Stir or not to stir

[jayday65]

My first try at Hard apple cider. A question I have is do you stir it so to get the heavy residue off the bottom. And if so do you do it daily?. Is there a good book on the subject of making different flavored ciders?

 

[schwiz]

Nope no need to stir. I enjoy the book Cider Hard and Sweet by Ben Watson. He doesn't go to much into flavored ciders but gives a few examples.

 

[domingo]

If I'm fermenting in a tank that's larger than 5 gallons I stir infrequently until it reaches a certain gravity at which point I'm concerned about too much oxygen. I base that gravity off my intended finishing gravity. I try and stir until about 0.015 or 0.020 above intended finish. For example, if I want a finishing gravity of 1.000 I'll stir until 1.018 or so. I want to make sure it has enough oxygen to get through the bit of fermenting, when it's most likely to be oxygen starved, but I don't want so much oxygen that there's a bunch left over.

By the way, this .015 to .020 number may be completely arbitrary, but it seems like it's working out pretty well (I've made several hundred gallons this way). I've done it at .008-.010 before because I got to it late. It was fine. But it's better in the .015-.020 range I think.

For flavored ciders I usually rack onto that flavor (i.e. I rack from primary into a secondary container with vanilla beans). You must do it this way if you want it to taste like that thing would taste.

If you're racking onto a fruit and you want it to taste just like that fruit, you need to add both potassium sorbate and k meta or keep your cider really cold while it's absorbing the flavor so that the yeast don't wake up and start fermenting it. Fruits generally have enough sugar to reawaken the fermentation and send it back into a sort of semi-primary fermentation. It'll keep some of the flavor but it'll also taste partly like a wine made from say, pure cherries, would taste.

You can also rack the cider several times and get the yeast alllll the way out, but doing that runs the risk of adding too much oxygen, especially if you don't have the equipment/expertise. Done correctly, you also will not be able to bottle prime it this way because it shouldn't have yeast with which to bottle carbonate.

You can also go the pasteurization route.

By the way, this is all based on my experience - others may feel differently and I'd love to hear other people's thoughts here.

 

[Maylar]

My first try at Hard apple cider. A question I have is do you stir it so to get the heavy residue off the bottom. And if so do you do it daily?. Is there a good book on the subject of making different flavored ciders?

No. That residue (lees) is yeasts and apple stuff falling out of the cider. Let it collect there. Depending on the juice and yeast you used, there will be anywhere from 1-2" of it (sometimes more) once primary is done.

When primary fermentation slows down, at about 1.010 SG, I will rack the cider into a secondary container and wait for it to clear before bottling. There will be more lees in the secondary bottle and you want to avoid stirring it up when you get to racking to your bottling pot.

There are numerous threads and recipes on this forum about flavored ciders.

 

[jayday65]

Thank everyone for helping me. Being new at this I am sure I have move questions in the future.

 

[tuumi]

FWIW, Scottlabs reps stated at CiderCon at Chicago that it was important to keep yeast in suspension. Oxygenating up to 1/3 and nutrient additions were also tips they gave. You don't HAVE to do any of those but it will prevent stressed yeast and stressed yeast could throw some off flavors.

 

[jayday65]

I find all this amazing its going to take me awhile to get it all learn but it's going to be fun