First timer: When to rack?

[benyalom]

Hi all - I'm new to making cider (very excited). I've got two small batches going - one with T58, and one with Nottingham ale yeast.

They have been fermenting for about two weeks, plugging along very slowly (or so it seems to impatient me!). So...do I just wait for the occassional bubbles to stop?

The cider is very cloudy and dark - as it was when we put it in. Does this change? Before racking? After racking? No?

Answers and/or advice very welcome!

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I think you'll probably get a dozen different answers for what works best. It might depend on the recipe you are using.

My personal preference is to rack to secondary when the gravity gets down to around 1.015 or so. I use nottingham at around 60ºF and it usually takes around 2 weeks, give or take. It typically clears in secondary in a couple of weeks, but the longer you let it sit the better.

Some say you risk infection or oxidation if you rack it off before a month...I think that if you are careful with your sanitation and racking methods...you shouldn't have any problems.

There's ways to keep it sweet and bubbly or dry and still. Just keep it fun and keep changing it up until you have a drink that you enjoy.

 

[dinnerstick]

indeed you will get a myriad of different answers for this question, some likely to be reasonable and others far less so... in addition to the perfectly appropriate response above i will add my strategy (there will be no discernible difference in the end if you do one of these vs the other): leave it be for at least a month, try to forget it's there. when you rediscover it and finally get around to racking, it will be done fermenting and maybe even on its way to being clear, rack it and then forget it again. don't be alarmed if it tastes a bit weird along the way

 

[divi2323]

+1 on the weird tastes in a young cider.

I rack mine off at about 1.01 as well but only because I like it to clear a little faster. By that time I've got an inch of lees on the bottom and it just irks me to look at it... kind of like a separated salad dressing in the fridge... ocd much?....

I then rack about a month later to clear more lees and then let it age. Only racking once I notice lots of gunk at the bottom.

Like dinnerstick said though, there won't be any discernible smell with when you rack it. Your finishing process has more to do with anything else in your timeline in my opinion. Do you leave it still and dry or carbed and sweet or somewhere in between. That's where the real brewing comes in in my opinion.

 

[benyalom]

Thanks so much - I began feeling like was a science experiment that I was likely to screw up completely with a small misstep. Seems like there's a lot more leeway for error (or creativity).

I'll just let her go for a bit longer, then rack so I can get a second batch going!