need help with first attempts

[Banjopicker]

Hi all,
This forum is great! It's nice to find so much information in one spot. I don't feel the need to read every post on the web anymore

On 10/4 I started 5 gallons of fresh pressed cider w/ 4 pounds corn sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme and 1 packet Red Star champagne yeast. I crushed 1 campden tablet added, and let sit for 48 hours prior to adding sugar,enzyme and yeast.
It bubbled a lot for 1 week and then slowed down and stopped after 12 days.

On 10/6 I started 6 gallons of fresh pressed cider w/ 2 pounds turbinado sugar and 1 packet Safale S-04 yeast. I did the same thing w/ 1 campden tablet. It bubbled slower than the other batch and finished up at about the same time.

So now I have 2 carboys that are sitting idle and I'm not sure what to do next. I didn't learn about yeast nutrient until after I started both batches and hope that not adding it wasn't too big a mistake. I don't want to open the cap to check hydrometer readings until I'm sure it's a good idea. I don't know whether to rack into other carboys or not. Is it ok to have an air space in the 2nd carboy? I can easily top off a 5 gallon carboy with the 6 gallon batch, but won't fill one up with the 5 gallon batch. Blending the 2 to fill up the second carboy doesn't sound like a good idea.

I'd like to make a sparkling cider with the 5 gallon/champagne yeast batch and a more traditional cider with the 6 gallon/ale yeast batch.

I have a bottle capper and beer bottles, 3-1 gallon demijohns,1-2 gallon demijohn and 1-5 gallon demijohn. I thought the 1 gallon demijohns would be nice for gifts and the bigger ones for bringing to a party

 

[Banjopicker]

I thought I'd update this thread regardless of the lack of replies
The batch of 5 gallons w/ 4 lbs. corn sugar and champagne yeast w/ pectic enzyme added fermented very quickly and was done bubbling in 12 days. I let it sit for another week and racked into a second carboy. It had a 1.00 hydrometer reading so should be at about 11% alcohol. I started off by trying a small wine glass to check it out... It was pretty tasty. Kind of like a dry chardonnay with a hint of apple. It has a nice buttery finish like a chardonnay as well. I decided to let some others try it so I poured off a gallon demijohn and put it out with some glasses at band practice. The music went from good to worse but nobody noticed and the demijohn was empty the next morning I managed to hide away 2 full gallon demijohns and the rest is history. I took good notes and will replicate this batch next year on a larger scale for bottling. It has a nice clear raw sienna color and an apple bouquet.

The second 6 gallon batch bubbled slowly for 4 weeks and was racked into a 5 gallon carboy this morning. I had 4 1/2 quart mason jars left after filling the carboy and had a taste. What a difference! It's semi-sweet and tastes a lot more like cider than wine. It only went to 1.02 from 1.06 before stopping. Is this typical for the Safale S-04? I'm sure this one will be a big hit too I have a cider press planned for the future and will be collecting carboys for next year.

 

[CvilleKevin]

It only went to 1.02 from 1.06 before stopping. Is this typical for the Safale S-04?

S04 will generally ferment to dryness, but it needs more nutrient than champagne yeast so you can sometimes get it to stick if you are using low nutrient juice (ie if the trees havent been heavily fertilized). Often you can get a batch of S04 cider to stop just by racking it off the trub (which typically contains nutrients), but that is very juice dependent. If you want to keep some residual sugar, dont add nutrient.

 

[Dicky]

I had the same thing with a different cider yeast. It went from 1.060 to 1.010 and stopped. I figured that it tasted nice anyway so added some fermantation stopper, cleared it using finings and bottled it.

A couple of weeks later I opened up a bottle and was surprised to find that it was sparking. For some reason, the bottling process kick started the fermantation process and caused the cider to become carbonated. The result was dry, sparkling, cider. Happy accident.

Did you add anything to stop fermentation with yours?

Dicky

 

[CvilleKevin]

Did you add anything to stop fermentation with yours?

I cold crash to stop mine. In the past, I've been able to stop some batches just by racking one or two times, but cold crashing is a lot more reliable - at least for me. Some folks on this forum have had trouble doing this, so I suspect its juice specific. If you and OP are sometimes getting stuck fermentations with your juice, then I would expect cold crashing would work well for you.

 

[Banjopicker]

Well, I guess it wasn't done. The 5 gallon carboy I racked into is bubbling again. I had tried agitating the first carboy to get it bubbling again but nothing happened. Now it's bubbling like a glass of ginger ale. I haven't added any yeast nutrient yet and am wondering if it's too late to add at this point.
I have a question... If I have a few batches going and want to rack off a batch to a new carboy, but don't have enough volume to fill the carboy...can I run the hose from a fermenting carboy into the cap of the racked off batch to force the oxygen from the carboy, then cap? I'm worried about contamination and affecting taste. Would I be better off using pure CO2 from a can? What is typically done here?
Thanks for the replies! I'm going to have years and years of fun with this.