Lees on bottom of carboy

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Oldchevytruck61

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I started my first batch of hard cider 8 days ago and I have about a 1/4 inch of lees on the bottom so far should I rack to secondary now? Or wait for it to ferment dry? I used 1 gallon treetop juice, 1 packet of ec-1118 yeast, 1 tsp nutrient, and 2 cups of sugar for an O.G of 1.085 if that helps.
Thanks for any help


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Your fine. Once you understand the process id worry about secondarys?

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What about sediment at the neck of the carboy, this batch was bubbling and foaming like crazy after a couple hours and foamed out of the airlock, but after the vigorous stage it has settled and left some stuff in the neck.
Thanks for your replies


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What is your reason for wanting to transfer to a secondary? Lots of us don't bother with secondarys since there is not much benefit and you risk infection and/or oxidation. I would leave it for another 8 days or more and then bottle since the OG is a little high, it will give the yeast time to "clean up" after themselves. As a side note, 1 pack of yeast and a whole tsp of nutrient sounds like a lot for just one gallon, but it prob won't hurt anything, just FYI. Don't worry about sediment in the neck, it won't hurt anything.
 
Thanks for the info Pistola could that be why it had such a vigorous fermentation so fast, because of the yeast and nutrient?


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The yeast cakes in the ciders I make are often thicker and fluffier than my beer cakes, which tend to be more compacted. Then again, 3 to 5 gallons of beer weighs more than the 1 gallon ciders I make.

In other words, your lees (yeast cake) is perfectly normal. And unless you're planning to age for many months, there's no reason to rack to secondary.
 
When the cider is done fermenting I rack over to a carboy for a few reasons, the first being to rack off the lees/sediment, the second is to let it age and clear, more sediment will drop out of suspension, don't worry too much about it.

I've been making wine and cider for years, and never once did I have either become oxidized, or get an infection, I think that there is a little bit of infection hysteria lately, as long as you are meticulous about washing and sanitizing everything, you will be fine.

A teaspoon of nutrient per gallon is normal for certain nutrients, it really depends on which you are using, and what the directions dictate, there is a difference between beer and wine nutrients, in the future, I recommend using Fermaid K for Cider and wine.

Depending on what your SG was, you may need to age the cider for a few months, my apple wine usually bulk ages for 12-15 months, my ciders which I like to keep between 6%-8% abv will age a month or two, followed by adjusting the cider to our tastes by back sweetening, filtering and priming as I would beer, and bottling.

When the cider is carbonated, I pasteurize.
 
Thanks for all the info Pumpkinman
Also could I just ferment it dry,backsweeten to taste, prime and then bottle. Or if I backsweeten will I not have to prime the bottles?


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you can still prime it, you'll want to pasteurize as soon as the carbonation level is at a point that you like in order to stop any further carbonation and bottle bombs.
 
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