When should you rack to a secondary?

[grumpygoat]

Hey guys,

How long should one typically wait before moving a cider from primary to secondary? I've tried to find an answer and I don't seem to come up with anything in my searches.

I pitched the yeast 4 days ago now and it's finally bubbling away. Should I wait a few weeks before racking? Is there a general thing to look for to indicate when it should be racked to a secondary?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Treeguy]

Hey guys,

How long should one typically wait before moving a cider from primary to secondary? I've tried to find an answer and I don't seem to come up with anything in my searches.

I pitched the yeast 4 days ago now and it's finally bubbling away. Should I wait a few weeks before racking? Is there a general thing to look for to indicate when it should be racked to a secondary?

Thanks for the help!

In my understanding, you want to basically wait for the "fast" fermentation to slow down. There isn't a good definition of exactly what constitutes "fast", and it varies a lot by yeast, apple type, temperature, etc. But IME it's usually 1-3 weeks. My rule of thumb: when you can watch the airlock for a little while (1-2 minutes) and not see a bubble, any time after then would probably be fine to rack. No big rush - seems like the goal of racking a cider to secondary is to prevent the cider from sitting on dead yeasts for extended periods of time, but as long as it's in the primary for less than a month or so, it doesn't seem to matter exactly when it's racked. I've made a cider that sat in a primary for 3 months - not quite intentional - that batch was pretty harsh right out of the fermenter, but mellowed out nicely after ~6+ months in bottles.
HTH!

 

[voltron]

Hey guys,

How long should one typically wait before moving a cider from primary to secondary? I've tried to find an answer and I don't seem to come up with anything in my searches.

I pitched the yeast 4 days ago now and it's finally bubbling away. Should I wait a few weeks before racking? Is there a general thing to look for to indicate when it should be racked to a secondary?

Thanks for the help!

Its a matter of taste some will do it in one week, most in two weeks other one month and a few in many months. Some do it based in hydrometer readings. But two weeks works for the majority of people. Personally .i may not do my first rack for months.

 

[dmtaylor]

I like to try to slow or halt the fermentation on purpose, to end up with a sweeter cider. If you don't mind it being bone dry, then by all means, just leave it alone for a month until it is finished. But if you like a sweeter cider, then rack it soon, and often.

I rack it after about one week, and every 7-10 days thereafter. I also keep it cool around 55-60 F. Usually takes around 6 weeks to finish at a specific gravity of around 0.998-1.002, or if I want an even sweeter cider then at 1.010-1.015 I will also add gelatin to remove about 95% of the yeast, then keep it cool until I'm sure it's stable. Then enjoy.

 

[Magnus314]

If you're going to keep it at 60's+ fahrenheit, doesn't really matter, and probably better if you wait for it to drop its yeast.

If you're trying to crash it before totally dry, rack and crash before it stops bubbling, according to taste.

I like to rack and crash to end up at 1.004 - so rack around 1.006-1.008 and straight into cold.

 

[grumpygoat]

Thanks for the info, guys. Really appreciate it.

I prefer a sweeter cider with a bit of bite to it, and slightly carbonated. I'll probably wait until 2 weeks has passed and then rack to secondary until I get steady GRs.

Should I then go from secondary to bottles, or secondary to another pale, add tannin / etc as needed, and then pale to bottle? Probably doesn't matter other than to remove any left over sediment, I'd imagine?

 

[Maylar]

You'll get different responses about this here because different cider makers have developed different processes that work for us. There's no right or wrong way to do it, and it's tough to advise a noob since the answer always starts with, "It depends...".

What's worked for me (lots of gallons) is to rack to secondary at about 1.010 and fill the secondary fermenters all the way to the neck to eliminate head space. Then I'm comfortable letting my cider age for a few months (or more) without risk of oxidation or infection. When I'm ready to bottle there is typically only a dusting of lees so I rack again to a bottling bucket or to a keg for sweetening etc.

This works for pretty much any yeast as long as you keep it at 65F or below. But as Dave T said, if you can control ferment temps even lower than that there are other options that could potentially leave you with sweeter cider.

So... it depends..