Offensively unprepared blind enthusiast

[harvo]

Greetings,

I'm likely to encounter a few 'tsks' and 'sighs' for my terrible lack of preparation, but I would be a fan of this forum forever if I someone is sympathetic to my predicament...

I picked a few hundred apples and juiced them with a juicer on Wed/ Thurs evening (17/18 Sep). I held kept the juice in a sanitised food grade container until Sunday (21 Sep) in a fridge. A thick brown crust immediately formed on the first night of juicing and grew on the second day of juicing, where it has remained.

Tonight I transferred 18L juice to a Carboy and placed back in the fridge (and disgarded the foam). I tested the Potential Alcohol % and it was at 5%.

So, my questions are:
1. Was the thick dry foam anything other than a by-product of juicing?
2. Is holding the juice in this state acceptable until the next step?
3. Is the process of killing off wild yeast need to happen ASAP? A suggested deadline would help!
4. Is there a preferred way to do this? I keep hearing about Campden tablets.
5. I was going to add American Ale yeast. I am assuming the timing of it being added is dependent on the treatment to kill wild yeast?

That's plenty for now. Any help truly appreciated!

harvo

 

[gratus fermentatio]

So, my questions are:
1. Was the thick dry foam anything other than a by-product of juicing?
2. Is holding the juice in this state acceptable until the next step?
3. Is the process of killing off wild yeast need to happen ASAP? A suggested deadline would help!
4. Is there a preferred way to do this? I keep hearing about Campden tablets.
5. I was going to add American Ale yeast. I am assuming the timing of it being added is dependent on the treatment to kill wild yeast?

That's plenty for now. Any help truly appreciated!

harvo

1. Likely just oxidized apple pulp/foam; no worries.
2. Yes.
3. Refrigeration will slow the wild yeast, but it will eventually get going unless you sanitize it. See #4.
4. Campden tablets are sodium metabisufate or better, potassium metabisulfate. This is great stuff, simply use 1 tablet per gallon of must (juice). Crush the tablet & mix with a little warm water to get it to dissolve & stir into the must. I use a ziploc bag to contain the tablet & crush it with a rubber mallet, then it's easy to add a little water to the bag & move it around with your fingers till it dissolves.
5. Wait 12 hrs after sulfiting & areate the must (stir it vigorously) to get some oxygen back into it, then pitch your yeast.

Something else you might want to consider is using pectic enzyme. It'll help to break down the pectins in the juice & give you a more clear cider. Also yeast nutrient/energizer & DAP (diammonium phosphate) to give the yeast all the nutrition they need for a healthy fermentation.
You should be on your way to some tasty cider!
Regards, GF.

 

[harvo]

Thank you so much! Great response

There is a lot of sediment - I'll post a photo tonight. Should I be filtering this off or is that something you do when it comes to bottling?

 

[ericbw]

Tsk tsk

 

[heathenhawker]

I've done some research on making natural vinegars at home and directions for apple cider vinegars say that the film you describe is a "mother" of sorts. They don't really explain in any kind of detail though.

 

[adiochiro3]

Thank you so much! Great response

There is a lot of sediment - I'll post a photo tonight. Should I be filtering this off or is that something you do when it comes to bottling?

GF covered things beautifully, as usual. Filtering is not necessary; you can just rack (siphon) the juice off of the sediment -- also called "lees" in winemaking.

Hopefully, you have a hydrometer; primary fermentation is done when the gravity measures <1.000. When done fermenting, rack it off of the lees again into your bulk aging vessel and leave it alone for 4-6 months before backsweetening and bottling or kegging. You want to make sure you keep this vessel topped as high as possible after primary fermentation is finished to prevent oxidation.

 

[harvo]

Hi GF & Adiochiro3,

Thanks for your very useful insights so far. Ericbw - thank you for your 'tsks'!

I'm at the next stage - we're at about 1.030 on S.G. and awaiting until it hits 1.050 until we syphon off and do the first racking.

Questions are:
1. When it comes to racking I am confident that I can tightly fill one of my carboys but I might not be able to get more than the other 2/3 full.....should I just buy a smaller container to avoid oxidization?!

2. Do we really have to wait 4-6 months until bottling? I'm short on water and getting quite thirsty!

3. I want to have a carbonated cider: can we still carbonate with a priming sugar at this point? Any tips on doing this?

Once again, I can only thank you in advance for your beautiful insights into the transformative of world that is: apples to cider.

Best,

Mr harvo.

 

[MindenMan]

Harvo, do you mean you are at 1.030 now, and you are waiting until 1.005. The other way is physically impossible w/o adding more sugar.
2. No, you do not have to wait that long before bottling, you could, but I wouldn't. Waiting 4 or 5 months after bottling before drinking is a whole different thing.
3. Sure, rack from fermenter into bottling bucket with priming sugar added, and bottle.
6. If possible, cold crash fermenter for 4 or 5 days @32*F, to firm up yeast cake.
Since your cider wasn't boiled, I would add gelatin and then cold crash. The tighter the yeast cake, the less loss of drinkable product. I cold crash everything these days, and lose a whole lot less drinkable product than I used to.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Hi GF & Adiochiro3,

Thanks for your very useful insights so far. Ericbw - thank you for your 'tsks'!

I'm at the next stage - we're at about 1.030 on S.G. and awaiting until it hits 1.050 until we syphon off and do the first racking.

Questions are:
1. When it comes to racking I am confident that I can tightly fill one of my carboys but I might not be able to get more than the other 2/3 full.....should I just buy a smaller container to avoid oxidization?!

2. Do we really have to wait 4-6 months until bottling? I'm short on water and getting quite thirsty!

3. I want to have a carbonated cider: can we still carbonate with a priming sugar at this point? Any tips on doing this?

Once again, I can only thank you in advance for your beautiful insights into the transformative of world that is: apples to cider.

Best,

Mr harvo.

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Prime just like you would beer. (4-5 oz corn sugar per 5 us gallons). You might find this useful:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-4.html

Now I wouldn't even think of bottling till the cider is clear enough to read a newspaper through. I think most, if not all cider will benefit from aging, but you can age it in the bottle instead of in the carbouy; I just find it easier to bulk age (aging in the carbouy).
Regards, GF.

 

[hopfool]

Only have experience with one batch of year old pear cider, but after about six months clarity improved drastically. Started out looking like a wheat beer and finished with a clarity similar to chardonnay.