newbie question

[Nikiwestcoast]

Ok. So I'm making hard cider. Used a store bought brand. Santa cruz only fresh pressed apples and pasteurized. 2.5 gallons with ec-118 and the other 2.5 with so-4. Started with an og of 1.06 and fermented down to 1.0. I siphoned off each into secondary containers and back sweetened with same juice (which on it's own is quite good) and sugar. Added 3/4 tsp pectin enzime for each gallon and let sit for 3 days. Smells and tastes great, just still cloudy. The original juice was very cloudy with a lot of sediment. Is this the reason my cider wont seem to clear? Should I wait to bottle? If so, how long does it usually take to clear?

 

[bigego236]

New my self but from what I've read, it might clear more if you let it sit a little longer in the carboy.

 

[Fizzycist]

A few things.

If you ferment, then add more fermentable sugar, then let it sit again it's just going to ferment those sugars as well and you won't keep it sweet. you need to refrigerate or pasteurize it to stop fermentation. Check out the sticky on pasteurizing, it's great.

Second, I've only done one batch with fancy, schmancy "natural" apple juice and it definitely stayed cloudy for months. Normal old apple juice got much clearer and tasted great. You could try filtering it, but it's probably not worth the trouble.

 

[Nikiwestcoast]

Thanks! I thought that was the problem. I'll stove top pasteurize tomorrow. At least it tastes great, even if it isn't clear. So my understanding was pectin enzime was used to help clear cloudy juice. Is that the case or am I mistaken?

 

[Fizzycist]

Well, that's what it is for, but it works on pectin haze not other stuff. If your cloudyness is just from pulp because you got unfiltered apple juice for hippies (don't get me wrong, that's the good stuff) your pectic enzyme isn't going to do anything.