The Plan. Does this sound right to you?

[Flarmonster]

Hi! Total Newb here. I have a few questions for your expert advice!

I'm currently brewing 2 one gallon jugs of 365 Apple Juice that I added about 1/3C brown sugar to each(for an OG of 1051), then I spiked them with 1/4 packet each of s-04 (Q1- was that enough??)

They have been happily bubbling away at about 69F for about 5 days now- they started at about 1 bubble/4 sec. and are now at 1 bubble/10 seconds. (Q2: Is that normal or too slow?)

The Plan:

- Wait till the primary ferment is done- until the bubbles are no more than 1/min and SG is same 2 days in a row. Thinking 1-3 weeks total.

- Rack to secondary and allow things to settle out for 2-5 days (I'm impatient )

- Add honey/AJ concentrate to backsweeten and to carbonate(haven't calculated how much yet), bottle and allow to ferment at room temp for a few days. (Q3: I've read that some people purposely siphon up part of the lees to aid in bottle carbonation- should I do that, add fresh yeast, or just let them be?)

- Start tasting and either cold crash in fridge or pasteurize in dishwasher when it tastes and is carbed like I want it to. (Q4: do you recommend one method over the other?)

 

[Panphage]

1: That should be enough for 1 gallon, just might take a little longer to take off, but it sounds like you have a good fermentation going, so no worries there.

2: That's pretty normal, although after 5 days it should be slowing pretty significantly in the next few days.

3: After such a short secondary, you should be just fine with no lees or yeast additions.

4: Tough one. I'm far to paranoid to heat pasteurize a pressurized bottle, seems like a recipe for disaster to me, so personally I'd go with cold crashing, although I've heard rumors that if cold crashed bottles warm up they may start fermenting again, which could also be disastrous. But that's the conundrum of sweet, sparkling ciders. A possible alternative could be to back-sweeten with a non-fermentable sugar, such as lactose, or a sugar alternative such as stevia.

An added note, that secondary is so short that it doesn't even really seem worth it. You might as well just leave it in the primary for those few extra days and just rack it straight into a bottling bucket. If you do go with a secondary, I'd leave it there as long as possible, but at minimum 3-4 weeks. But that's just my opinion. Good luck, and enjoy your cider!

 

[Flarmonster]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

I think I'm not so sure what the secondary is for so that is why I'm wanting to rush it. I've heard people say that it helps the flavor etc. What exactly happens? If the sugar is gone, I'm assuming The yeast can't be active anymore?

I'm hesitant to use artificial sugar. I might consider lactose, though. Any experience with the final taste with these alternate sugars?

 

[TimsfamousCider]

The secondary starts a new kind of fermentation with a fancy name . But that won't mean much to you or I. The practical part is that this is where the cider clears. I would let it sit in the secondary until it is clear and everything has settled out. May only take a few days, but could be longer.

The yeast I still active for this part unless you have a really long secondary in which case the yeast might die. But I think we are talking months for this to happen.

Q4: your original two ideas are good. For a small batch like this, you may be fine with cold crashing if you have room for the 11 bottles per gallon in your fridge. If you don't you will want to bottle treat them. Just make sure you read the stickie on it.

If you cold crash and remove them from the fridge, the fermentation will start again. So make sure you have room.

 

[Flarmonster]

OK, I'll try to be patient and give the secondary some more time

Good to know the cold crashing will work. We do have room in our fridge. I think I will go that route. I would prefer to do it that way.