More advice please - secondary fermentation

[RedStone]

ok. Primary fermentation is done. Its about dry. I moved cider from bucket to a carboy I bought used from some dude. It was an all or nothing deal - 3 carboys - 1x 20 liter and 2x 10 liter (pyrex). My bucket had 25 liters. I just moved the 25 liters to 20 liter carboy - doesnt make sense, right? Because its actually a 30 liter carboy or something. Not even sure - just what the guy told me - it was his dads and he was trying to get rid of it). Problem? I thought on a secondary fermentation, one must fill to the top, then cap. I don't have enough primary to fill it. What do I do? I don't want to fill it with water obviously. Why not fill the other 2 instead? Because the bungs I have don't fit and the bungs that came with them are broken more or less. I need to run to the brew store and get some extra wide 7.5 cm (sorry - I live in Denmark and all my measurements are metric).

Is it ok that I leave it in the current carboy with all that air in it?
I have a few liters of frozen unfermented cider (but after campden) in the freezer that I put aside for perhaps this problem. Should I put it in there to top it off and forget about moving to the other 2 10 liter carboys?`

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Maybe just skip using a secondary next time.

They have mostly grown out of favor with homebrewers. Secondaries, for the most part, are unneeded.

 

[Maylar]

If you have CO2 you can purge the oxygen from the secondary by blowing some in for a few seconds. CO2 is heavier than air and will displace the oxygen. Also, if the cider is still bubbling through the airlock then CO2 is being released and it will form a barrier between the cider and oxygen. Otherwise, I would skip the secondary and get the cider bottled soon.

 

[RedStone]

I dont have CO2. I actually would prefer to secondary this because I would like it to clear some more. Its rather cloudy - the filter bag I used during pressing wasnt fine enough and a decent amount of chunks got in.

Do you think its a mistake to add the raw cider in to top it off?

 

[Yourrealdad]

If you bottle it it will clear out sitting in the bottles for months. All the stuff will fall to the bottom and you just don't pour the cider from the last bit. You could also put a paint strainer on the siphon hose as it goes into your bottling bucket. If all you are worried about is chunks then I would just bottle it.

 

[RedStone]

truth be told - I dont have bottles handy. I was going to wait to buy that - in a month or so - so it wouldnt be sitting around. Plus I haven't decided if I want to continue with homebrew to be honest. Or rather, how I should continue. I get buyers remorse rather quickly. The more I read about this - the more I want to do kegs to eliminate the bottles, but thats another commitment. My workaround was to just do plastic bottles. Then I can play around with carbonization and such, and not worry about exploding bottles that cost a fortune here in Denmark. Sooooo, the second fermentation is buying me time and a necessary step for this go round since I already assumed as much.

Original question - should I add the unfermented cider? Or move to the smaller carboys that can be topped off easier?

 

[Yooper]

Maybe just skip using a secondary next time.

They have mostly grown out of favor with homebrewers. Secondaries, for the most part, are unneeded.

Not so at all, at least with cidermakers and winemakers and meadmakers.

I would never keep a cider in primary long term, with all of the lees (cider throws a ton of lees, especially when using fresh pressed apples), and the wide headspace.

Anyway, the issue here is that there is far too much headspace in your carboy. you either need a smaller carboy, or a couple of very small ones, dividing up the batch, or more cider. Get new bungs- they are like $1. Leave it in the carboy until you have the new bungs, and then siphon to the new ones. I'd be inclined, while at the brew store, to buy some campden tablets. They are a winemaker's best friend- they are sulfite tablets, which work as antioxidant in wine and cidermaking, keeping oxygen from binding to the cider. It dissipates relatively quickly, but it would really help prevent your cider from oxidation, which is turning brown in color and stale tasting. One crushed campden tablet per gallon (4L, more or less), and that will really help.

 

[RedStone]

ok. This needs to wait 2 days unfortunately. The brew shop is closed on Sundays. I have plenty of campden. I'll drop that in now. Not worried about fermentation anymore. Very little sugar left. That will buy me some time to figure out my next steps. Thanks for clarifying. One more question then - I drop in the campden - should I shake this up or leave it as still as possible? You know, it probably doesnt matter too much as I will be moving it off in 2 days.

 

[Yooper]

ok. This needs to wait 2 days unfortunately. The brew shop is closed on Sundays. I have plenty of campden. I'll drop that in now. Not worried about fermentation anymore. Very little sugar left. That will buy me some time to figure out my next steps. Thanks for clarifying. One more question then - I drop in the campden - should I shake this up or leave it as still as possible? You know, it probably doesnt matter too much as I will be moving it off in 2 days.

You would dissolve the campden tablets in some water, crushing them well, and then pour that in and re-airlock. Normally, I add campden when I rack, and rack the cider/wine into the solution in a new carboy, but you can add them now to help prevent oxidation while you wait for the new bungs.

 

[UpstateMike]

truth be told - I dont have bottles handy. I was going to wait to buy that - in a month or so - so it wouldnt be sitting around.

Check your local bottle recycling places, you can probably get a bunch of pry-off bottles for a nickle to a dime each.

 

[RedStone]

Darn - I just dropped the powder in - I crushed it well - but no mixing with water. Next time. I did shake it a tad. When I re-rack it on Monday I'll make sure its stirred a few times. That begs another question - the stirring part. Now I want to rid the cider of oxygen - by stirring presumbly - but doesnt that introduce oxygen in the process. Guess it depends on how you stir.

 

[Yooper]

Darn - I just dropped the powder in - I crushed it well - but no mixing with water. Next time. I did shake it a tad. When I re-rack it on Monday I'll make sure its stirred a few times. That begs another question - the stirring part. Now I want to rid the cider of oxygen - by stirring presumbly - but doesnt that introduce oxygen in the process. Guess it depends on how you stir.

No, you do NOT want to stir at this point! Oxidation will ruin the cider.

Handling it ultra gently, without stirring or splashing, is needed.

 

[schwiz]

Late to the party, topping off with fresh juice works for me. It makes secondary longer but it works.