secondary

[Hercules Rockefeller]

hey everybody I have a question about a cider i have in primary right now. I read the Cider Wiki and there is no mention of using a secondary fermenter as in beer making. should I just leave it in the plastic bucket for about 2-3 weeks or go ahead and rack after a week and leave it in secondary for another 1-2 weeks?

 

[britishbloke]

If you have a glass carboy, 5 or 5.5 gallons id sanitize and move it to the glass carboy. That way it can clear and the glass wont affect the flavor like plastic has been known to do.

Its cider so in the secondary glass carboy for a month or two would be perfect.

 

[Pumbaa]

normaly when I make cider I stick to the 1-2-3 rule EXCPET I use months instead of weeks. You dont have to use a secondary but I dont like my cider to sit on the yeast past 4 weeks. I also use a secondary because I dont like a lot of sediment in the bottom of my cider and I like it as clear as possible. If I had a filter set up I probably would filter it too.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Thanks for the advice guys. I've got one question though. I'm bottling my cider and I want it to be carbonated, would I be better off:

1: Only doing 2-3 weeks in the secondary so that the yeast is not totally dormant for the bottle conditioning.

2: Go ahead and leave it for a month or two and take my chances with the carbonation?

3: leave it and pitch some yeast into the bottling bucket?

 

[recklessop]

similar question after a month in the primary would it be safe to move it to a 5 gallon Corney for a secondary... pressurize with with like 10-20 lbs and then sit it in my basement for a month or two?

then when it comes time to drinking hook it back up to the co2 and let it sit for a day or two at like 3-5 lbs? and dispense at that pressure too? how do you guys do it when using kegs?