First Cider Brew

[nuggetron]

so its my second brew ever
ive put down a brigalow apple cider as per instructions however i added a lil honey to increase the alcohol and some flavours, i added the yeast supplied when the temperature was at 21 degrees, its been 2 days average brewing temp 18 degrees
the back of the can read that it takes more time than a beer to brew which i expected however 2 days and no fermentation at all?
when should i be expecting to see some sort of fermentation?
i noted that when i added the yeast it fell straight to the bottom and its remained there so far
i had an OG of 1.040
im using the diy beer coopers home brew kit, the one without the airlock
any ideas?

 

[manticle]

What signs of fermentation are you looking for?

Have you measured the gravity again? If it's dropped, it's fermenting.

 

[nuggetron]

same signs as beer
bubbles foam etc
havent measured the gravity yet figured it was too soon for that

 

[manticle]

Cider will foam less than beer, if at all. The only surefire way to know is a gravity measurement. If it's still 1040 after 2-3 days, you may need to pitch more yeast but if it's lower then she's started.

 

[nuggetron]

so i took a reading and it returned 1.050! then took it out and did a second reading and 1.040, so might have to buy some white champange yeast? a whole packet? do i need nutrient or should there be enough sugar?

 

[manticle]

Nutrient is a good idea in cider.

1050 was probably unmixed goop caught in the tap so good that you took a second reading.

Buy the yeast. Before you add it, take another reading - if it's still 1040 then pitch the new stuff.

Next time consider buying 20 L of cheap preservative free juice (Safeway have a very cheap one) and adding white wine yeast to that. Will taste better than brigalow although it will be drer too (no aspartame)

 

[dr K]

Simple cider is so easy to make its like cheating.
10 x 2 litre preservative free (Aldi is great) apple juice, keep the goons to bottle in.
Dry Cider = 11gm US05
Fruity Dry Cider = 11gm Windsor Ale
Funky Cider = 11gm Munich Wheat Yeast (IMHO best choice)
All these variants are dry, if you want alco-pop buy 5 seeds.

K

 

[manticle]

Simple cider is so easy to make its like cheating.

Agreed. Simple cider and FWK with yeast added straight to the cube give better results than any KK for far less effort.

 

[nuggetron]

yer i brought that can mix before i found the site
few more questions
when is it too late to add more yeast? like i wont be able to get any tomorrow which will be day 3 is day 4 too late to add more yeast
do i add a whole packet of yeast since i already go a packet of yeast in there

cheers guys this is a awesome site

 

[nuggetron]

all good
took another reading and its dropped 5 points
i hate taking readings and pouring it down the drain

 

[manticle]

Taste test each sample and get to know your brews and how they change.

You shouldn't need to take any readings for at least a couple of weeks now anyway.

 

[Airgead]

all good
took another reading and its dropped 5 points
i hate taking readings and pouring it down the drain

Never let a hydrometer sample go to waste. Drink that sample. You learn so much about how the brew is going (thats what I tell my missus anyway when she sees me hooking into the samples before breakfast...)

Cheers
Dave

 

[nuggetron]

oh sweet sweet so we can drink it
ive tasted it once or twice (beer) and tasted wierd and though maybe we arent ment to do it

 

[pk.sax]

Kit beer hydro samples taste gross sometimes. Dunno about souped up kits but coopers lager tasted gruesome.

 

[nuggetron]

Kit beer hydro samples taste gross sometimes. Dunno about souped up kits but coopers lager tasted gruesome.

hahaha i agree, thats when i thought maybe its not ment to be drunk but im slowly learning

also the cider has gone a really cloudy yellow
good or bad?

 

[hsb]

I dropped my first cider yesterday. Just 3L of Bilpin preservative free clear Apple juice, 40g of lactose I had lying around and a sprinkle of S04.
This morning it's doing it's thing and very cloudy, murky like banana juice.

Cloudy sounds good - means the yeasties are doing their thing. It'll clear up once they finish and it is chilled.
I'm going to wait 3-4 days, as per the other big cider thread, and chuck mine in the fridge door with the cap on to carbonate.

No hydrometer on this little experiment for me, ignore that for your proper ferment/bottling, your hydrometer being your friend and all and definitely drink those samples.

After 8-10 hours of knocking out two batches of AG beer in the last 2 days it was bliss to just crack a bottle of apple juice and sprinkle yeast in. Here's to a summer of zyderrr drinking!

 

[nuggetron]

Here's to a summer of zyderrr drinking!

here here man
hoping she will be perfect come summer, sit in the pool drinking home brew like theres no tomorrow

 

[wynnum1]

The cider kits have artificial sweeter makes it taste foul best is the home brand apple juices juice with no added sugar is about 5% alcohol when fermented can drink quickly when you up the added sugar needs longer to get best taste .

 

[pk.sax]

@hsb if the cap on ur bottle looks suss, just wrap a red rubber band, the thick ones like what posties use on the cap a couple of times before you put in fridge. Hopefully the damn thing won't crack. lol. If it does it's flat cider but o well. 'Extra juicy' juice bottle caps are what I keep, they're stronger.

 

[Wolfman]

When bottling the cider do you need to use priming sugar, like beer? First time i've made cider.