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[CodyA]

Started mine on the 8th, crashed it the 13th, racked the 14th, racked again the 16th, and keg-pasteurized today. Got it hot enough to where I couldn't keep my hand on the outside of the keg for more than 5 seconds, so I'm guessing like 115-120 for 20 minutes (was really worried about evaporating off all the alcohol). Should be good, considering every time I pitch yeast into a wort that's hotter than 100 degrees, I always end up killing all the yeast and having to repitch.

Yours is not going to be a sweet cider like mine though, so as far as aging to mellow the flavor, I couldn't tell ya. But tasting mine at 1.002, it reminded me of some organic English cider my buddy bought one day. So definitely palatable at least with no aging.

 

[w1dow]

5 days then to ferment quicker than i would have thought. So i take it you would check the gravity daily?

The boiling point of alcohol is like around 170f i think, so your way off that, so wouldnt burn any alcohol off.

My juice delivery has been delayed until tomorrow although can't do nowt without the yeast.. good old royal mail, bloody useless they are, estimated delivery is 2-5 days hopefully get by end of the week.

 

[w1dow]

there was 96 bottles sitting on the floor..... god this is going to take a while, didn't get what I wanted ,ended up with 96 small bottles instead of 36 large..

 

[w1dow]

ok so all bottles emptied into bucket, added a spoon of pectin enzyme will add another spoon when started to ferment.

As far as priming the yeast would i be right in saying you only need to add a few spoons to the 1/2 litre of juice?
And once its primed add it to main batch in bucket along with rest of yeast then leave for 24hrs before adding the nutrient? Or just add it all at the same time.

 

[CodyA]

All at the same time would be fine. The only thing that needs to be left to do its work before fermentation starts would be your enzyme.

 

[w1dow]

btw thanks for your help so far you have been a great help

So only adding a small amount of yeast as a starter is correct? just i thought if i were to add it all, i thought maybe it might all foam up and over out of the jug lol.

forgot how heavy 25 ltrs of fluid weighs , god i hope it dont break out fridge when i get to that point, or the mrs will kill me along with my wallet!

Just interested to know would you cold crash in the fermenting bucket, then rack, cold crash again, then bottle?

 

[CodyA]

Just interested to know would you cold crash in the fermenting bucket, then rack, cold crash again, then bottle?

Yes.

And no problem! I'm learning here to.

Add the whole yeast sachet into the liter of juice. As long as the container you are making your starter in is roughly twice the size of your half liter or larger, you wont get any foam over problems. Especially with apple juice. Not like beer where you get a lot of foam.

Be careful with glass trays in the fridge. 6 gallons of IPA with only a 15 inch foot print on a glass tray was definitely too heavy and put too much pressure on the glass. Learned it the hard way, good thing it was in a fridge that was going to get tossed by my buddy anyway had I not saved it.

EDIT: Add the sachet into the HALF liter of juice.

 

[w1dow]

Be careful with glass trays in the fridge. 6 gallons of IPA with only a 15 inch foot print on a glass tray was definitely too heavy and put too much pressure on the glass. Learned it the hard way, good thing it was in a fridge that was going to get tossed by my buddy anyway had I not saved it.

EDIT: Add the sachet into the HALF liter of juice.

yeah wouldnt have trusted it on the glass anyway. Its a fridge/freezer so it will be sat on the bottom of the fridge, tested just now and its fine, just about fits! probably take out the bottom door tray though as i have to push bucket right to the back of the fridge partly blocking the air outlet cooler fan.

Just taken another OG and currently sits at 1.054 @ 17c / 62.6f will check again tomorrow when its at correct room temperature.

so i want a cider with a bit of a kick and not too dry so i'm thinking maybe take down to 1.000 which would give a abv of 8% and hopefully wont be too dry like white wine, but since i'm a white wine drinker that probably wouldnt bother me too much or the mrs.

