First time and it’s gone wrong!

[Soc3032]

Hi, I’m after some advice as I have tried to brew cider for the first time.

pressed my apples on the 20th.
Added Campden

21st added yeast to the juice into demijohns and a bubble stopper.
It started to ferment within 12hrs in a room between 20 and 23 degrees.
On the 24th there was a slight egg smell, so was advised to add some yeast nutrient. The smell has gone.
there’s still a few bubbles in the jars and bubbler let’s go every 3 seconds or so.

does this look / sound like it’s going ok?
Do I need to do anything else apart from wait?

The 2 photos are tonight and the one with a head is from day 3 of fermenting

 

[FLYPacNW]

Yeah, your good. What was your starting gravity? Maybe check the gravity now and then in another week.

 

[Soc3032]

My hydrometer is a beer and wine one.
It read in the blue at 43 so not sure if that’s 1043 when I stated.

it was in the black earlier which says 10 so think it’s 1010 pic of my hydrometer attached

 

[dwhite60]

Learn about de-gassing too.

 

[Chalkyt]

It all looks sort of normal. Turbulent (primary) fermentation seems to have settled after 5 days which could happen that quickly as your temperature 20-23C is a little higher than optimum, so things might have progressed reasonably fast.

"Low and slow is the way to go". This means that low temperature results in slow fermentation... I usually try to stay around 15C or even less and find the primary fermentation goes on for one to two weeks before I rack to secondary. So, you aren't that far away from what might be expected.

Find out just what your hydrometer reading means but it looks like a normal SG scale. I would expect the SG at this stage to be something around 1.030 but 1.043 could be right if you started above 1.060 with high sugar apple juice or, added some sugar. Or, 1.043 simply means it is still fermenting and the early foam has settled. Typically, pressed apple juice would start around 1.050 - 1.060 before fermentation. If the turbulent foam has settled then you can rack to secondary (fill the carboy with minimum headspace) and wait for the magic to happen. Anyhow, give it a taste and expect it to be good but sweet, with only a touch of alcohol.

Good luck!

 

[ceebee4]

Seems good so far. You really can't judge how well a cider will turn out until 6-9 months have passed, in my experience.

If 1.043 was your starting gravity, that's a bit low, but it's close enough to the minimum I shoot for that I wouldn't worry about it.

De-gassing isn't as critical a concern for cider as it is with wine and mead. I give my cider a stir in the buckets after primary fermentation appears to be complete (no bubbles in the airlock, 7-21 days) right before racking into carboys for at least 3 months of aging. Since you started in demijohns, degassing by stirring may be trickier but it should be doable. Regardless, I try not to fool with the cider too much once it's started fermenting. Temperature is critical, but other than that I find it's best to leave everything alone.

Hope your first cider turns out great! Mine did, which got me hooked. It was subsequent bad batches that forced me to learn more. And ultimately, like the grapes in wine, a lot of your success will depend on the apples you can acquire to ferment. But that's a whole other conversation..

 

[ceebee4]

A couple more points: Hydrometers are unfortunately notoriously inaccurate. They could be off by as much as .005 degrees for a variety of reasons, including temperature. So again, I wouldn't worry too much about low gravity at the start of your ferment. Assuming you don't need to get super accurate about the ABV of your finished cider, just wait to see how it turns out. And then take notes.

Also, after I responded yesterday I've been reading more and watching some youtube videos on mead/cider making. I saw the point made several times in various places that you shouldn't rack until fermentation is complete. And the best way to determine this is to take gravity readings, not watch for the indication of bubbles in the airlock to cease. Once you get a gravity reading that stays constant for a week, then rack into your secondary for aging, clarifying, mellowing, etc.

This is a practice I plan to implement myself this year, so I thought I'd pass it along to anyone else who sees this too. With cider, time is your friend. So there's no need to rush to racking, imo.

 

[Soc3032]

Starting to look better.
The aftertaste has almost gone, the aroma is better so this is after I’ve racked it.

I’ll now let it age, added some sucralose to sweeten and hope in 8-12 weeks it tastes even better. Hydrometer was reading “bottle” so racked it instead to mature