Too early for secondary?

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upnoath

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I'm using Safale S04 (about 6 grams for a two gallon batch), two lbs brown sugar (I know that's alot).
After 3.5 weeks, I took the cider off the cake and racked to secondary. Foolishly, I took a gravity reading a little late and I'm only at 1.050. The SG was about 1.075-1.08, I couldn't get an accurate reading for SG because it was over my cheap hydrometers limit.
My question is, if I took it off the primary at 1.05 (still cloyingly sweet), can I plan on it getting much lower with the yeast that remains suspended in liquid; or should I sprinkle a little more yeast on top to get things going again? I'd like the cider to finish at around 1.02 (it's supposed to be for x-mas for people who don't like dryer ciders). Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
well after nearly a month i would expect the fermentation to be over. but 1.05 seems high to me. its posable you have a stuck fermentation and taking it off the yeast may not of been a great idea. i don't see why adding more yeast would hurt anything, but i would also look into other cures for a stuck fermentation as well.
 
leave it in the primary! cider, especially with a huge OG, can take way more than a month to finish. Especially if the temps are cool (low 60s or below) it can take closer to two months. (again, this is for a big cider). leave it in the primary for another two months at least.
 
I am doing a 5 gallon batch of fresh pressed unpasturized cider(no additives). I used S04 and added two pounds of turbinado cane sugar. OG was 1.065. Here are my hydrometer readings through out the fermentation:

OG 10/24/09-1.065

10/28/09-1.055

10/31/09-1.050.

11/02/09-1.042

11/06/09-1.036

11/09/09-1.030

11/13/09-1.024

11/15/09-1.022

11/17/09-1.021

11/19/09-1.020

11/22/09-1.016 -Cold Crashed for 4 days.

11/26/09-racked to secondary & continue to cold crash.

12/03/09-bottled in 1gal jugs.

This is my first attempt to ferment anything, so take my input with a grain of salt. But if you used twice the amount of sugar than I did, I would think that you should expect the fermentation to last a little longer than 3.5 weeks. You could sprinkle some more yeast, but I would wait and see if the remaining yeast can deal with the rest of the sugar. Take a gravity reading every 2-4 days to see where it stands.

Good luck
Steve
 
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