My first cider!... update!

[hunterlab]

So what i did for my recipe was .

• 4 gallons of musselman cider
• 2 lbs of brown sugar
• Nottingham Ale Yeast

My O.G. was at 1.066

I let it sit in the primary bucket for 10 days. I just Transferred it over in secondary ( glass carboy) took a gravity reading of the cider before transfer and it was at 1.020

I backsweetend it with 11 packs of splenda. I think it taste great i just want to get the ABV higher .

I like where it is heading though and it smells wonderful.

 

[xjmox14x]

I wouldn't have backsweetened with splenda so soon. Nottingham can tolerate above 10%, meaning that with a gravity of 1.020, your cider is nowhere near done fermenting yet. Mine got down to 0.996 with Nottingham. Your cider still has plenty of sugar left that still needs to ferment out, so it'll be somewhat less sweet when you taste it again in a few weeks after it's completely done fermenting.

 

[hunterlab]

OK so should i let it sit for 2 weeks then taste/ take a reading . Im really impressed how it has a familiar taste to champagne right now but still has the fruityness of the apples. It will be a great turkey day drink.

 

[xjmox14x]

OK so should i let it sit for 2 weeks then taste/ take a reading . Im really impressed how it has a familiar taste to champagne right now but still has the fruityness of the apples. It will be a great turkey day drink.

Are you planning on carbing it?

I'd let it sit for another week, then take a reading. Wait until you get 2 consecutive readings about 3 days about, then you're ready to bottle/keg.

With cider, typically the longer it conditions, the better it will be as the alcohol flavor will mellow out and more apple flavor will shine through. But if you want it for Thanksgiving, you can have it, it will just be a bit green.

 

[hunterlab]

Id like to carb it , As i look ahead at the time i realize i dont want to rush it so even if its not ready for TurkeyDay. Id rather let the cider do it's thing and ferment out fully.

 

[xjmox14x]

Yea, your best bet would to do definitely let it ferment out, then bottle carb as usual and use splenda to sweeten to taste. You could probably still have some on Thanksgiving... it will just be a whole lot better in a few months.

 

[hunterlab]

So i just got around to finally taking a reading and it looks like it is sitting at 1.000. It is defenitely clearing nicely and the Alcohol taste is quite strong. I may fill a grolsch bottle for T-giving. How long does it usually take for the alcohol to mellow out? Also its still a bit sweet , to me it is almost tasting like a wine/champagne.

Dan