 

[CodyA]

You will probably like it at 1.000. Mine was at 1.002, and it was very pallatable and tasty. A TINY bit wine like, but not bad, and still very apple-y. I just wanted a sweet cider with just a small tart kick. At 1.002, mine was at 7.5% ABV

 

[w1dow]

if OG on mine is 1.058 and i take down to a FG of 1.000 it will be about 8.6% so quite a bit of a kick, so maybe 1.002 - 1.005 would be better, will taste test when it gets near to that level see what the taste buds think!

 

[w1dow]

added my starter yeast earlier so now just a waiting game

 

[CodyA]

The most exciting part! (getting the yeast active anyway. Not playing the waiting game....)

 

[w1dow]

my brew has been going like a steam train? only 3 days and OG has gone from 1.058 to 1.010!! in 3 days wtf!

Anyway done a taste test and it still has a nice apple flavour little bit of fizz not too dry or too sweet so just about right, going by one of the online calculators makes the abv 7.2% which is about what i was aiming for.

I guess the taste will improve since this will still have a bit of a yeast taste to it until ive done a couple of cold crashes and racked it a couple of times.

So i guess its time to cold crash then.

 

[CodyA]

What was the temp you had it fermenting?

 

[w1dow]

around 22 deg c which is 71.6 f

 

[w1dow]

checked earlier, took a sample and looks and tastes a bit fizzy? i take it that means its into secondary fermenting stage? which means it must have been ready. Well its in the fridge now ,will transfer into barrel tomorrow after work then crash for another 48 hrs ,then bottle ready for pasteurization.

I take it theres no reason why i cant bottle some for pasteurizing then put rest of barrel back into fridge and do the rest the next day?

 

[w1dow]

since I want a still cider and it has a bit of fizz to it won't I need to allow it to de-gas first before bottling? it's now into its secondary container cold crashing for another 48 hrs , if I were to take out of fridge in couple of days and leave in same container at room temp I guess fermenting could start again?

but surely there would only be a very small amount of yeast in it so couldn't go much longer?

confused about aging now as well, reading a lot of posts on here about aging in bottles or carboy.

will aging make my cider darker as its very light in colour almost like a watered down orange juice.

 

[CodyA]

Couldn't tell you about degassing or aging... I would be concerned about oxidizing the cider, and I have no experience with it as I like all my cider carbed. and sweet (requiring no aging)

Gotta remember that yeast re-produce VERY quickly. A few yeast cells can turn into a full fledged fermentation pretty fast.

And no, no reason you cant pasteurize a few at a time, long as the barrel is refrigerated the yeast will stay dormant.

 

[w1dow]

decided to start pasteurizing my cider , done a case of 24 bottles ,doing rest tomorrow. amazing how much it's cleared after another crash, almost has the colour of strongbow now.

as there wasn't much carbonation don't think it will be a problem having bottle bombs.

will probably keep a case for xmas, case for new year and keep the rest for next summer, will probably try a bottle once a month to see how it's aged and how the taste has changed.

thought about maybe getting some oak chippings and try some in a gallon , not sure though?

 

[CodyA]

I'm more of a "Oak only belongs in spirits" kind of guy, as I don't like oaked wine or beer, but you could certainly try it!

And yea, they should be great when aged to the summer!

 

[w1dow]

nearly pasteurized it all now, on the last case of 24, after this one i will have 72 bottles, not sure how i lost 20 bottles worth. Suppose you lose quite a bit leaving an inch or two at the bottom of each container when you crash it.

Going to start thinking about my next batch to do now lol seen as i have a packet of yeast left over, time to hunt for some more juice, probably try juice from concentrate see how that goes.

 

[CodyA]

The way I always hear it, from concentrate is fine for sweet ciders, but not really very good for a more tart cider. Might be worth a shot though! Plenty of people say it's good for apple wine.

And yea, I lost over a half gallon from the racking, but there were a lot of apple solids as well since I used raw, fresh pressed cider, so that could explain it.

 

[w1dow]

may as well give it a go, as long as its drinkable and gets you pissed thats good enough for me haha