A few questions about fermentation times

[bhambrewer]

Hey!

I made my first batch of cider following the steps on this thread
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/sammys-simple-cider-203224/

We followed the steps exactly, and are currently cold crashing them now.


I just have a few questions.

1) I have read on the fourms about people aging their ciders, yet the guide we followed said it was drinkable in about a week and a half. What are the advantages of aging vs drinking as soon as you cold crash?

2) Can someone explain to me what back sweeting is, and a possible step by step guide on this?

3) Our brew store recommended Red Star dry wine yeast. I have read on here that Nottingham is preferred. Can someone give a quick overview of how the different yeasts can affect the process/taste?

4) Our OG's averaged around 1.055, and we did not add any sugar. We started the cold crash process when the FG's reached 1.00. Does this sound normal (our thinking was that since the reading was 1.00, there was no sugar left for the yeast to eat up therefore it was done).

Me and my roommate are first time brewers, so sorry if these questions seem elementary. We gotta start somewhere.

Thank you in advance!

 

[cvstrat]

What they are saying is that your fermentation is done at that point, so it's ready to drink. I've noticed it more with certain ales but it certainly can hold true for ciders as well, giving the batch appropriate time to age and condition allows the yeast to clean up after itself and can sometimes reduce chemical flavors or other off flavors that are a byproduct of the fermentation/brewing process. So it's not necessary to wait, and might not make any difference, but you should try waiting a few extra months one batch to judge for yourself.

Back sweetening is when you add a sweetener (like sugar, honey, etc) to the cider/beer AFTER fermentation is done. Champagne yeast for example will ferment out all of the sugar, making it very dry.. like champagne!. You can add non-fermentable sugars at the very end to sweeten up you batch w/o increasing the alcohol content. You could use any old sugar if you wanted, but only if you're drinking it soon, as it could start fermenting again.

I'd recommend looking up the apfelwein thread where people go on about different yeasts. Honestly the best batch of that stuff I ever made I racked it onto an american stout yeast cake US-05 yeast, trub and all. Gave it a darker color and a jolly rancher like appleness.

Look at the attenuation rating of the yeast. If it's 100 perent, it means all of the sugar will be fermented, (as with certain wine and champagne yeasts), so it should end up at 1.00 yes.

 

[GinKings]

Attenuation rates are generally used with beer. 1.000 is the specific gravity of water. Alcohol is lighter than water and cider, unlike beer, contains fully fermentable simple sugars. So, it is not uncommon for cider to go a few points below 1.000.

 

[bhambrewer]

Thank you!

I have read that Splenda works good for back sweetening cider. Could normal sugar work just as well? Also, do i just dump in sugar to the cold crashed cider bottle, or is there a different way to do it?

 

[Mr_fleabite]

Table sugar like C&H works for back sweetening; however, Splenda is your safer bet becasuse it is not fermentable (i.e. no bottle bombs). If all you've done is cold crash (stopping fermentation before all fermentable sugar is used up) and are going to go stright to bottle you run the risk of restarting fermentation in your bottle (if fermentable sugar is left in the cider).

This could result in a plesent carbonation in the bottle or at worst bottles blowing up under the pressure. After a cold crash you'll want to take steps to stop any further fermentation (if you are making a non sparkling, still cider) like adding SO2/ camden tablets (kills yeast) and potassium sorbate (stops reproduction).

Also note that splenda is sweeter than table sugar so you don't need as much, just read the bag it tells you what you need to know.

 

[bhambrewer]

After cold crashing, there was a noticeable amount of "gunk" (for loss of a better word) on the bottom of the glass jar. I poured the contents of the glass jar into a separate container, and cleaned out the bottom of the glass jar, then placed the now cold crashed cider back inside the glass jar.

I then back sweetened this gallon of cider with 1 cup of fred meyer brand table sugar. It has been in my fridge for about 24 hours since back sweeting.

There is no carbonation (which im assuming means all the yeast has died off and been disposed of). Also, there is some sugar "gunk" on the bottom of the jar (just looks like clumpy sugar to me).