Me again... when do you take the first gravity reading??

[Berritt]

When do you take the first gravity reading? (I mean the first one after starting fermentation. It started at 1.064 and I have yet to check it again)
I dropped everything in the primary on the night of the 18th, so it's been a week. The airlock has slowed to one bubble every 8-10 seconds.

And.. what is the target gravity for racking to your secondary? And.. do you save the yeast from the first bottle for anything, or can I just dump it in the compost?

Thank you

 

[oljimmy]

Hi Beritt,

All of this depends on your tastes. The BJCP (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/ciderintro.php) says that below 1.002 is considered "dry", 1.002-1.012 is "medium" and above 1.012 is "sweet".

I would guess that your cider may be below the 1.012 mark already, so if you're aiming to get a sweet cider you want to start measuring right away and preparing for backsweetening. But if you are aiming for a more dry cider you could possibly wait.

That said, if your sanitation methods are good, and if you are very careful to draw liquid out and return it to the carboy gently, it's almost never a bad idea to check. In this business, there is no such thing as bad information, the more you know, the more likely you are to succeed.

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

The only thing I would add is, and this is just my personal opinion, don't bother returning your sample to the fermenter. Even with good sanitation practices its a chance for infection.

 

[oljimmy]

The only thing I would add is, and this is just my personal opinion, don't bother returning your sample to the fermenter. Even with good sanitation practices its a chance for infection.

That's interesting Josh... I've worried quite a lot about that recently, especially because for 1-gallon test batches a whole tube of liquid is a significant portion of the whole batch. Every test means losing a big chunk of cider. But maybe it's worth it to ensure quality. Anyone else with thoughts on this?

 

[Berritt]

Thank you! I'm aiming for dry. All the way, I guess. Then add the calc'd amount of sugar to bottle carb. I figure if I end up hating it completely dry, I can add a few drops of stevia after I pour it into a glass to drink. I like dry wine so I assume I'll like dry cider. I have had a couple commercial ciders that said they were dry but they didn't seem dry like wine can be.

I just went and got an auto-siphon and tubing from the brew store and asked them about taking the gravity and he said that I can sanitize the hydrometer and tie a sanitized string to it and just drop it in the carboy. But that it wasn't really recommended. (Buuuut... Really what's the difference between dropping a hydrometer in the jug vs dipping a turkey baster in the jug?)

 

[Berritt]

OK, well, that didn't work. The hydrometer is too tall to float in the one gallon jug at the lower readings. Works fine at 1.070 and 1.080 (the starting gravity of the batches I started today) but sunk right to the bottom of the one that's been fermenting for a week.

Guess I am buying a turkey baster tomorrow.

 

[punkrawkgeek]

This was always in my mind as well... I didn't know how to do a gravity reading when i was doing a 1 gallon batch. Mine started out as 1.070, and well, it's been on for about 4 days now. And it is still bubbling. I haven't taken an readings yet tho...
I guess we'll see.

 

[AJCider]

That's interesting Josh... I've worried quite a lot about that recently, especially because for 1-gallon test batches a whole tube of liquid is a significant portion of the whole batch. Every test means losing a big chunk of cider. But maybe it's worth it to ensure quality. Anyone else with thoughts on this?

That depends entirely on your definition of 'losing' :cross:

I tend to set aside a day to check the gravity\move things around on all my brews and that little portion usually goes directly into my belly after being measured

 

[weejub]

OK, well, that didn't work. The hydrometer is too tall to float in the one gallon jug at the lower readings. Works fine at 1.070 and 1.080 (the starting gravity of the batches I started today) but sunk right to the bottom of the one that's been fermenting for a week.

Guess I am buying a turkey baster tomorrow.

They work fine

I do 3-6 gallons in 7 gallon buckets and carboys and I just typically syphon a bit into my hydrometer tube and then taste test it after reading.

 

[Berritt]

This is just making me want to do a 5 gallon batch. I will just take these gallons as experiment gallons and not worry about "wasting" while checking gravity. So... I can drink what I take out to check the gravity? I'm so nervous about tasting it, and I don't know why.