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Hi guys, just made a cider from juice, did all the waiting and it's stopped at 1018 for the last couple of days, i will be bottling it.
My question is do i resugar the bottles, to carbonate as you would beer or do i just leave it.
There is a very slight fizz still there, the bubbles just hang to sides of test tube (very small bubbles indeed). Tastes slightly dry but sweetish, also cloudy? finally gravity of 3.9ish
Yeah, 1.018 is much too high. Even an ale yeast like US-05 will finish around 1.008-1.012. The slight fizz that's there could be a sign of continued fermentation.
The cloudiness will dissipate with time in the bottle. My ciders are normally clear enough to read a book through at around 3 weeks in the keg.
Mate, don't bottle based on how long it's been in the fermenter, bottle when you're satisfied it's finished fermenting. Otherwise you'll end up with bottle bombs which are messy and dangerous.
It just sounds like you've got a stalled ferment. Try swirling your fermenter gently (avoid any splashing) to raise some of the yeast that may have flocced out and try getting the temperature up a couple of degrees. If these steps don't kick the brew back to life then consider pitching more yeast.
The idea is to rouse the yeast so you want to be disturbing the sediment. You don't want it to be a vigorous shake, however, as you don't want to cause splashing which would lead to oxidisation.
Guys - i've just put my first cider on and wanted some advice. I'm using one of the 'Black Rock Draught Cider Kits'.
I started it on Saturday - it sat for the first 24 hours around 23degrees and for the last couple of days has been sat around the 18-20mark. It hasn't showed any signs of bubbling yet and looking through the lid it doesn't have a layer of bubbles on the top that i saw with my beer - is this normal with cider?
Just wanting to check if everything is alright or has the fermantation stalled on this one?
Those Black Rock cider kits are notoriously slow fermenters. I'm not entirely sure what yeast they use but 18-20 sounds like it should be fine. It seems you don't get a krausen (the bubbles on top of the beer that you refer to) with cider. I put down a all juice cider the weekend before last and have been watching it through the cling wrap that I use instead of a lid. No krausen but quite active with heaps of small bubbles, starting to slow now though. I am using US05 yeast which is most likely different to waht you get with your kit.
Thanks Earle - there is condensation on the lid so i'm assuming that means that its fermenting. I was told that it could be 3-4 weeks for it to be ready when i got the kit so hopefully it will be alright it time.
Yep, when I did the BR cider kit it was 3-4 before it was ready to bottle and then months for it to carb properly, and I live in a hot climate. I have higher hopes for my all juice cider with US05, being a beer yeast I think it is working more quickly.
I find that US05 gets the job done pretty quickly. As a rule, I leave my ciders (with US05) in primary for two weeks before cold crashing and by that time it's always fully completed fermentation and is pretty clear.
My all juice cider with US05 is now down to 1004 and sitting steady. Sound about right Bullfrog? I've heard of people getting cider down to 998 but perhaps thats with a true cider yeast?
My ciders normally sit between about 1.004 and 1.008, depending on what additives I use, so you should be good to bottle, Earle. How's it tasting from the fermenter?
Oh, did I not mention that I like dry ciders? You can always back-sweeten with lactose, if it's too dry, or, if you keg, try sweetening with some honey.
Earl, I'm yet to do this, but with my all juice ciders (for my wife) as they ferment dry the apple taste is also stripped, so next time I'm going to prime 1/2 the pet bottles with unfermented apple juice. I've read that even know this juice will ferment out to carb, it adds some apple taste back to the cider. I know that the Blackrock box kits have a 50ml spirit flavour bottle to do the same. The last batch I did was with US05 and it was better, but still way too dry even for a dry cider, hence the upcomming experiment.
The only thing you'd worry about with that, hirns, is accurately gauging the fermentability of the juice so that you don't end up with explosive cider. Otherwise it's a good idea. I've got the benefit of kegging, so once or twice, I've stopped the ferment before it gets too dry as the wife does like a sweet cider. That being said, I personally think that there's still plenty of apple taste when using US05, but as I said before, I like my ciders a bit on the dry side.
I'm not that keen on priming with apple juice due to the accuracy problem. I think I'll give it a go as is and priming with table sugar for now. If it is too dry can always add some apple juice when drinking. Years ago we like the sweet cider but now find the drier ones more refreshing.
You can always back-sweeten with lactose, if it's too dry, or, if you keg, try sweetening with some honey.