Is my hard cider ready

[Themattstokes]

Hello all. New to brewing. Currently doing a hard cider. It’s stopped bubbling. Been told to take two readings over two nights to make sure it’s stopped fermenting. It’s reading 1.000 after a OG of 1.051. Question is, I’ve read about a secondary fermentation. Do I need to do this or can I go straight to bottling and let it settle?
Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance

 

[jtratcliff]

Might be... might not be. Bubbling airlock isn't a reliable sign of fermentation...

Is the gravity stable (same reading when taken several days apart)? Then it's done fermenting. But is it clear?

I let mine sit until it's very clear.... Leads to less yeast & trub in the bottle.

 

[Themattstokes]

Thanks for the quick reply! You lot are going to hear a lot from me in the next coming months!

It was my first reading. Was worried when I saw it 1.000 as it’s the same as water! I’ll try it again tomorrow.
I can tell about how clear it is yet as the bucket is a whit colour and not a clear plastic. If it stays the same gravity, should I bottle it? Not really bothered about adding more sugar to give a fix

 

[jtratcliff]

You can get easily under 1.000 for dry ciders...

If the gravity reading is near what you expect based on the OG and yeast used, and is the same 3 days apart, it's done and safe to bottle.

Giving it is some more time to sit and clear won't hurt. I let mine sit for a month or two before bottling. It'll clear in the bottle, too. It just leaves less sludge in the bottle if you let drop in the fermenter first... It'll need time to clear eaither way.

 

[Themattstokes]

Brilliant. Thanks again. I’ll leave it until the weekend then get another reading. Will definitely do another cider (because I love cider) so will try different things. Not really bothered about using syrups for “flavoured” cider but any tips anybody has to change or improve taste will be greatly appreciated.

 

[jtratcliff]

I've only ever really made apfelwein... which is a german-style dry cider... dead simple recipe found here: Man, I love Apfelwein

So I have no advice for adding flavors or making any other style of cider...

 

[Steven Barrett]

Does it taste ready?

 

[Steven Barrett]

Also safety warning about adding syrups. Fermentation will restart if you add sugar or other fermentables, so be careful and don’t create any bottle bombs.

When ciders are back sweetened, a preservative (like potassium sorbate) is added which inactivates the yeast, so sugars can be added which the yeast will not ferment. This makes bottle carbonating impossible so you generally need a kegging setup to carbonate backsweetened cider.