Hello! I have just recently started my first batch of hard cider after much research on youtube and brewing communities. I did not have available fresh apples to press and make juice so I ended up going with Treetop Honeycrisp 100% apple juice (the cloudy kind opposed to the clear kind).
At the beginning of the fermentation, I added 1 packet of Safale S-04 yeast, some yeast nutrient, and some pectic enzyme, before closing off my fermentation bucket. I also added a good amount of brown sugar because I wanted my cider to be around 10% abv.
My fermentation started quickly and finished very fast, it was pretty much done within 4 days with around ~1.00 gravity.
After 2 weeks I transitioned the 5 gallons of cider into the secondary fermentation vessel, a glass carboy. It has been only about 3 weeks now in total from the start of primary fermentation and visually my cider looks very similar to the store-bought juice. The haziness has stayed the same from the start and I am worried if it will ever get clear.
My concern lies in that I read somewhere online that if the store-bought juice I bought was heat pasteurized during production then the pectins would set into the juice and stay there. I have no idea if this is actually true or if my juice was produced in this way.
My questions are:
1. Do pectic enzymes take a while to clear cider? Should I add a bit more right now? Would a product like Super Kleer be able to take care of the problem?
2. Does anyone know if there are certain reasons why pectic enzyme would not affect the clarity of my cider?
3. If nothing is actually wrong, how long should I expect to wait before I start seeing my cider clear up a bit? I am aware that it has only been about 3 weeks and cider can take a while, but I just want to be proactive so that I can make my cider clear.
One last thing, I'm pretty sure that the haze is not solely due to the natural yeast haze that is expected with cider since it looks nearly identical to the original store bought juice haze, but also I am a newbie so I'm not really sure.
At the beginning of the fermentation, I added 1 packet of Safale S-04 yeast, some yeast nutrient, and some pectic enzyme, before closing off my fermentation bucket. I also added a good amount of brown sugar because I wanted my cider to be around 10% abv.
My fermentation started quickly and finished very fast, it was pretty much done within 4 days with around ~1.00 gravity.
After 2 weeks I transitioned the 5 gallons of cider into the secondary fermentation vessel, a glass carboy. It has been only about 3 weeks now in total from the start of primary fermentation and visually my cider looks very similar to the store-bought juice. The haziness has stayed the same from the start and I am worried if it will ever get clear.
My concern lies in that I read somewhere online that if the store-bought juice I bought was heat pasteurized during production then the pectins would set into the juice and stay there. I have no idea if this is actually true or if my juice was produced in this way.
My questions are:
1. Do pectic enzymes take a while to clear cider? Should I add a bit more right now? Would a product like Super Kleer be able to take care of the problem?
2. Does anyone know if there are certain reasons why pectic enzyme would not affect the clarity of my cider?
3. If nothing is actually wrong, how long should I expect to wait before I start seeing my cider clear up a bit? I am aware that it has only been about 3 weeks and cider can take a while, but I just want to be proactive so that I can make my cider clear.
One last thing, I'm pretty sure that the haze is not solely due to the natural yeast haze that is expected with cider since it looks nearly identical to the original store bought juice haze, but also I am a newbie so I'm not really sure.