Help with first cider

[beercus]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting but I have been around here for a while.

Beer going well so I am attempting a cider for summer, I have used modified Franko recipe:

12 Litres 100% Apple juice no added flavours or preservatives (Woolworths)
6 Litres Apple & Pear juice no added flavours or preservatives (Woolworths)
290 grams LDME
2x 850ml can pear juice (goullburn valley)
1 L apple, pomegranate and raspberry juice (berri) (97% apple! and just because it was in the cupboard)
4 Apples granny smiths quarters added to fermenter (no core)
Wyeast 4766 Cider Yeast
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 cup of 4 bag tea
Juice of one small lemon

So it has been in the fermenter under the stairs for 12 days now at temp ranging from 16oC - 23oC, mostly around 18oC. It bubbled like crazy for 2 days and then slowed.

OG was 1.053
After 8 days was 1.011
After 12 days at 1.010
So I calculate it to be about 5.7%ABV which is great...

I have 48 odd 500ml craft beer bottles ( picked up cheap from plasdene, 30c each) waiting to go. I do not have the facilities to crash chill. I can put bottles under the house which will be considerably cooler.

What do I do now? It is very cloudy... See pic.. So it taste ok, sweetness is about right. There is a slight after taste and I'm wondering if I should add more nutrient, or too late?

Do I carbonate the same as beer? I have been using carbonation drops.

I do have a secondary which I could rack to and let it sit at room temp to settle. Is there a better way to clear it? Gelatine, enzymes?

How much longer should I leave it in the primary? How long in secondary? How long in bottle before chill and drink?

Lots of questions, and I am sure I will think of more..

Thanking you in advance

Cus

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Wow that looks pretty milky. If you cant cool it I dont know how effective gelatine or polyclar will be, could you fit the whole thing in the bottom of the fridge with out getting divorced? The apple and pear juice I bought from woolies was already really clear is the canned stuff cloudy?

Any way the priming math is the same as beer but I dont know how many drops you would use for 500ml (in between 375 and 750...) If you have a second fermenter I would recommend you bulk prime it.

As for nutrient it may be too late but my packet says 1 teaspoon per five litres (that is for wine) so the one you added might be a bit short but the ldme would have had some good yeast food in it so you are probably ok. But it could be the LDME that is making it so cloudy.
The one on the left is a apple juice ldme mix while the left is pure apple and pear. They have both been fermenting for about a week (still going though). I am going to crash chill gelatine then polyclar the beery one in a hope to clean it up but at present it is a dark version of yours. The Juice one though is already pretty clear.

 

[indica86]

OT but what brand was the juice?
Wife looked throuhg the jiuce @ Woolies and couldn't find anything suitable.

I use wine yeast in my ciders and no priming sugar, always ends up fizzy enough. Perhaps I bottle too early?

 

[beercus]

Canned pear juice was cloudy.

Apple juice (3L for $3) and apple and pear
( 2.4L) was homebrand, both preservative free

Cus

 

[simchop84]

The golburn valley pear juice makes it cloudy. I use it all the time. Even once bottled and sitting in a dark corner for a few months it stays cloudy. I don't find its anything to worry about.

In 500ml bottles I use two carb drobs and no explosion with a nice fizzy.

Im fairly basic with my home brewing so I let it sit in fermenter (30L plastic keg from hbs) for a few weeks then straight into bottles.

I find a few months before drinking is best, but I have drank a lot sooner when I can't wait.

Hope this helps you mate.

 

[beercus]

Mate at work makes wine and suggests that i use bentonite to clear it.

Any thoughts?

Cus

 

[JDW81]

Mate at work makes wine and suggests that i use bentonite to clear it.

Any thoughts?

Cus

I wouldn't bother myself. The cloudiness will come from the pear juice and the yeast still in suspension. The yeast will drop, but you'll still have some residual cloud from the pear. Isn't an issue at all.

Once it hits the bottle and has a few months to condition it will look (and taste) very different.

JD

 

[beercus]

Today is 3 weeks in primary. Took a sample was 1.009. So down .001 in 8 days. Very little sulphur taste, sweetness still ok, apple taste remains... I'm liking it...

Colour same as picture on first post , milky. Have come to the conclusion that I can live with cloudiness.

Can I expect this brew to continue fermenting slowly? Any ideas where it will stop?

I do not want to bottle until stopped.

Was also think to rack to secondary let sit further (how long?) then bulk prime with apple concentrate and then into bottles.

Thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

Cus

 

[dth]

The four apples you added to the fermentor could have added some wild yeasts, bacteria etc.

While the Wyeast would have more than likely taken over the primary ferment, these small traces of wild substances could make the finsihing gravity hard to predict and could slowly keep fermenting away for some time.


Plus, with only 290g of LDME added to approx. 21L or so, 1.009 seems quite high for a juice fermentation. Straight apple juice ferments out very dry. Even if the pear component of the juice was to leave some unfermentable sugars, that still seems a bit high to me.


Happy to be corrected though, only just really starting experimenting with ciders myself and have the benefit of kegging and keeping it refridgerated so I don't have to worry about bottle bombs.

 

[indica86]

First few I made I primed and a lot blew.
I'd recommend bottling without any priming at all. Works for me and still comes out carbonated enough

 

[simchop84]

Bottled most my brews around 1.015 always had added non-fermentables though (lactose etc) and never had a problem with bottle bombs. Only time I had a few poppers was when I over bottle primed.