newb cider question

[BUSHCRAFTBASICS]

hey all,

making my first batch of cider, I used 5 gals of apple juice and 2lbs of brown sugar with cuvee yeast. It went gangbusters for a week then abruptly stopped. At first it looked like champagne with all of the carbonation inside and the air lock was bubbling furiously, day 7 i got nothing. So i racked it to secondary and introduced 3 cans of apple juice concentrate thinking that would kick-start it again...nothing. it appears to be clearing up which is good but there is no bubbles or any other signs of fermentation, none of the delicious yellowish yeasty foam on top, nothing. i cant check the grav. yet as i do not have a hydrometer...

what say you?

 

[jflongo]

I personally let my big cider batches go for 2 - 3 weeks for primary fermentation. With no hydrometer it's hard to say, you need to buy one. You can buy the cheap small ones if you need, or buy the larger nice ones. Worse comes to worse, just leave it alone for another week and if it clears nicely, pull a sample.

 

[BUSHCRAFTBASICS]

yeah, i'm getting a hydrometer this weekend, i know its important. i tasted the cider when i transferred it to secondary and it tasted like a warm, flat, very dry champagne. i was planning on leaving it in my primary for longer but i feared losing fermentation due to lack of sugar when the signs of fermentation faded. that's why i went to secondary and added the concentrate. its only been in secondary since Aug. 31 (5 days ago)

i definitely plan on pulling many samples!

 

[tooldudetool]

It is very typical for fermentation to be completed in 7 days, so I'm not sure what your fear was based on. The yeast did their job and consumed the available sugars and converted them to Co2 and alcohol. Adding extra sugar is not necessary at that stage. The additional time in the primary gives the yeast time to "clean up" some of their byproducts that can lead to off flavors, although after a week you are probably fine. I do think it's strange that adding the concentrate didn't restart fermentation, but maybe it did but the signs weren't visible... as you know a hydrometer would give you an insight into what is really going on. Give it a couple weeks in the secondary before bottling and you will be just fine.

 

[BUSHCRAFTBASICS]

It is very typical for fermentation to be completed in 7 days

this i did not know...being new to brewing and fermentation in general, you hear of all these "3-4 weeks then, months and so on" stories about brewing...i guess i just figured that it took that long to complete the fermentation cycle...also it made me think about carbonation...obviously with this batch (and I'd like to know why) if i would've added bottling sugar (dextrose) and bottled, i would have not gotten any carbonation simply based on the premise that my yeast appears to no longer be active...right?

 

[jflongo]

Normally when the yeast finish the majority of their job, they will drop out, some die, some new ones grow, and some go dormant. When you then, add more sugar for bottling, some will eat that and create carbonation, and a "hair" more alcohol, 0.5% or less.

Personally as long as you sanitized everything properly, I would just leave it alone in secondary for awhile longer, and let it do it's thing.

Normally when I make cider, I let it ferment for 2 - 3 weeks, to ferment out and clean up. I then usually dry hop mine for 7 - 10 days in a secondary, then at this point I either rack it again and let it age, or rack it into a bottling bucket on top of thawed out concentrate I dumped in. I dumped in 2 cans last time for a 5.5 gallon batch, and that carbonated them just fine.

 

[MindenMan]

The one question that has not been asked is "What temperature did you ferment at?" In my past making cider, I found out the hard way that temp control is just as important for cider as it is for beer. I had one batch that smelled like nail polish remover and tasted very alcohol hot right after fermentation had basically stopped. I left it to clean up for two or three weeks, and it eventually was drinkable. Just my 0.02

 

[ScottsBrew]

I agree 100% with the fact that if you wait then it will be great. that's how I brew my ciders. right now I have 5 ciders going and 3 of them are apple. the hydrometer is a must for sure as you cant really be sure about the ABV or if your 100% done with fermentation.
as for the taste and so on I also found that I have to degas my ciders and befor I bottle in 3 to 6 months I will back sweeten. cheers.

 

[BUSHCRAFTBASICS]

thanks guys...ill let you know what the abv is when I pick up my hydrometer.

salute!

 

[jflongo]

I agree 100% with the fact that if you wait then it will be great. that's how I brew my ciders. right now I have 5 ciders going and 3 of them are apple. the hydrometer is a must for sure as you cant really be sure about the ABV or if your 100% done with fermentation.
as for the taste and so on I also found that I have to degas my ciders and befor I bottle in 3 to 6 months I will back sweeten. cheers.

Interesting, I've never heard about degassing cider before.