I have my first gallon of cider in primary fermentation and I'm trying to decide when it'll be time to rack to secondary and get it off the lees.
It's been 3 weeks now. The bubbles in the airlock have slowed to about one bubble in 5-6 seconds. Most of the krausen has fallen and I can see a layer of lees in the bottom of the jug, but the cider is still cloudy. Since I used pectic enzyme I was expecting the cider to clear up a bit when it slowed down. It'd be hard to see exactly where the lees ends. I'm willing to wait longer, but I've read that keeping it on the lees too long will impart a bad taste.
I started with orchard cider and brown sugar, Nottingham ale dry yeast (didn't re-hydrate it first). Temperature has been 72-74. What should I be looking for?
TIA
It's been 3 weeks now. The bubbles in the airlock have slowed to about one bubble in 5-6 seconds. Most of the krausen has fallen and I can see a layer of lees in the bottom of the jug, but the cider is still cloudy. Since I used pectic enzyme I was expecting the cider to clear up a bit when it slowed down. It'd be hard to see exactly where the lees ends. I'm willing to wait longer, but I've read that keeping it on the lees too long will impart a bad taste.
I started with orchard cider and brown sugar, Nottingham ale dry yeast (didn't re-hydrate it first). Temperature has been 72-74. What should I be looking for?
TIA