In-Process Cider Advice

[awilkes67]

Hi, looking for some feedback from the experts on this.

5 Gallons of fresh Weaver's Orchard Cider from Morgantown, PA. They say its a blend of tart and sweet, really delicious.

Added 2 pounds light brown sugar and 2 weeks ago pitched a pack of dry Nottingham yeast.

I was getting sulfur smell early on, but added some yeast nutrient and slosh racked twice, now its gone.

After 2 weeks, racked once, its all the way down to 0.998, still some pressure on the airlock.

I know it has to age for quite a while. The taste now is characteristic of a very dry white wine, but there is some apple in there, so I think its going to be great!

I would like this to be a little sweeter if possible and definitely carbonated. I want to keg and bottle.

I like the idea of cold crashing, racking off any yeast left and using apple juice concentrate in the bottling bucket to give some sweetness and a little more apple.

From what I can read, it can bottle condition safely without exploding for about a week to get some carbonation then stovetop pasteurize.

Any thoughts or feedback, do's or don't do's? Would love to get opinions. 1 Lesson learned for next time will be to skip the brown sugar and maybe a lower attenuation yeast.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[bernardsmith]

Not an expert and cannot speak to the safety or otherwise of pasteurizing carbonated bottles but a lower attenuation yeast is not going to do anything for you - if there is such a thing. You are not brewing beer. You are fermenting fruit juice and fruit juice is only simple sugar. There is no yeast on the planet that will not ferment simple sugars (at naturally found gravities) bone dry. This is why brewers refer to attenuation but wine makers don't. Brewers deal with complex sugars that some yeasts can ferment and others cannot.

Apple juice has an SG , typically, of around 1.050 (about 6-7% ABV) and you would need to hobble the yeast by removing nitrogen from the juice (check out the process called "keeving") to get your yeast to leave some sugar on the plate. But keeving is a challenge... even for experienced cider makers...

 

[Maylar]

If you can keg you can skip the pasteurize step. Stabilize with k-meta and k-sorbate, sweeten and keg. Best of all worlds.

If not kegging, to bottle condition you have to monitor the progress of carbonation and "catch it" at just the right point when you pasteurize. Too soon and you get no fizz - too late and you get bombs. That's the tricky part of the stove top method. There's no set time for how long to wait, it depends on a bunch of factors. See the sticky for details.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hi, looking for some feedback from the experts on this.

5 Gallons of fresh Weaver's Orchard Cider from Morgantown, PA. They say its a blend of tart and sweet, really delicious.

Added 2 pounds light brown sugar and 2 weeks ago pitched a pack of dry Nottingham yeast.

I was getting sulfur smell early on, but added some yeast nutrient and slosh racked twice, now its gone.

After 2 weeks, racked once, its all the way down to 0.998, still some pressure on the airlock.

I know it has to age for quite a while. The taste now is characteristic of a very dry white wine, but there is some apple in there, so I think its going to be great!

I would like this to be a little sweeter if possible and definitely carbonated. I want to keg and bottle.

I like the idea of cold crashing, racking off any yeast left and using apple juice concentrate in the bottling bucket to give some sweetness and a little more apple.

From what I can read, it can bottle condition safely without exploding for about a week to get some carbonation then stovetop pasteurize.

Any thoughts or feedback, do's or don't do's? Would love to get opinions. 1 Lesson learned for next time will be to skip the brown sugar and maybe a lower attenuation yeast.

Thanks in advance!!!

Different yeasts and different juice will give widely different results. Feel free to experiment until you find something you love. Everyone seems to have their own favorite yeast strain and slightly different process. It should be better once you try it without added sugar (in my opinion).

There is some debate, but using a secondary isn't generally necessary or beneficial... and may even be harmful (oxidation).

If I had a keg system I wouldn't worry about bottle conditioning at all. Just fill bottles from the keg.
It's much easier getting a sweet, sparkling cider when using a keg. You can stabilize as Maylar suggested. Cold crashing and racking is another option. Take a look at the sticky thread by cvillekevin in this forum for more info on that.

My cider is always too delicious for me to let it age so good luck with that!