Jumping in...both feet..

[JDWebb]

OK, so I have jumped in with both feet (head first actually) and have 2 ciders working, both identical except one has 8oz more of the same Brazilian unprocessed cane sugar. Both are using 1118 yeast, both are the same unfiltered organic pure apple juice, and both at churning away so hard you could float a car on the CO2 in this place.

 

[JDWebb]

UPDATE:

Both jugs are pretty much done, I took the one with 1 cup of sugar and racked it into a clean jug. The gravity is a whopping .998. I know it's early, heck, it was only on the yeast for about 7 days. Wondering if it will power the lawnmower...

 

[dude3516]

Somethings gonna get wrecked, although I bet it's you before the lawn mower. Have fun, and consume from a shot glass.

 

[JDWebb]

Wait, wait, we're not done yet. Why did it ferment so fast, and should I just let it stay in the jug for a few months? I used 1118 yeast with 1 cup of sugar...maybe it was the sugar?

 

[rlmiller10]

What was the OG? Cider can ferment fast, more like beer than mead

 

[JDWebb]

OG? Well, thats the hard part...I said I jumped in with both feet, pored the sugar in, mixed it up, and put the airlock on it. Spent the next 7 or 8 days watching it bubble 'till I either fell asleep or it quit. When I didn't see another bubble come out of it, I racked it off about an inch of lees into a fresh new carboy. It tasted like alcohol, not like cider, so I assume I'm on the right track. I did add about 2 cups of the same apple juice back into it and put the airlock back on, but no bubbles.

 

[phug]

Sounds like it fermented warm, which would explain the fast and the alcohol flavour.

 

[doink0662]

OG? Well, thats the hard part...I said I jumped in with both feet, pored the sugar in, mixed it up, and put the airlock on it. Spent the next 7 or 8 days watching it bubble 'till I either fell asleep or it quit. When I didn't see another bubble come out of it, I racked it off about an inch of lees into a fresh new carboy. It tasted like alcohol, not like cider, so I assume I'm on the right track. I did add about 2 cups of the same apple juice back into it and put the airlock back on, but no bubbles.

Do not believe the airlock.......take hydrometer readings to make sure its done fermenting.......the 2 cups for backsweetening may awaken the yeast

 

[jdgabbard]

Typically, with cider, I just put it in the Carboy with yeast and forget about it for at least a month. I never get off flavors with wine yeast. However, if this were an ale I'd let it sit for no longer than a week or two on the yeast cake after it finished.

Typically I use 1118 or Montrachet. But I've also used a few others. My advice, let it sit on the yeast cake for a month or longer. If you do, I can assure you it is likely finished. The. You can prime and bottle.

Happy drinking, your cider will be great.

 

[JDWebb]

Does racking it on to ground up fresh apples do anything for additional flavor?

 

[cidersage]

Does racking it on to ground up fresh apples do anything for additional flavor?

It's likely to re-start fermentation and cloud up the cider with pectin and suspended yeast, then still eventually end up bone dry since the sugars in apples are completely fermentable.

If it's sweetness you're looking for, you could stabilize with potassium sorbate after fermentation has ended and then back-sweeten with apple juice or...whatever.

Getting apple flavor into cider after the fact is challenging...it's easier up front with apple selection, but that presents its own challenges.

 

[jdgabbard]

I usually use a store bought juice, along with about 1-2 can per gallon of concentrate. I'm currently, as in this very moment, drinking a batch of Unicorn Blood that I modified s little. It uses 3/4 a gallon of Black Cherry Juice, 8 cans of concentrate, and juice to make 5 gallons. Of course all the other stuff, pectin enzyme, acid to adjust ph, yeast...

Now having said that, my cider isn't juice like sweet. But it is definitely sweet for a cider. I think the concentrate helps to sweeten things up with the residual unfermentable sugars, be they few.

This wouldn't really help with your current batch. But might give it a try next time.

 

[JDWebb]

Yeah, California isn't known for its apples. It's barely known for it's oranges, and it's well known for its crime, border issues, traffic, overcrowding, inconveniences, intolerant people, high taxes, useless governor, oh....sorry, I kinda got off on a tangent there.

But yeah, I get it, start good, end good. Maybe a blackberry cider or something next time.

 

[brewshki]

Yeah, California isn't known for its apples. It's barely known for it's oranges, and it's well known for its crime, border issues, traffic, overcrowding, inconveniences, intolerant people, high taxes, useless governor, oh....sorry, I kinda got off on a tangent there.

But yeah, I get it, start good, end good. Maybe a blackberry cider or something next time.

You must just buy bad oranges.

 

[JDWebb]

I live in Sherman Oaks and have to go to Fillmore to get my oranges. The ones in the stores here are all from Mexico, and they are terrible, absolutely terrible. They don't even taste good. I also get my honey in Fillmore from Bennett's Honey Farm.

 

[brewshki]

I live in Sherman Oaks and have to go to Fillmore to get my oranges. The ones in the stores here are all from Mexico, and they are terrible, absolutely terrible. They don't even taste good. I also get my honey in Fillmore from Bennett's Honey Farm.

So what you are really saying is that Mexico produces bad oranges?

 

[b-boy]

So what you are really saying is that Mexico produces bad oranges?

I had no interest in this thread until I saw the above sentence displayed as the last post in my tablet app. I saw it and had to read it. I had to know what could possibly have preceded this sentence. What was said about Mexican oranges that would have devolved into a flame war?
The actual thread didn't live up to my high expectations. .

I'll move on now. Forget I was even here.

 

[JDWebb]

Flame war? Not sure what you're implying there, but none on my part. I simply said that the oranges that my store gets are from Mexico and they taste terrible. Most of the produce in the store where I shop is from Mexico. They have good beans there though. Good beans.