What should I do with 6 one gallon carboys?

[jessegarrison]

I have six one gallons of cider that I have racked 2 or 3 times since January. There is now very little on the bottom of the carboys.

I'm not sure what to do now. This is my first time getting this far.

All of my carboys used 1 cup of white and 1 cup of brown sugar and various yeast like Nottingham, S-04 and Pasteur Champagne.

I have some Acid Blend, Wine Tanin and Pectic Enzyme to add if need be.

I'd like to try 2-3 different recipes.

The Hydrometer reading is at 1.02 right now on one of the carboys.

I'd like to bottle two gallons and carbonate them if possible. Then store the rest in the carboys and drink them as soon as I can.

Do you have any recommendations and if so can you please bullet point the steps if possible.

I used pasteurized apple juice that you can find in the grocery store.

 

[solbes]

1.02 sounds very high for a finished gravity. My two batches have finished at 0.997 and 0.995. Maybe you racked it early and the yeast pooped out? Did you check gravity before you added yeast? My concern is you would not want to bottle with priming sugar or bottle still if you thought fermentation could pick back up. You could have bottle bombs.

Bottle conditioning to provide carbonation is easy. You add 5 oz of priming sugar to 5 gallons, so 1 oz of dextrose (corn sugar powder) would be perfect for each gallon. Dissolve that in a little water by boiling and cooling. Add to bottling bucket. Rack the cider to a bottling bucket with bottling wand. Fill sanitized beer bottles and cap. Let them sit out at ~ 70F for three weeks, chill, and they are ready to drink. Waiting till they are in bottles for 2-6 months will be better tasting.

I would bottle the still cider in wine bottles (no priming sugar needed). You would need #8 corks and the plunger style corker at a minimum (about $8). Hit it with a rubber mallet to drive the corks into the bottles. Beer bottles are another option, albeit less sexy.

 

[blackthorn]

You would wait 2-6 months when they r bottled? Or to bottle them?


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[solbes]

After they are bottled. The flavors take awhile to come back, so waiting can pay some dividends.

Usually cider starts to clear in primary fermentation 5-8 weeks from yeast pitch. So people usually botltle between 5 weeks and 3 months.