Allples Cider, next step

[alanlane131]

I have juiced over 30 litres or 8 gallons of apple juice, 50% Bramley 50% easting apples. I simmered all of the juice at 85 degrees C for 45 minutes to kill all wild yeast and bacteria. reduced the temperature to 25 degrees C and then sprinkled in yeast for cider making ( 2 packets). I added white granulated sugar 1 pound of sugar per gallon after the 45 minutes simmering.

hydrometer reading on day 0 was 1.085, 13 days later 1.062 (3.4% alcohol content).
My Plan: leave the cider for another week to finish bubbling (which has slowed down) and pour into a secondary bucket to achieve a cleaner cider.

My questions: If I add potassium sorbate to the cider to the secondary fermenter will this prevent my cider when bottled with 5-10ml glucose in each bottle becoming a carbonated cider?

Do I need to add campden tablets as I have pasteurised the cider before my yeast addition?

regards
Al

 

[Maylar]

Sorbate will have no effect on an active fermentation, since there's already a large colony of yeast in solution. You will need to wait until the cider clears and all the yeast drops out before doing that.

I usually rack to secondary at about 1.006 and wait for it to clear, which is another month or two. Then rack to a bottling bucket and add the sorbate plus Campden (K-meta). At this level the Campden acts as an antioxidant, and it also helps the k-sorbate do it's job. Without it, sorbate can create funky odors that smell like geraniums.

 

[mredge73]

Your yeast look to be having a hard time, by now it should be close to 1.00. I would be a little worried about their health right now but hopefully everything will be fine.
Do not transfer until it drys out (gets close to 1.00), it looks like it may still take a while. What is your fermentation temp? What kind of yeast did you use?
I would grab a pack of EC1118 just in case it doesn't pick up.

Also note, because you heated the apples prior to fermentation it will never clear completely. Cider will retain a cloudy appearance as petic has set in.
Won't hurt the taste but will affect the appearance.

Adding sorbate will disable the yeast's reproduction cycle, you will not be able to naturally carbonate. Do not add sorbate if you want to bottle condition/carbonate.
Sorbate works better in the presents of sulfite; so adding them together is often recommended. I rarely use campden, sorbate will work fine on its own if you drop most of the yeast out of solution with a cold crash first.
Again, do not add campden if you wish to bottle condition/carbonate.

 

[Maylar]

again, do not add sorbate if you wish to bottle condition/carbonate.

fify

 

[alanlane131]

Hi,
I used gervin cider yeast GV13. 5g pack, I put 2 packs in to the 8 gallon juice. temperature of the fermenter is 20 degrees (Room temp) steady.

I will take another hydrometer reading next Monday. Hopefully the alcohol content should improve. I would like a 5-6% cider, cloudy I like it looks more authentique.

regrads
Al

 

[mredge73]

Your OG is too high for a 5-6% cider; you are on path for a 11% cider.
Why did you add additional sugar? If you didn't you would likely get a 5-6% cider.
Stopping active fermentation is like stopping a freight train, it is difficult and if you are successful you have a mess of off flavors.
The chemicals above are not intended to stop fermentation, they just keep inactive yeast dormant.

The reason why your fermentation is slow is because you didn't add enough yeast at the start. You really needed 2x 11 gram packs.
It should have established a population by now but you will need to let it sit a bit longer; as Maylar said it may take an additional month or two.

 

[alanlane131]

Thanks for the advice, I reckon I will keep taking readings every week. then when I am happy it wont blow the head off people I will add the sorbate and put it in the cold shed for a few days before bottling

Al