Noob cider questions

[Slaquor]

Ok I just wanted to verify everything I know and think to make this work:

I have exactly 5 gallons of Treetop 100% apple juice sitting around. No preservatives, but it is pasteurized.

I have tons of table sugar.

I have safale-05 yeast from an IPA I did before.

First how much sugar should one add initially? Is safale-05 gonna work, or should I buy something else?

 

[SaltyTX]

can't answer the yeast..I used london ale III from Wyeast and liked it. Currently using safale-04 and not a fan yet. Its clear, but sulfur-ey

you need to use your hydro to get a good SG going, perhaps 1.055 +/-

I used brown sugar. About a pound I think....whatever is required for the sg to be where you want it to be.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Try 1 or 2 lbs added sugar (though you don't have to add any if you don't want to) & yes the safale s05 will work just fine. Regards, GF.

 

[Slaquor]

Alright so I used 2 lbs brown sugar, and 5 gallons treetop apple juice (no preservatives).

I used some safale-05 I washed from an IPA. Made a starter, and took a sample and tasted the starter, tasted great!

I did this on 1-24.

Now I'm starting to get a little worried. The airlock is still bubbling away, no signs of slowing.

The cider went from a normal apple juice color, to a orangish brown, which I think is to be expected.

The air coming out of the airlock smells like sour apples.

On one side of the carboy you can see some bubbles coming up but that is all. It never got a large krausen, and the surface of the cider has never actually been covered with bubbles/krausen.

Now I did take the gravity of my starter and compared it to the regular apple juice. Regular apple juice is 1.05, and my starter was 1.04 so im pretty certain that there was active fermentation goin on in my starter.

With my airlock goin like it is I would have to assume there is pretty good fermentation goin on. What I am concerned about is the sour apple smell, and the fact that I never got a good krausen.

Should I be worried??

 

[bhambrewer]

No.

Many of my ciders dont bubble up big at all. It depends on the cider. Some bubble alot, others dont.

The fact your getting fermentation is all you need to know. It will ferment out.

I followed this recipe exactly, but used a different yeast and my cider didnt bubble like theirs did. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/sammys-simple-cider-203224/

From what I know, its all about the yeast.

 

[dinnerstick]

it sounds completely normal. just leave it alone for a good month

 

[mikeysab]

Yeah, you're gonna need to condition that awhile. using the simple sugar, it tends to be very thin and not appley. This will go away after awhile. I did a sugar bomb over a year ago and it's very good now. It was barely drinkable hooch for about 8 to ten months, but then again, my OG was 1.100. But even ciders I've made since then with simple sugars tend to be thin and don't taste much of apple. What you should probably do is use some LME, or DME instead of sugar, whether brown or white. Something more along the lines of Brandon O's graff. His explanation of the use of simple vs complex sugars makes a lot of sense.

I just put together a batch of graff using 10 lbs of MO 3/4 lb of c80, and 1/2 lb carafoam with 4 galloins of AJ. I've done one graff before and it wasn't nearly as thin as the cider with brown sugar, or white sugar.