aerating cider

[mfp03001]

I am planing on making my first cider ever this weekend, and I just have one question. Should I aerate it with my fish tank aerator and stone like beer or not. I have read a bunch of threads and have not come across this being mentioned. Though a couple people have mentioned just to stir it to add air. I was just wondering if it is necessary since there is no boil to take the oxygen out.

Thank You

 

[david_42]

Not needed, if you are using a dry yeast (or starter) and haven't added much sugar. Apple juice's sugars are easy to ferment.

 

[mfp03001]

Thank you, I do have a starter and was planing on adding 2 pounds of brown sugar to a 5 gallon batch. I don't know if that really qualifies as a lot of sugar.

 

[CvilleKevin]

2 lbs is fine. Brown sugar will give you a very butterscotch/caramel taste when it ferments out. I'm not crazy about the taste but a lot of people like it. A light turbinado (organic cane sugar) is a little more neutral. IMHO the closest thing to apple sugar is 2/3 turbinado and 1/3 dextrose.

 

[mfp03001]

So I made my cider as described above with 5 gallons cider and two pounds brown sugar and a few spices. Yesterday I took it off the yeast into a secondary after 23 days and checked the gravity it was down to .994. my OG was 1.064. Even though I was trying to go for a dryer cider I am afraid that I went to low with my gravity and I am not going to enjoy it as much as I would like. So my idea was to leave it out side overnight one night, its getting down close to freezing this week at night around here, to stop the yeast from doing anymore fermenting. Then bring it back in and add another gallon of so of cider to the fermenter, to water it down and then let it sit in the secondary for a while. Does anyone think this is a good idea or could tell me why it is not? With a FG of .994 so its about 9.4% ABV I am not really sure how its going to taste I would not be too happy if it tastes like wine.

 

[JefeTheVol]

Im not of this but if you bring the temperature down to below tolerable for the yeast they could enter a resting phase and stop fermenting. You are right on that. But what is uncertain if when bringing back to comfortable temperatures as well as adding sugar you the glucose signals might start back the fermentation. If you want to stop fermentation you should add potassium sorbate to kill the yeast without affecting the flavor. That way you could back sweeten to your desire without risk of further fermentation.
-Jefe-

 

[CvilleKevin]

Definitely taste it before doing anything.

Just chilling the cider will not stop the yeast. you need to rack it, chill it so that the remaining yeast flocculates, and rack it again to get it off the remaining yeast. Otherwise when the cider warms up, the yeast will still be there and will start doing their thing again.

 

[mfp03001]

Alright thanks guys, I'll just leave it alone then for a while and see how it tastes later. I did have a little when i moved it to the secondary. It was kind of sour not that I was expecting it to be good then. I guess I was just not expecting the gravity to drop so much. I used Wyeast 3068 for my yeast.

 

[CvilleKevin]

The sour note can get a lot better over time, but it may be several months before the acids mellow out. If you can taste some apple in the finish - even if it tastes like a sour crabapple - that is usually a good sign.

I crashed my most recent 3068 batch after 14 days and that was the slowest ferment of the last round. Temps were warm for the first batches but are cooler now so ferments are slowing down.

You should still rack it - so you can put another 5 gallons of juice on the yeast cake. You've already got the WY3068, which is a great cider yeast and and you can catch the next batch a little earlier. Maybe mix the two together after fermentation.

 

[chri5]

The sour note can get a lot better over time, but it may be several months before the acids mellow out. If you can taste some apple in the finish - even if it tastes like a sour crabapple - that is usually a good sign.

The 5-gallons of cider I had kegged was so much better at month 10 than at month 2 that SWMBO told me I had to start bottling it so it could age without taking up a spot in the keezer.