First cider - starting with this

[airbrett]

Using left over cider from the holidays, Trader Joe's spiced and another with the same ingredients. Wyeast 4766. 96 oz total in a 1 gallon glass jug.

Correct me if I'm wrong based on a short amount of research in the stickies, but after sanitizing everything I can basically just add the cider from the bottles to the jug as if it was cooled wort, shake to oxygenate, then pitch the yeast.

Also is secondary fermentation optional like it is with beer or highly recommended?

P.S. Don't judge but yes I still have a penguin with a Santa hat and holiday pinecones in the background. It's still technically Winter.

 

[bernardsmith]

Others may have less patience but IMO, cider benefits from aging rather longer than 3 weeks in the primary and in any case while the there is still fermentable sugar in the cider it is better to ferment so that the yeast can have access to air throughout the active-vigorous first period of fermentation (until the gravity drops to around 1.005 or thereabouts). After the gravity has dropped you want to add a bung and airlock... but that said, you can expect there to be about 1/2 inch or more of sediment (lees) that form at the bottom of the carboy. To prevent these from causing off flavors (yeast decompose when they die) you want to rack the cider off the yeast and lees and into a clean (sanitized) secondary vessel. I tend to rack every two or three months and this helps clear the cider, remove CO2, and eliminate yeast.
If you are not aging the cider (scrumpy?) then there is no need for a secondary but scrumpy is neither particularly bright (clear) nor smooth. "Potent" is the word I think that is used to describe that kind of peasant cider

 

[Maylar]

Let the cider and yeast come to room temp. Whether you agitate or not depends on the yeast - I use dry ale yeasts that don't need that. Yeast nutrient helps things along too, it'll take longer to ferment without that.

As for secondary, it depends on what you want. Most of us want our ciders totally clear without haze or sediment. It takes time to get there, so racking to secondary gets the cider off the lees and lets it clear.

But, you will have to face one of the issues that we deal with when doing small batches. Headspace (air) in the fermenter is not good for cider. You will have 3 quarts in a gallon jug with a big space above. During primary that's not too awful, but if you rack to secondary you'll need to find a properly sized bottle. I think for 3 qts I'd let it ferment dry in primary and bottle it when it's "clear enough".

 

[airbrett]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm adding another 32 oz of organic unfiltered honey crisp apple juice, for a 1 gallon total. I'll decide a week or two into primary whether or not to find another gallon jug to secondary or not.

Wish me luck.

 

[madscientist451]

If you are starting with 1 gallon of juice + the wyeast smack pack, a 1 gallon jug isn't big enough, leave a few inches of headspace so the yeast doesn't blow all over the place. Ferment in a cool place, like mid 60's or maybe a little lower. Rack it off to another jug after the fermenting dies down, but you can then pour more apple juice right on top of the old yeast layer and get several generations out of that yeast. Try a taste after 6 weeks or so, but 3-4 months is probably better.

 

[airbrett]

I'll be sure to leave some. I need to measure OG anyway and have a taste of the mix of juices for reference.

Given what I have been reading about Wyeast 4766 particularly in the experiments sticky (not so good), I may have been steered the wrong way by my LBHS. This guy, however, seemed to get decent results with a "turbo cider" using that yeast: https://youtu.be/8yNGFfr6hfY

Because I'm just brewing a gallon as an experiment between beers I'm thinking about trying this. So what exactly makes a turbo cider turbo? Is it just that it is not conditioned as long in the secondary? Googling and searching on this site the "turbo" method seems pretty similar: primary, secondary, prime and bottle, bottle condition. The timeframes just seem shorter.