High OG cider, Aged enough???

[BadgerBrigade]

I'm making an Apple/Cedar/Cherry cider and I am worried that due to a high OG (is 1.070 Considered high?) I don't know if its been in the carboy long enough to not be super young?

The skinny:
5 gallons of fresh pressed Apple blend, OG started at 1.070, the yeast is EC-1118, temp has been mid 60's F (But right in the middle of fermentation temperature got up to 70 for a few hours or a day maybe, not sure)
Started 12-2-12,
Rack to secondary on 12-16-12.... Gravity was .995

If I pull it out tomorrow to bottle do you folks think it will not be terribly young or am I too early?

 

[UncleWhomper]

Although your reading is really dry, I would leave it in your carboy for atleast another 6-8 weeks. Just let it hang out with the vapor lock still on. It's gonna keep clearing out as time goes on. The more you wait, the happier you'll be with your end product.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Although your reading is really dry, I would leave it in your carboy for atleast another 6-8 weeks. Just let it hang out with the vapor lock still on. It's gonna keep clearing out as time goes on. The more you wait, the happier you'll be with your end product.

I want to wait, I am just afraid the cedar will make it too cedary.... I added it two weeks ago and the guy who gave me the wood told me put it in for a week and that should be good... I'm afraid if I leave it in for another month or longer it's going to be really really cedar wood flavored, like overpowering...?
I'm in a catch 22....

 

[LeBreton]

If you're worried about getting too much cedar, then go ahead and bottle now. It'll continue to age and mellow in the bottle just as in the carboy.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

If you're worried about getting too much cedar, then go ahead and bottle now. It'll continue to age and mellow in the bottle just as in the carboy.

That's what I was thinking but heard you get more sediment, not as clear and takes longer to age....?

 

[LeBreton]

Ageing time should be the same in the carboy as in the bottle, assuming all other things equal.

If you want to try to beat the sediment, then maybe cold crash the carboy for a day to help drop out the solids. If you have the space that is.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Ageing time should be the same in the carboy as in the bottle, assuming all other things equal.

If you want to try to beat the sediment, then maybe cold crash the carboy for a day to help drop out the solids. If you have the space that is.

Oh. GREAT! I didn't think about that.... My Keezer is not full of anything, I can put it in there.

Oh wait, it has sat totally still for three months, won't it kick up junk if I pick it up and move it into the freezer?

 

[JtotheA]

After a day of cold-crashing, anything that got stirred up will have settled back down.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

After a day of cold-crashing, anything that got stirred up will have settled back down.

But what about carbonating in the bottle? If I cold crash i thought i will never get my bottles to carb up??? there is only one person that has told me I can still cold crash and still be able to carb up in the bottles. (I feel he's really knowledgeable but I'm really confused because I keep hearing other people say no, once you cold crash you're done with the whole carbonating idea unless you keg carbonate???)

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

With 1118, I think you'd still be able to bottle carb. As I mentioned in another post, just 'crash' it at the lower range of the strain temps. (50ºF?) You should still have enough yeast to bottle carb, but it might take a little longer. When you rack it to your bottling bucket, you are likely to kick up a little of the cake.