Confused with Cider....

[SeeAliceBrewery]

I was under the impression being 12 days into this cider that it would be close to being done fermenting....I am still getting good fermentation with bubbles every 5 to 6 seconds in the airlock. Its been a steady 68 degrees the whole time. Was hoping to bottle this weekend...does not look like that will be happening. I will be bottling my Caribou Slobber next weekend ....now it looks like its going to be a 100 bottle weekend next weekend...and my second grandchild will be delivered next Friday....so much for planning....

 

[bajaedition]

I consider a month enough time to finish a primary for a cider

I do not know why it seems to take that long, but it usually does

I started making cider when I was a late teenager and used to let it go natureal yeast, then I started using wine yeast, now I use cider yeast, and you know what. I still let it go a month. itis an apple thing I think

 

[theck]

What's your final gravity? I love mine pulled at or close to 1.01ish if it goes lower it's more like a wine, still good but different.

 

[SeeAliceBrewery]

I am using the English Cider Yeast.....I got this recipe from a buddy of mine....I have followed it to a T! His was done in two weeks....right now I figure if I am lucky....it will be done next weekend. Ohhh well....just have to clean and sanitze my equipment twice that day I guess...prolly saturday sometime if all goes smooth with the delivery of my grand daughter. Perhaps I can name this first Cider after her.....Kennedy's Irish Hard Cider does have a ring to it I guess!

 

[Kashue]

You should really do at least a month in secondary before bottling anyway. That said, I've racked to secondary from a still-active primary and it doesn't really hurt anything. In winemaking, that's actually really common, and while most cider is fermented to near-dryness in primary, it can be useful to rack an active ferment, for instance if you want to ferment new ingredients like fruit puree a bit in secondary. There's a Caramel Apple Hard Cider recipe floating around here that most folks seem to swear by in which flinging active yeast onto your back-sweetening is an integral part of the process.

 

[SeeAliceBrewery]

You should really do at least a month in secondary before bottling anyway. That said, I've racked to secondary from a still-active primary and it doesn't really hurt anything. In winemaking, that's actually really common, and while most cider is fermented to near-dryness in primary, it can be useful to rack an active ferment, for instance if you want to ferment new ingredients like fruit puree a bit in secondary. There's a Caramel Apple Hard Cider recipe floating around here that most folks seem to swear by in which flinging active yeast onto your back-sweetening is an integral part of the process.

Yea....the recipe I am using is very similar to the caramel one that is floating around....the big difference is, I will not be carmelizing the brown sugar. Just a light simmer to get the sugar dissolved into the concentrate. I want it to ferment down so I reach close to a 9 percenter...then back sweetin...monitor carb levels...then pasturize.

 

[schwiz]

Was hoping to bottle this weekend

Way too early for that. Should transfer to secondary next week. Then bottle in about 5 months...