I'm attempting a variation a EdWort's Apfelwein :
-5 gal Indian Summer cider
-4lbs dextrose (corn sugar)
-Pasteur champagne yeast
-yeast nutrient
I began primary on 11/5/15 with a starting gravity of 1.074. Been checking the airlock activity intermittently, in anticipation of priming and bottling. Here are my airlock activity notes:
---12/07/15---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 17 seconds
---12/15/15---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 33 seconds
---12/18/15---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 41 seconds
---01/06/16---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 20 seconds
---01/15/16---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 32 seconds
As you can see, I thought things were slowing down towards the end of Dec, but was surprised to see an up tick in Jan. The bubbles are still coming at a pretty good pace. I haven't rechecked the gravity because (1) I don't want to introduce O2 or infection and (2) because I'm lazy.
My question is, why is this thing taking so long to ferment out? Is it just because of high sugar content, or low winter temps, or a combo. (2) does anyone have a guess as to how long I may have left before i can bottle? (3) also, do I need to re rack? There is only a small ~1/4" layer of lees on the bottom - will this harm my batch? Any insight or shared experiences would be appreciated!!
I'm going for a finished product of around 10% abv and very fizzy -- basically an apple champagne is how I've conceptualized it.
Cheers !!
T.
-5 gal Indian Summer cider
-4lbs dextrose (corn sugar)
-Pasteur champagne yeast
-yeast nutrient
I began primary on 11/5/15 with a starting gravity of 1.074. Been checking the airlock activity intermittently, in anticipation of priming and bottling. Here are my airlock activity notes:
---12/07/15---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 17 seconds
---12/15/15---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 33 seconds
---12/18/15---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 41 seconds
---01/06/16---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 20 seconds
---01/15/16---
Airlock bubbling ~ every 32 seconds
As you can see, I thought things were slowing down towards the end of Dec, but was surprised to see an up tick in Jan. The bubbles are still coming at a pretty good pace. I haven't rechecked the gravity because (1) I don't want to introduce O2 or infection and (2) because I'm lazy.
My question is, why is this thing taking so long to ferment out? Is it just because of high sugar content, or low winter temps, or a combo. (2) does anyone have a guess as to how long I may have left before i can bottle? (3) also, do I need to re rack? There is only a small ~1/4" layer of lees on the bottom - will this harm my batch? Any insight or shared experiences would be appreciated!!
I'm going for a finished product of around 10% abv and very fizzy -- basically an apple champagne is how I've conceptualized it.
Cheers !!
T.