Should I transfer to secondary

[J3conn]

I'm following a cider recipe my brother-in-law did last year and his came out good, but he didn't put it in a secondary before bottling and he said it cleared up fine. Should I bother, or just rack it anyway?

 

[divi2323]

The result should be similar if not the same. Several people on the forum bottle directly from the primary. Others rack to secondary.

I rack to secondary just because I don't like to look at the yeast cake and also because when I go to bottle you're inevitably going to stir up whatever sediment remains. Better to have less sediment to stir up in my opinion.

 

[J3conn]

I agree with not stirring up sediment! The recipe calls for six weeks in the primary, and then to put in bottle for a few months. I'm using a champagne yeast, how long till the flavor comes out good?

 

[divi2323]

My first batch I used red star cote de blanc yeast. It took about 2-3 months until the Apple flavor really came out of it again.

 

[J3conn]

How dry was your cider? I just tried a hard cider a friend made and it was too dry and had a slight sulfur flavor.It was about a year old and there was good apple flavor, but I want to make sure I don't get that sulfur taste and have it too dry. I'm looking for that strongbow taste. I'm thinking I should have gone for an English cider yeast but now I know better. Any suggestions on sulfur taste? I'm not a wine maker, just a brewer trying to get some cider know-how.