Cider

[sb44]

Hi Sharon,

Will be interesting to hear if you do get alot of foaming, maybe it depends on the juice aswell?

I used 4.5 litres of "Stute" apple juice sourced in the 99p store, 1.5 litres for 99p.

http://www.stute-foods.com/itemdetl.php/itemcode/42

The cider i made with the Don Simon juice reacted differently, foamed slightly more and the sediment at the bottom of the demi john after racking resembled a thick fruit smoothie! but my first cider (with the stute apple juice) left sediment that looked more like wet sand.

Graham

I think I saw that juice in our local B & M shop for the same price but couldn't decide whether to get that or the Tesco value one. As others had used the Tesco stuff I thought I would try that, think I will get the Stute one during the week for some more number one wine.

[5thElement]

Thanks.

This morning theres a thin layer of sediment on the bottom and about half the demi john looks clearer, still nothing like crystal clear, but it looks like its getting there! i'll order some finings eitherway when i place an order for some other stuff, im sure it'll come in handy somewhere.

So far it still hasn't cleared, sometimes it clears about a good inch from the top, crystal clear, but then i look again later and its only clear maybe 1/4 of an inch.

I guess i should rack it again to get it off the thin layer of sediment thats built up, and if it still doesnt clear after a couple days, hit it with the finings?

[Duffbeer]

No need to rack, it will clear, but if you wan't to hurry things up a little then add finings.

[5thElement]

I'll give it a bit longer then i suppose, im not in any rush right now, well, i wouldn't mind it to be cleared by about the 12th when i've got some visitors who want to try it! lol so i've still got the best part of 2 weeks.

[5thElement]

Racked it again today (figured it wont do any harm, and it'll get it away from the thin layer of sediment) and put some into a sterilised pint glass to test the SG (none trial jar yet!) SG was 0.998 and the cider was actually pretty clear, almost crystal clear, it just looks alot darker in the demi john.

I racked into a 5L PET bottle and degassed it as im sure ive read that helps with the clearing process, so it's back in the glass demi john now and i guess i'll give it a few more days then bottle it up (tastes quite pleasant aswell!)

One further question regarding priming. As i've fermented this pretty much dry now, is there any chance sugar will carbonate it? i may just leave it still, but thought i'd atleast try to prime one bottle if it's worth it, i suppose the worse case scenario is that i get one bottle of sweeter cider lol

Thanks

[Duffbeer]

Provided you haven't stabalised it then yes it should carbonate provided there is enough active yeast cells. For future though if carbonating do it before it clears and rouse up any fine lees, it will still clear in the bottle after secondary ferment has ceased.

[5thElement]

Isn't stabilised so i should be okay, thanks for the tips.

[Duffbeer]

Racked it again today (figured it wont do any harm, and it'll get it away from the thin layer of sediment) and put some into a sterilised pint glass to test the SG (none trial jar yet!) SG was 0.998 and the cider was actually pretty clear, almost crystal clear, it just looks alot darker in the demi john.

I racked into a 5L PET bottle and degassed it as im sure ive read that helps with the clearing process, so it's back in the glass demi john now and i guess i'll give it a few more days then bottle it up (tastes quite pleasant aswell!)

One further question regarding priming. As i've fermented this pretty much dry now, is there any chance sugar will carbonate it? i may just leave it still, but thought i'd atleast try to prime one bottle if it's worth it, i suppose the worse case scenario is that i get one bottle of sweeter cider lol

Thanks

Just as a little pointer here, if you continue to rack unnecessarily you will lose more wine/cider than you need to, racking off the gross lees is necessary to prevent off flavours developing, after that it's not necessary with this style of drink until after it has cleared, which will allow the lees to compact and result in less wine/cider being lost.

[5thElement]

Thanks Duffbeer, im a total beginner to homebrew so im keeping a mental note of all this! thanks

[agnesdavies]

Just thought I'd add to the mayhem to say that I've just kicked off my first batch of turbo cider here, too. 2 x 1.5l Lidl apple juice and a yeast sachet from the top of some beer kit or another. It did its frantic bit yesterday, so I threw in the third carton of juice, and now it's settling down to a good steady blupping. Judging by the sulphurous niff pervading the place, it was probably a lager yeast I gave it!

I have yet to brew anything that Her Ladyship likes, and cider definitely isn't going to be it! I suspect I may have more trouble keeping it out of the hands of the Small One (18 year old not-quite-step daughter), though...

[sb44]

Hi Sharon,

Will be interesting to hear if you do get alot of foaming, maybe it depends on the juice aswell?

I used 4.5 litres of "Stute" apple juice sourced in the 99p store, 1.5 litres for 99p.

http://www.stute-foods.com/itemdetl.php/itemcode/42

The cider i made with the Don Simon juice reacted differently, foamed slightly more and the sediment at the bottom of the demi john after racking resembled a thick fruit smoothie! but my first cider (with the stute apple juice) left sediment that looked more like wet sand.

Graham

Nope, no overfoaming. I had a bit of scum on the top yesterday morning but today the top is crystal clear with lots of tiny bubbles coming to the surface and bubbles in the airlock once every second.

[5thElement]

Nope, no overfoaming. I had a bit of scum on the top yesterday morning but today the top is crystal clear with lots of tiny bubbles coming to the surface and bubbles in the airlock once every second.

Sounds the same as mine. After the first day i had some scum/bubbles but after giving it a shake, the scummy stuff disapeared and from then on i just had a nice constant fizzing until it died out.

I racked mine for the second time today and the SG is now 0.998 so im sure that'll be the final reading. It's also cleared alot and i'll be bottling it by the weekend i'd say. Taste wise it's quite pleasant, so for my first ever homebrew im quite pleased!

[sb44]

Sounds the same as mine. After the first day i had some scum/bubbles but after giving it a shake, the scummy stuff disapeared and from then on i just had a nice constant fizzing until it died out.

I racked mine for the second time today and the SG is now 0.998 so im sure that'll be the final reading. It's also cleared alot and i'll be bottling it by the weekend i'd say. Taste wise it's quite pleasant, so for my first ever homebrew im quite pleased!

I'm not a cider drinker but can't wait to try it.

How long do you think it will have taken yours from start to finish then as mine seems to be following the same path as yours.

[5thElement]

I started mine on March 22nd and by the 27th/28th the fizzing and airlock bubbling had pretty much stopped, the airlock still bubbled once in a while but only really weakly.

I also racked it for the first time on the 28th, so i'd say 6 days from start to finish fermenting wise (that was from SG 1.054 to 1.000)

It's then been left for 4 days to clear and i racked it again today (apparently this was unnecessary though) it was pretty clear today (although it didn't look it in the demi john for some reason!, hence racking again) i'd have been quite happy drinking/presenting it as it was now, but i figure a few more days can only make it better.

I'll be bottling it in plastic 1 litre lemonade bottles (39p in morrisons) and i'll probably bottle 750ml into a wine bottle as im itching to try out my hand corker lol

[lockwood1956]

i'll probably bottle 750ml into a wine bottle as im itching to try out my hand corker lol

you are leaving it "still" and not priming it to make it sparkling right?


wine bottles cannot take carbonated beverages.....I'm sure you knew that, but worth pointing out for those who didn't know

regards
Bob