Should I rack again or wait or bottle?

This is my first cider. Made from my own apples. I racked it last weekend after three weeks fermenting. It had a thick layer at the bottom. Yeast and particles from the apples.

Well, the cider tasted great! Dry, with the right ammount of sourness and bitterness, or what I imagine what would be right after some conditioning.

Unfortunately I got too much of the dead yeast etc while racking, so the layer on the bottom after racking is still quite thick.

So, should I just let it continue to sit in the carboy to condition it or rack it again before conditioning or bottle it now? There are also some particles floating around in the cider.

If noone here thinks different, my idea now is to wait for a week or two and then rack it and bottle it immediately.

/matti

Don't get in a huge hurry. Secondaries will have usually have a thin layer of yeast at the bottom no matter how careful you are. It's the point of a secondary, to let the remaining suspended particles to preciptate out.

I'd let it sit in the secondary for a month or so just to make sure it's fully clarified, then bottle. There is no reason to be in a hurry, especially with cider since it typically becomes better with age.

I would wait, having that extra yeast may be a good thing in that it will provide a good population to clean up and make it everything taste the way it should be.
Personally, I have gotten use to the flash light inspection when it's dark. Just shine it through the carboy and look for bubbles and haze. Any bubbles and it's not ready to bottle.
Haze can vary depending on your juices, etc. But it gives you a good ideal of what will be coming out of the bottle.
Of course crash chilling, stabilizing, etc speeds up things. But I just like nice dry ciders that makes my spelling even worst than normal. -