A couple of questions.

[Crawdaddy]

Hey, I just registered to the forum today hoping you could help me with a few questions about my cider. Thanks in Advanced.


Well I started Cider on the 16th of November I used 1 gallon Pasteurized preservative free juice with brewing yeast and 2 cups (1 white 1 brown) of sugar.

My questions are.
1. When should I rack this?
2. Could I rack this onto Cinnamon to give it a better taste?
3. I don't have an original gravity reading is it going to be possible to estimate percentage?
4. I could do this still, but if I wanted it bubbly and carbonated, how much sugar would I add and at what date (rough estimate is fine) would I bottle it with the sugar?

This is my first attempt at this, which is why I only did 1 gallon.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer this and also if you have any tips feel free to share them.




Thanks.

 

[Crawdaddy]

Also I thought I should add, I haven't added pectic enzyme, Could someone offer me insight into this?

 

[JLem]

1. No need to rack it, but I would after 3-4 weeks to get it off the lees. If it is sufficiently clear for you you could go right to bottles

2. What do you mean my "better taste"?

3. Well, most apple juices fall in the 1.045 - 1.050 range. If you know how much the sugars weighed, you could get a close estimate.

4. It depends on how carbonated you want it. For only one gallon, you'll probably want no more than an ounce of sugar. You can figure this out using an online carbonation calculator (like this one here - http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html). When you bottle is really up to you. You need to make sure that it is done fermenting, but some people bottle ASAP after that and others let their cider bulk age for months. Bulk aging will help with the clarity as all of the particulate matter drops out of suspension.

5. Pectic enzyme is not necessary, but you could add it now to help speed up the clarification process.

 

[Crawdaddy]

Thanks for the response, and I didn't really mean a "better taste" just a hint of cinnamon, could I rack that over cinnamon now?

 

[Calder]

You started 6 days ago. leave it on the yeast for a few weeks. Rather than racking onto cinnamon, you can add it straight to the fermenter now. That way you can get the benefits of leaving it on the lees for a while and get infusion of cinnamon into it.