes, pasteurizing kills the yeast. But it also drives off some of the flavor. The alcohol in the drink is enough to keep it bacteria-free.

If you want to sweeten it, then you need to stabilize it. 1 campden tablet, and potassium sorbate (don't know volume), per gallon, will prevent renewed fermentation.

Hophead75 said:

So if I were to use a different strain, it would have left more malic acid and therefore, possibly ended more "crisp"?

Click to expand...

Yes, a different strain would've left more malic. You'll lose a certain amount of apple flavour with any strain of yeast though, the trick is finding which one suits your needs the best. (A great excuse to keep making cider!) You can add acid blend, but since it's made up of tartaric, citric & malic acids, you might lose some of that malic acid too. You might consider adding pure tartaric acid this time, at least you know the yeast won't eat it.

Check out Keller's list of yeast strains (the link is in my previous post in this thread) it's a good source of info on popular wine yeast strains. When adding things like acids or tannins, use small amounts (try 1/4 teaspoon per gallon) & taste; keep adding small amounts & tasting till you get it right where you want it. The theory here is that you can always add more, but once it's added, you can't take it out again. You should dissolve powders into a little water or must before adding to the carbouy, just adding dry powders to your must will cause the CO2 to come out of solution & foam all over.

You might draw off a sample, say a pint; and start adding acid to that & tasting. If you do the math on the measurements, you'll know how much to add to the carbouy. It's all about what you think tastes best. Good luck, GF.