Please clarify for clarity!

[LJ Gold]

Hello all!

I have made a few batches of cider now and I have noticed with a really cloudy cider that the end result is never very clear and I am ok with that. However, on my most recent batch, which started very cloudy, that it remained cloudy in secondary but then miraculously it cleared in the bottles. I always use pectic enzyme in primary. I did primary and secondary on the concrete floor in my basement but it still isn't very cold. When I bottle I cart the carboy upstairs to my kitchen and let it settle for a week before bottling. The cloudiness changes slightly from primary to secondary but not much after that. I have attached a picture of the final bottles.

I use pectic enzyme, champagne yeast, vanilla beans, a tea bag and honey, starting out around 1.07 OG and it went down to .997. At bottling, I add erythritol for sweetness so it is low carb. I have found priming with honey works for me. This batch I added caramel and butter flavouring as well. Is it one of my extracts that clarified the batch? Is this much residue in the bottle going to affect things?

It tasted amazing at bottling.

Thanks!

 

[McMullan]

Ideally, if you want clear cider, the pectinase enzyme is used before primary fermentation starts, e.g., day before. If you add the enzyme with yeast, keep things cool, to limit fermentation, until the juice clears. The problem is ethanol precipitates pectin so the pectinase enzyme doesn’t work efficiently once fermentation starts.

It looks to me like you have too much sediment in those bottles. Hopefully, it packs down so you can easily pour off clear cider.

 

[CKuhns]

I have had good luck with the following for clarity prior to bottling. (But do still get a very small amount of sediment occasionally.)

I use pectic enzyme both during primary and after clarifying if still coudy.

To clarify I rack at 1.010 from primary. Then let it "finish" for at least 30 days and rack again. Then cold crash (refridgerator temps or colder) for 3 to 5 days and rack again. Finally if not clear add KC super Kleer and pectic enzyme and rack just before bottling. (I really like a very clear cider.)

 

[Bobby_M]

Something you added acted as a fining agent, I just can't say what. There are many products that will do that for you:
Chitosan
Keiselsol
K.C. Superclear (is a double dose with the two above items)
Biofine
Gelatin

The goal is to use one of them in the fermenter before bottling.