New to Cider

[Tapout]

I've been brewing beer for about three years now and decided to take a stab at cider.

I don't have access to fresh pressed cider...Florida's not a big apple state...so I shopped around for the best prices for apple juice. I finally made my decision, but also saw a good deal, in my opinion, for a cider. I bought enough for 5 gallons of each, to see which would turn out better, if there even would be one.

My wife and I like Angry Orchard cider. I had/have no experience with ciders. I told my LHBS about the Angry Orchard and was told the Red Star Montrachet wine yeast would be my best bet. From things I've since read here, that may have been an error.

All I did, besides sanitizing everything, of course, was pour the juice and cider into 5 and a 6.5 gal fermenters and add a packet of Montrachet to each. They are sitting in a 70-72 degree area and merrily bubbling away. They are three days in.

The apple juice is Walmart's Great Value 100% Apple Juice. (Pasteurized w/ascorbic acid (vitamin C) added). In the 6.5 gallon fermenter.

The cider is Whitehouse 100% Pure Apple Juice Cider. Again, pasteurized, but with no other additives. In the 5 gallon fermenter.

The Brix on both started out at 11.5 (SG 1.0463).

I've done nothing else nor have I added anything other than the Montrachet yeast.

My outstanding questions, after perusing some of the threads here (I didn't read up at all prior to this) are:

How long should I wait for fermentation to "finish", as it seems it can ferment all the way out?

Is there anything special to bottle conditioning? When bottling beer, priming sugar is added, but it would seem, with cider, I might end up with a munitions factory in my fermentation area if I add corn sugar.

Feel free to pile on and let me know what I've done incorrectly. I know I jumped into this with both feet and my eyes closed.

Thanks for any replies.

 

[Maylar]

Rock & roll, bro.

Wine yeast will bring cider dry - to 1.000 or below. Unlike beer, all the sugar in apples is fermentable. There will be no residual sweetness when it's done. If you want Angry Orchard-ish results you'll have to sweeten it somehow before bottling. You'll be in the realm of "sweet and highly carbonated" which is somewhat tricky to achieve. We can help with that.

Only thing I would have added up front are pectic enzyme to help the cider clear, and some yeast nutrient. Apples are notoriously low in nutrients.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Only thing I would have added up front are pectic enzyme to help the cider clear, and some yeast nutrient. Apples are notoriously low in nutrients.

+1 to yeast nutrient

 

[Tapout]

Anything on how NOT to create bottle bombs? Or can I prime just like I do with beer?

Average time to ferment?

Do I just pour in some more juice/cider to sweeten it?

And thanks for the replies so far.

 

[menerdari]

I can only tell you what I do, right or wrong and what I know, again right or wrong.
You can add juice (frozen concentrate works well) or even sugar, but unless you take steps to prevent it, the yeast will ferment whatever you add. There are non fermentable sweeteners and flavor additives you can get but for me I prefer sugar or juice.
Now the stickler with my method, I use, I add K-meta and potassium sorbate to stabilize the cider. this inhibits yeast growth so the yeast will not chew up my newly added sugar. This makes natural bottle carbing impossible. Fine with me, I prefer my cider uncarbbed.
You can still carb with a keg and there is another method of bottle pastuerizing but I am not willing to try that.

 

[Maylar]

I do it 1 of 2 ways depending on batch size. For a small batch (1 gallon) I prime and sweeten with FAJC and when they're carb'ed I throw em in the fridge. For a batch that's too big for the fridge I sweeten with Xylitol and prime with FAJC to a safe level.