Clarity from Aging

[AidanSavage]

Having just finished my second batch of cider, fermented for 2 weeks with nottingham, it got me thinking. Even without fining agents like pectin or whatever that clay crap is, there's a clear difference between what I bottled today and what I see from a couple weeks ago.

So I want to ask, for anyone that's not used fining agents even with a cloudy starting cider, what sort of clarity do you get from aging ciders? If I had thought about it, I'd have gotten some clear bottles as well as amber bottles to have an easier time of watching changes in clarity.

 

[Paps]

You can get a clear fluid from cold crashing sometimes with patience.
However some batches can be stubborn.
K-C Super Kleer works wonders.

 

[aviator01]

Stay away from the "clay crap." I assume you mean bentonite? I used some on a cider and it was a disaster. Gelatin and sparkaloid seem to work great for me.

Time and cold temperatures will ultimately clear, but patience will be key.

 

[AidanSavage]

My first batch, which was pitched day before Thanksgiving and bottled the weekend a week after (the 5th), has cleared remarkably well. While I cant get a picture of it right now (bottles at parents while family's up and dont want to waste a bottle just yet), it's got a nice amber-gold color with a little haze to it, which I'm hoping will clear even further as it ages. Not that I mind terribly if it doesnt.

 

[MarkKF]

All my ciders have become wonderfully clear given time.

I started with fresh pressed from the farm, never boiled and added pectin enzyme.

I wish I had a big fridge to speed it up.

 

[Schott703]

3-4 months in a cool secondary with little headspace and you will get little to no sediment in you bottles no matter how long they sit.

 

[Snowden]

3-4 months in a cool secondary with little headspace and you will get little to no sediment in you bottles no matter how long they sit.

I echo Schott. Last batch I made was in secondary for three months. Crystal clear without anything added.


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[Yooper]

You can read a newspaper through the carboy of any of my ciders. But I have a "thing" about clear beer, wine, mead, and cider. I have never wanted anything that wasn't clear and sediment free, as it's important to me. It's not important to others, and that's fine of course!

Here's a photo of several on racking day:

 

[Yooper]

That one photo, in the middle, shows where it was during active fermentation..

Here are a couple of others, showing where the clarity was on the day I made the cider:
And of you course you get to see a photo of two of my favorite guys, helping out and drinking the fresh cider! Those two collected apples from around the neighborhood to come up with a good mix of cider (and it was wonderful!):

 

[MindenMan]

Yooper, great pictures, great posts, thank you. To answer the OP's question, if you are patient enough to wait, your ciders will usually clear on their own. I have used gelatin in the past to clear both ciders and beers, and when cold crashed, the trub is almost glued to the bottom and lets me get more clear beer or cider to bottle.

 

[DaMonkey]

Having just finished my second batch of cider, fermented for 2 weeks with nottingham, it got me thinking. Even without fining agents like pectin or whatever that clay crap is, there's a clear difference between what I bottled today and what I see from a couple weeks ago.

So I want to ask, for anyone that's not used fining agents even with a cloudy starting cider, what sort of clarity do you get from aging ciders? If I had thought about it, I'd have gotten some clear bottles as well as amber bottles to have an easier time of watching changes in clarity.

Yeast will fall out of suspension over time and the cider will clear.

If you use apple juice then there is no reason to use pectin e. as they filter the sh*t out of apple juice.

If you used fresh pressed cider, everything I have read indicates that the pectin will remain in suspension and the cider will not completly clear.

 

[AidanSavage]

Well, the first round I did was reconstituted FAJC, however, as I always rehydrate yeast in a portion of the juice/cider to be fermented, when the yeast is pitched, the result is a clouded liquid, regardless of whether it started that way. My second batch was unfiltered cider.

 

[DaMonkey]

Sediment will fallout too, but pectin is natural to apples and will not fallout on its own. I am not sure how cloudy it will make it on its own. But this is what I have read. If its heated it will make it more cloudy. Pectin is whats used to make jams and jellies.