Splashing while racking

[devonl]

Should this be done?

I splashed one of the three batches of cider while transferring to Secondary, my thoughts were to add some oxygen to the liquid as I added a bunch more sugar to get the alcohol up (I'm thinking this batch will be going to tertiary while the others go to bottles). I thought it would also help mix it up really well.

Thanks for your help,
Devon

 

[Pappers_]

I've wondered and asked about this also. With beer, you do not want to add oxygen in any way after fermentation has started. It will lead to oxidized beer and a cardboard flavor. I've assumed that's true with cider, too, but I don't know that. When I rack to my bottling bucket, I'm careful that the hose is at the bottom of the bucket, so that the hose's opening is, after the first few second, underneath the liquid level - no splashing.

On a different issues, are you saying you added sugar when you transferred it to secondary?

 

[devonl]

Hi Pappers, thanks for the reply. I did add more sugar in secondary in order to up the alcohol content, it was at about 5% and nearly bone dry, this particular batch I'd like to get upto about 9% and backsweeten with a non fermentable sugar before bottle carbing.

Devon

 

[CvilleKevin]

My experience is that the more careful you are keeping the air away from the cider, the longer it will keep, especially if you dont use chemical preservatives.

 

[devonl]

thanks for the reply CvilleKevin.

The cider completely stopped bubbling when i racked it so I added a yeast pack and it instantly took off, we'll see how it goes from here.

Devon

 

[oldmate]

If your going to ferment again, then yes, it would be a good idea, and would help get rid of some of that nasty CO2 (too much dissolved CO2 will raise the pH of the solution and kill the yeast), as well as allowing the yeast to reproduce.

On the other hand, if you're not going to ferment again then no, I wouldn't suggest adding much if any oxygen at all if you can. It might introduce bacteria (acetobacter will turn your cider to vinegar) or mould spores etc.