Hi guys,
I posted earlier about a yeast question and now I have another question that I am unsure about and would love some advice.
I am making a cider out of a kit but I have deviated, I'll give the normal process, my process and then my question.
I think my cider kit was called Blackrock out of new zealand. Its instructions were:
1. disolve 1kg of sugar in 2l of boiling hot water
2. add extract to hot water
3. fill to 23l mark
4. add 7g of provided cider yeast
5. stir and let sit for 10-14 days or when cider hits gravity of 1060
6. sterlize bottles, add 3g of sugar, invert bottles 4 times to disolve sugar and let sit 5 weeks.
Here's what I did with some advice from brewing clerks
1. disolve 1kg of dextrose in 2l hot water
2. add extract to hot water
3. add 1L of apple juice concentrate (It says to add this to 23l of water, I instead used this to replace 1L of water)
4. fill to 23l mark
5. add 25g of champagne yeast (as per suggestions on the forum)
6. stir and take og
OG was 1065.
My question/situation is this.
The original instructions say to leave the cider until it stops bubbling 10-14 days later or when it gets to a gravity of 1060. My cider started at 1065, I cannot see how it should stop brewing with a 5 point difference. With that also said, I cannot understand how that kit might've started off with a gravity much higher then 1060 when I am at 1065 with using dextrose and an additional liter of juice.
I checked my cider yesterday, (day 6) and it is currently at 1006 gravity. This means that the cider is currently sitting at 7.9% alcohol (59/7.46), and when I lift the lid to see the action I get a strong alcohol smell off the cider.
What should I be doing right now? If this was your cider, what would you be doing? Would you let it go the full 10-14 days then bottle? At what point is it to much fermentation? Will the gravity rise from 1006 to a lower alchohol level over the next few days? Would you start bottling it now and throwing it in the fridge to stop the fermentation?
I am just not experienced enough to know what to do at this point, and while I don't mind ruining a batch to know whats going on/wrong, I really would like to keep it going to see something amazing through to the end
I posted earlier about a yeast question and now I have another question that I am unsure about and would love some advice.
I am making a cider out of a kit but I have deviated, I'll give the normal process, my process and then my question.
I think my cider kit was called Blackrock out of new zealand. Its instructions were:
1. disolve 1kg of sugar in 2l of boiling hot water
2. add extract to hot water
3. fill to 23l mark
4. add 7g of provided cider yeast
5. stir and let sit for 10-14 days or when cider hits gravity of 1060
6. sterlize bottles, add 3g of sugar, invert bottles 4 times to disolve sugar and let sit 5 weeks.
Here's what I did with some advice from brewing clerks
1. disolve 1kg of dextrose in 2l hot water
2. add extract to hot water
3. add 1L of apple juice concentrate (It says to add this to 23l of water, I instead used this to replace 1L of water)
4. fill to 23l mark
5. add 25g of champagne yeast (as per suggestions on the forum)
6. stir and take og
OG was 1065.
My question/situation is this.
The original instructions say to leave the cider until it stops bubbling 10-14 days later or when it gets to a gravity of 1060. My cider started at 1065, I cannot see how it should stop brewing with a 5 point difference. With that also said, I cannot understand how that kit might've started off with a gravity much higher then 1060 when I am at 1065 with using dextrose and an additional liter of juice.
I checked my cider yesterday, (day 6) and it is currently at 1006 gravity. This means that the cider is currently sitting at 7.9% alcohol (59/7.46), and when I lift the lid to see the action I get a strong alcohol smell off the cider.
What should I be doing right now? If this was your cider, what would you be doing? Would you let it go the full 10-14 days then bottle? At what point is it to much fermentation? Will the gravity rise from 1006 to a lower alchohol level over the next few days? Would you start bottling it now and throwing it in the fridge to stop the fermentation?
I am just not experienced enough to know what to do at this point, and while I don't mind ruining a batch to know whats going on/wrong, I really would like to keep it going to see something amazing through to the end