New to Cider making

[RW1989]

Hi, im new to cider making so heres what ive done so far and i have a few questions too. any help would be greatly appreciated...

I got my hands on some windfalls from my local fruit farm and pulped them using a pulpmaster, i made my own press using a scissor jack and i was aiming for 5 litres of juice as i thought my first go i should just give it a go and if it went well i will make lots more next year, however i only managed to get 4.5 litres (misjudged how many apples i needed) so i put it in my 5 litre fermenting bin, added a teaspoon of pectolase(disolved in 1/2 cup of warm water) and a crushed campden tablet, i left this for 24 hours and then measured the OG which was 1055 so no sugar needed, i then added my sachet of cider yeast (disolved in 2oz of warm water for 15 mins first) i put the lid on with an air lock and left it in the kitchen which is a tempature of about 20oC, after a couple of days nothing happened in the airlock but i could hear it bubbling out from underneath the lid so i taped it up and after an hour the airlock bubbled once every 20 seconds, 4 days later it has slowed down slightly so i decided to measure the Gravity which was just over 1.000 so i have put the lid back on and left it... my questions are.... is it normal to go this quick or will it stay above 1.000 for a while before it goes below 1.000 and finish fermenting? also will the fact that the fermenting bucket is not full affect the fermentation at all? and will it affect it when i put it into my 5 litre demijohn for the second half of the fermentation process? also how long do i leave it in the demijohn and at what tempature does it need to be at? thankyou in advance

 

[fenux1255]

RW i too am some what new to cider however i do make Mead. When i made my cider this year i beleave that it took about a week or so to for the yeast to do its thing so i would not worry about it going to fast. As far as the space you have left in the carboy or secondary next time try adding a half gallon of Motts apple juice to fill the rest of the way. It wont effect the taste really and will give you the extra amount u need. If you add the motts now after fermenting i think it will just lower your alc % a little not much though and might make it a little sweeter. But if you do add it now make sure you add tablets to stop the yeast from trying to start back up and ferment the new juice. Now as far as aging i think 1 1/2 or two months would be fine before you start drinking it or bottling it. and now that its done fermenting keep it 65-70 F.

Now by all means if anyone else has corrections to make do so pls this is just what i can recall i beleave to be true.

 

[RW1989]

Thats Brilliant thanks. at the moment my airlock is going every minute or so, could this be because of the extra space in the vessel? i did have to tape the lid on to get it airtight. but wen the lid is taken off there is still plenty of activity in there and smells very yeasty. i read somewhere that you should leave in a demijohn under air lock for about 6 months? im guessing this was at a lower tempature in an outbuilding or something? also once the Gravity does reach below 1.000 should i add another campden tablet or stabiliser to prevent it from refermenting and possibly fermenting in the bottles? sorry for the obvious questions. im just experimenting at the moment. hopefully this 4.5 litres will turn out good and i will make lots more next year.

 

[fenux1255]

Just leave it in the fermentor tell it quits bubbling then rack in to new one to get all spent yeast off the bottom and i would let age for about a month in secondary. as far as the 6 months i beleave but not 100% that this is if you let natural yeast turn cider hard and yes if your going to add liquid put in the chemical that kills off yeast first over nite and then add and bottle day or so later.

 

[dinnerstick]

everyone does it differently so there is no right answer, but i personally would rack to a secondary around now, top off with some fresh juice to get rid of the air space (essential for primary fermentation, not ideal in secondary), not add any chemicals. you will lose a bit of juice racking so you might need another liter. if you know anyone with a kitchen juicer you can zap a few apples through that if you can't be bothered to press again. or you can chance it with a big air space and you'll probably be ok if you aren't aging too long. but adding even a tiny bit of fermentable sugars (juice)will at least help fill that space with a bit of protective CO2. you could also fashion 2L fizzy drinks bottles with airlocks for secondary. it's ugly but it works.
as for fermentation speed, different yeasts go at different speeds at different temperatures and different sugar concentrations so no worries there.
time of bulk aging in the secondary: ask ten people you will get 12 answers. give it a few months and then taste it?
with gravity that low you are going to get basically zero fermentation in the bottle. for fizzy just prime the juice as if for beer (info widely available online). problems only come if you try to bottle at higher gravity.

 

[RW1989]

Thanks very much for the useful info. i just wished i got too many apples rather than just enough. could i just add apple juice from a supermarket as long it had no other chemicals in. i cant find the motts juice suggested by fenux1255, or is it just better to get some apples and press them and add a campden tablet to stop the new juice fermenting in the secondry, Thanks for the help