Stopped bubbling, now what?

[thrall]

I created some cider and some basic wine about 6 days ago. I made 5 litres of cider and 2 litres of wine.

The wine finished fermenting very quickly as I used a whole packet of yeast and the cider stopped bubbling yesterday.

Now, this is my first ever attempt at home brewing and I'm kind of stuck. both are very cloudy. I remember reading its best to wait until the brew is clear enough to read a newspaper through. Is this correct, if so what's the best method of clearing it?

Would putting it out in my hut be beneficial? (since its Scotland its about 0c - 5c at night here, not sure if that's a problem)

 

[DarkNoonBrewer]

Leave it be for another week and a few days. Don't take a gravity sample, don't move it into secondary, don't change the temperature. It is now in the attenuation stage of fermentation, and the last few points of gravity are SLOWLY being eaten away by the yeast. Its still cloudy because the yeast are still in suspension and have not settled to the bottom. So far, its good that the primary fermentation took place already. I call this "fast fermentation." It makes it simpler to explain to people. Depending how long this took, you need to let it set for a week or so for all the large sediment to fall out, and then move it into a secondary fermenter to clarify.

Now that I think about it, don't take my word for it. Take a gravity sample. Be vary careful not to contaminate your cider, and you'll see that its a few points above 1.000. This means you still have a last bit of sugar to ferment. Once you rack into secondary, take another and it should be below 1.000 meaning all the sugar is gone. This will be an awesome experiment for you, doesn't really have to be a practice, because you get the same findings every time.

Cheers!

 

[thrall]

Well thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I couldn't help myself and syphoned it into another demijohn. In about 5hours it became rather clear and smelled lovely. I took another 1 litre of apple juice and topped it up then transferred into bottles to get a little fizz.

Im sitting drinking a pint just now(It has a very delicate fizz) and its bloody lovely. Tastes very much like Westons Old Rosey and looks like it aswell.


Very happy with my first little experiment

 

[rugman]

Nice!

save a few bottles put them in a dark cool place about 12-15 C. and let them sit 6 months...or as long as you can keep your hands off them. ciders really benefit from cellaring ..IMO