Advice needed

[RedStone]

OG was about 1050. I tested it again this week after 2 weeks and it was around 1020. The problem is it seems to have stopped bubbling in the airlock. I have read that we to be patient here. And its a bad idea to add yeast nutrient in the final stage. But is it a mistake to sit and wait another week or two and find a reading on 1020 again. I'm in no hurry but just looking for the most success for all the effort. Its a learning experience and I am excited about it.

I keep reading about folks who ferment in 7 days etc. So I am think something is wrong here.

 

[fizgig]

Did you at any nutrient at the start? Which yeast did you use? How big is the batch? What was the source of the juice and did it have sorbates or other preservatives? If it tastes good and you like sweet/semi-sweet cider still, you might be good to go if you bottle and keep it cold.

If you like it more dry/english, depending on the yeast used, it could be 50 cents to $8 to get another packet. I'd mix up some new yeast (rehydrated or liquid) with a cup of plain no-additive apple juice and nutrient/energizer and pitch it, cider should finish much lower than that.

 

[Yooper]

Nothing wrong with adding yeast nutrient now. Just take out a small sample of the cider, stir the nutrient into that, and add it gently to your fermenter. You want to dissolve it, to avoid nucleation points and a volcano, but adding it now is a good idea.

 

[RedStone]

Fizgig - 25 liters of homemade cider from dry apples in my yard - not edible but juice up nice plus some sweet (but not too) from an orchard. Campden in for about 36 hours then I put in Safale S-04 and put in a bit of yeast nutrient - about .5 tsp per gallon - about 2 days after I pitched. It bubbled up nicely for over a week - maybe two - but then it stopped yesterday. I think I'll do this. I'll test it again tonight and if its 1020, I'll do some nutrient and see what happens. My guess is there is still yeast in there. I dont want to pitch yeast and have a yeasty thing going on. Then go from there. Thanks all. Great site.

 

[RedStone]

ok. Not sure if I made a mistake last weekend but I see I am at 1006 now. So there was a slowdown for a good reason. For sure it was bubbling about 5-6 times an hour 2 days ago, then stopped. Boom. I tasted it and its not so bad. Definitely not sweet. Not yeasty like the last time I tested. So I calclulated 5.775 ABV. Thats good enough for me. I guess its time to move this to the carboy and let it sit for another month or something. Then bottle it etc? Less moving parts the better as this is my first time. I'm so psych'd I get to put all of those apples I'd end up throwing away - to good use!