How long is too long to age before bottle carbing cider?

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BrewerJosh

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So I was trying to come up with a quick, no age, sweet, and carbed cider that would be easy to make and drink.

1 can apple concentrate
4 cans Allen's apple juice (4.2L)
Nottingham yeast.
OG was 1.054 - 1.056 (I think, can't remember)

I mixed it together and left it for 2 weeks, at that point the yeast had started to drop out and I figured that it was close to being done. Took a gravity sample and got 1.000, I then racked onto another can of concentrate and bottled in 500ml plastic PET bottles. I kept an eye on the bottles and when they felt firm enough I tossed them into the back of the fridge to slow/stop the carbing.

It ended up not being carbed enough, I was a little paranoid about geysers/bombs after a ginger beer that I made in Jan went all over the place when opened and put the cider into the fridge too soon. Also it was sour, which wasn't a bad thing and was pretty tasty. At least until the carb ran out and it warmed up a little, then it got somewhat of a cloying mouth feel.
The other thing that I noticed was that as more time passed the sour taste became less pronounced and the cider became more refreshing.

With my current attempt I changed the yeast up to 71B (what I had on hand), and am planning to leave it longer before bottling. Both to try to ferment to dry and let it age a little more. But I'm concerned that if I leave it too long that all the yeast will drop out and that it won't carb.

So, how long could I conceivably leave it before it will have trouble carbing? I still want to keep it quick'ish, so I'll probably not leave it more then 4 weeks. But it doesn't help to get a second opinion right?

Thanks!
 
I do a quick, no age, sweet and carbed cider. Some folks refer to it as 'draft style cider', like Magners or something you would get at the pub.

I use store-bought juice, pectic enzyme, and Nottingham yeast. Ferment to 1.010, prime and bottle. Watch carbonation progress, when at the appropriate level, pasteurize on the stove top. From start to finish, the cider is ready to drink in two weeks. Its light , crisp, fizzy, with just enough apple flavor - and very popular with my roommate (who prefers to be called my wife) and her friends.

Can't answer your immediate question - when I make cider that is fermented to dry, I don't carbonate it.
 
I had a mead that had been aging for a good 4 months, I racked and backsweetened/added raisins but to my surprise there was still some yeast in there and I got a renewed fermentation. I don't really care, will stabilise soon anyway. The point being, that was 4 months, 4 weeks is almost nothing.
 
@Pappers: that sounds really nice, when this batch was finished I went out and picked up a bunch of the commercial ciders to try along side it. Magners ended up being the one that I liked the most. I think that I'll give this a try next time, thanks!

@oldmate: that's what I was looking for, thanks!
 
It ended up not being carbed enough, I was a little paranoid about geysers/bombs after a ginger beer that I made in Jan went all over the place when opened and put the cider into the fridge too soon. Also it was sour, which wasn't a bad thing and was pretty tasty. At least until the carb ran out and it warmed up a little, then it got somewhat of a cloying mouth feel.
The other thing that I noticed was that as more time passed the sour taste became less pronounced and the cider became more refreshing.

The sour taste was malic acid. Sounds like you had a MLF in the bottles, which is fine. If you leave it longer the MLF may happen before bottling.
 
The sour taste was malic acid. Sounds like you had a MLF in the bottles, which is fine. If you leave it longer the MLF may happen before bottling.

That's what I was wondering, and it is part of the reason that I switched to the 71B. I heard (I think here) that it was good at MLF and wanted to give it a try.
 
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