Cider time to bottle HELP

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killerzeek

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I am about to bottle up a batch of cider.

Recipe:
5 gal. store pasteurized apple juice
16 oz honey dissolved in 4 cups of the apple juice
1 pack of WYEAST ACT4766

Primary 2 weeks


How necessary is it for a secondary fermentation?

Can I go straight to bottling with a priming sugar?
 
I don't have a huge wealth of knowledge... like many others on this forum do... but I would definitely recommend racking it to secondary and crashing (refrigerating) for a few days to drop the rest of the yeast out. Then from there you can rack it off the lees and bottle it up. Do you have a hydrometer? If you bottle now, you will risk bottle bombs
 
Secondary fermentation isn't needed at all. 2 weeks in primary seems a little short, I would leave it in there for at least another week. Have your hydrometer readings been stable for 3 days? If you don't have a hydrometer, I would wait at least 3 weeks(probably 4) total, depending on your temps. After that you can cold crash if you want and then go right from the primary to the bottling bucket.

Be patient, it's worth it.
 
There's a difference between a secondary fermentation and a secondary carboy. When you hear/read people saying that they keep it in the secondary they're normally talking about the carboy. Secondary fermentation is normally malolactic fermentation. The exception to this beeing when you use a second pitch of yeast into the carboy. You can use separate strains to get a unique flavor. Anyhow, keeping it in the secondary carboy is good for bulk aging and clarifying the cider.

Now to answer your questions directly.

1. No.
2. Yes, but make sure that your cider has stopped fermenting. Check the gravity over a period of days and make sure it stays the same. Also, if the gravity is high...say 1.030 or something, it probably isn't done.

Note: I'm typing this while drinking so I don't mean to come across as mean or anything. Just a direct answer. Enjoy the cider. I'm getting a sandwich.
 
I always rack before bottling so that I don't worry about sucking up the lees into a bottle. Otherwise, I'm having to watch for sucking up lees while trying not to overfill a bottle. It is too much!
 
I am about to bottle up a batch of cider.

Recipe:
5 gal. store pasteurized apple juice
16 oz honey dissolved in 4 cups of the apple juice
1 pack of WYEAST ACT4766

Primary 2 weeks


How necessary is it for a secondary fermentation?

Can I go straight to bottling with a priming sugar?

1st of all, you really should check your gravity, if you bottle too early, you could end up with bottle bombs. 2nd, has your cider even cleared yet? It should drop clear enough to read a newspaper thru, otherwise you'll end up with all that sediment in your botltles.

As far as a secondary goes, there are plenty of people who don't use them, I like to use a secondary because it's easier for me to avoid getting excess sediment that way. Regards, GF.
 
If you cold crash can you still bottle carbonate with priming sugar?

What's the point of cold crashing, then? You have yeast, and adding more sugar to carbonate with on top of existing sugar. The whole thing is a bottle bomb. Bottle conditioning a sweet cider is dangerous. Either use a keg, or let it go dry before bottle carbonating.
 
Sorry for the thread jack, im still learning beer and very very new to cider.

Would it be better to bottle it while a tiny bit sweet and dishwasher pasteruze after a week or so of conditioning? It will continue to ferment and carbonate in the bottle without adding sugar this way right?

I don't have a keg and the amount of cider im experimenting with is very small. I have lots of coolers to store the ticking timebombs in for safety. If I ever went full scale with cider I might get a keg, but for now just have bottles.
 
I went ahead and got a corny (already had the gas) so I think I will force carbonate.
 
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