Am I crazy? Racking hard cider to secondary on apples?

[Philistine]

Would there be any effect or benefit to racking a hard cider that has fermented in the primary to a secondary on top of fresh sliced apples?

 

[Paps]

It would be a new source of sugar for any remaining yeast to ferment and would probably need racked again. I would reccomend NOT doing it because IMHO it seems like a waste of time re-starting fermentation.(but you can do whatever you wanna do)

 

[Philistine]

It would be a new source of sugar for any remaining yeast to ferment and would probably need racked again. I would reccomend NOT doing it because IMHO it seems like a waste of time re-starting fermentation.(but you can do whatever you wanna do)

I'm not worried about secondary fermentation as it should be minimal and I can easily let it sit for a couple extra weeks. My thinking is to impart more apple flavor to the cider. Racking on to fruit seems fairly common for mead and beer after fermentation so why not cider?

 

[JuiceyJay]

Don't see why not, I did a primary on strawberries/black berries than racked on top of more bb/sb in a secondary.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Adding apple flavor...to apple cider, GENIOUS!!

 

[732Brewer]

Is there any downside to racking hard cider into the secondary only after 2 weeks? My first run I waited till 3 weeks and it tasted yeasty when racking. I am attempting to avoid this again. Since I am new to making hard cider and didn't take gravity readings for either run, so please understand my freshness to the game. To my understanding, the yeast cake is what is causing the off flavor correct?

 

[Yooper]

Is there any downside to racking hard cider into the secondary only after 2 weeks? My first run I waited till 3 weeks and it tasted yeasty when racking. I am attempting to avoid this again. Since I am new to making hard cider and didn't take gravity readings for either run, so please understand my freshness to the game. To my understanding, the yeast cake is what is causing the off flavor correct?

I rack to secondary when the fermentation slows down and when there are thick lees- often that is before 2 weeks.

A yeasty flavor can come from stressed yeast or from a too-high fermentation temperature as well as from poor quality yeast strains, and not always from the lees.

 

[oljimmy]

Interesting idea! I'm actually thinking that the amount of sugar released would be minimal, because that's all bound up in the cell walls which presumably will not burst during secondary. Let us know how this goes!

 

[732Brewer]

I rack to secondary when the fermentation slows down and when there are thick lees- often that is before 2 weeks.

A yeasty flavor can come from stressed yeast or from a too-high fermentation temperature as well as from poor quality yeast strains, and not always from the lees.

I am going to assume then after your primary ferment you will be racking two times after before bottling since your first rack is so soon? All the posts I have read people were talking about getting rid of yeast and letting the cider age out, which also helps with clarity. Do you agree?