How soon after you put your brew in the second rack till it is ready to bottle? The first batch I followed a recipe to the "T" and it said to bottle after 3 weeks. Is there anything preventing me from bottling after 2 weeks?
Second Rack time?
- Thread starter derrabe
- Start date
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You can bottle whenever it's done fermenting. The only reason to rack to another vessel is to get if off of the lees, if the lees are 1/4" thick or more or there are any lees after 60 days.
The advantages to waiting at least 60 days is that the cider has more time to clear so there is far less sediment in the bottle. Once it's clear, and no longer dropping any lees at all for at least 60 days (often longer), then I feel free to package/bottle it.
If you don't care about sediment and sludge in the bottle, or a murky cider, you can bottle whenever it's done fermenting- many people do that.
