wine or hard cider??

[lowelldw]

I have some cider (and sugar) in the primary the has been bubbling for 3-4 weeks. It is slowing down. I was going to make it hard cider but now I am thinking about apple wine.

Is the difference between wine and hard cider...in that the hard cider is carbonated and the wine is not...or am I wrong.

If I make it wine, could I put it in a secondary till fermenting is done and then cold crash and bottle. Would I have wine??

Sorry for the.... maybe stupid questions. But trying to learn!! Thanks all!!

 

[WVMJ]

Cider purists would say you cant add sugar to your apple juice and call it cider, its now apple wine. Wine can have bubbles or not have bubbles, depends on the style you want to make. You should already have this in a carboy wether you are making cider or wine to keep the oxygen out. I dont see any problems finishing it and cold crashing depending on what kind of yeast you are using and how much sugar is left when its finished. Some hydrometer reading would have made it easier to assist, as would even knowing what yeast you are using. WVMJ

 

[damdaman]

Yeah I would say adding sugar/raising the ABV makes it wine, not hard cider...

 

[bernardsmith]

I think the difference between cider and wine is the alcohol content. I would say that a drink made from apples with an ABV of about 9% or more is a wine and a drink made from apples with less alcohol is hard cider. I suspect the difference is based on tax law rather than anything intrinsic to the drink.

 

[Renoun]

I think the difference between cider and wine is the alcohol content. I would say that a drink made from apples with an ABV of about 9% or more is a wine.

If you want to get technical ATF defines comercial cider as 7%ABV or lessfor the purposes of taxes and regulation regardless of BJCP styles .

 

[lowelldw]

Thanks all... I have never made wine so I think I will treat this as wine.

I can barely read my notes but the yeast was wine yeast....Premier Cavie???? or something close to that spelling?

The OG was 1.084 started on 4/27/14 ...so 3 weeks old. Still getting a little bubbling.

Should I finish in primary or rack to a secondary? It was a 1 gallon batch.

Thanks so much for all your help!! Lowell

 

[damdaman]

Premier Cuvee is what you're looking for.

 

[lolznrofls]

I have made several one gallon batches now..I let one with red star pasture champaign yeast ferment out and clear in the primary...and another with a nottingham ale that needed racked to help clear

 

[bernardsmith]

If we assume (can we?) that your primary had a lot of head room then you want to rack to a secondary when the gravity drops to around 1.010 - 1.005. When the yeast have no more sugar to ferment they stop belching out CO2 and when there is no more CO2 being produced air can bind to your cider and that process = oxidation. Oxidation makes your wine or cider taste like crap. You want to avoid that so you rack into a smaller vessel leaving no head room. That inhibits oxidation.

 

[Blacksmith1]

thanks for the info. it helps me. not joking. BUT, I'm curious as to why you chose to answer after 4 1/2 years?

 

[S-Met]

why you chose to answer after 4 1/2 years?

I'm only guessing, but the question is still valid regardless time. Other people may have the same question.

 

[bernardsmith]

Great question. For some reason this appeared in a list of "new posts" . I never checked the date, but I do see that I had posted a response 4 years ago too.

 

[jgmillr1]

If you want to get technical ATF defines comercial cider as 7%ABV or lessfor the purposes of taxes and regulation regardless of BJCP styles .

The current TTB threshold is 8.5% depending on volume for the tax rate.
https://www.ttb.gov/tax_audit/taxrates.shtml