How to get started in Cider. The definitive(ish) guide to beginner&#39

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

LOL cool thanks Dave. After two days of ferment it smells very nice. How long bf the old girl can scoff the stuff.

 

[Airgead]

As with all things brewing the answer is "it depends".

Fermentation will generally be done in a week. Maybe two. After that it will improve with age. The longer you can age it, the better it will be.

I have 2 kegs cold conditioning now that I pressed and fermented in March. We'll crack them open at the end of September (when I also start drinking my Octoberfest lager).

Cheers
Dave

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Wow ok then it may depend on the room in the ferment fridge. I'm looking to brew beer justcwaiting on equipment.I will keg at the last moment. Then wait.

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

I will give it 4 weeks then keg. Maybe at 18-20c. Just waiting on my magna mill. Then beer next week. So it should get 2/3 weeks alone in my fridge bf the beer ferment.

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Ok so my cider has stoped breathing Thu the airlock. I've takin a sg reading. Just that I think it's a bit early. Any help.

 

[gap]

Can't help you until you reveal the sg reading.

 

[Airgead]

Yep.. need the SG reading. Even better, do a couple of readings a few days apart. If they don't move then it has stopped.

Airlock activity is a very unreliable indicator of fermentation activity. More likely it just isn't sealed properly somewhere. My airlocks almost never bubble.

If it has stopped, and the gravity is still high, there can be several reasons. The most obvious would be that the temp dropped too low and it went into hibernation. In that case, warming it up and gently rousing the yeast will get it started.

it might have finished early due to low nutrient levels in which case you may need to add some nutrient and a new pitch of yeast.

Or the yeast may have reached its maximum alcohol tolerance. I seem to remember that your recipe had a bunch of extra sugar so that may be it. Unlikely though as you would need to get over 12% for most yeasts to stop. If it is that, you will need to pitch some higher tolerance yeast. EC1118 will take you up to 18-19%.

Or it could be unfermentable sugars. You used a lot of pear and maltodextrin so it could have stopped due to lack of fermentable sugar.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Ok thanks guys. Start 1070. Now it's at 1018
took a reading yesterday and today still at 1018. Because it's my first brew I'm a bit lost.

 

[Airgead]

With the amount of pear and other unferrmentables in your recipe, it could well be done. You used some straight pear plus a bunch of mixed apple and pear so there could be quite a bit of sorbitol in there. Did you end up adding the maltodextrin?

Take a sample every couple of days for a week and if it doesn't change then its probably done.

if its too sweet, you will probably need to add some acid to restore balance. Most sweet wines have quite a bit of acid to balance them back out. Shop bought juice is usually very low in acid as well. You can use citric, malic or tartaric acid. Citric is from citrus, tartaric is the main acid in grapes and mallic is the main acid in apples. Of the three I'd go for mallic but its harder to get. Citric and tartaric you can get in the baking isle of coles/woolies. Mallic means a trip to the brewshop. If you can't get hold of mallic, I'd go for tartaric.

Grab a known volume of the cider. Say 1l. Add a known amount of acid. Maybe 0.1g. Then taste. Keep adding small amounts till its right. Then work out how much to add to the full batch. You want to reduce that calculated amount by a little before you add it as acid can intensify with aging and its easier to add a tiny bit more than it is to remove some later.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Thanks Dave for that. How do I tell if it's a temp issue (raise the temp to kick the yeast back to life)or the yeast has finished fermenting the available sugars. As to low nutrientslevels how can I tell? The equipment was all brand new so I'm sure the airlock is working. It's was happily bubbling away two days ago.

As for the moltodextrin no I didn't add I felt I strayed of2f the recipe enough. Lol

 

[Airgead]

Is it room temp or in a temp controlled environment? If its temp controlled then its probably not temp. But we had a few cold nights over the last couple of days so if its at room temp it may have chilled and stalled.

1.018 is low enough that its unlikely to be nutrients. That tends to stall quite early. 1.070 to 1.019 gives a shade under 7%. That could stop some yeasts. Which yeast did you use again?

If its at room temp and warming it doesn't kick it back to life then it may well just be finished and you have a lot of unfermentable sugars present (which is the opposite problem most people have with cider). alternatively, if it is the alcohol that has stopped the yeast then a pitch of something like EC1118 (brewshop... most of them have it) will dry it out.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Airgead]

Just checked back.. you used SN9... it won't be the alcohol percentage. SN9 is another one you use to restart stuck ferments. That will handle up to 19% or so and needs very few nutrients (so its unlikely to be nutrients either). It also ferments down to 10C so unless its really cold at your place its unlikely to be temp either.

Could just be finished.

Some wine yeasts have trouble metabolising some of the complex sugars in malt (which was in your recipe) so it could be the remaining malt sugars that are leaving it with a high gravity. A beer yeast might dry it out further as they can metabolise more malt sugars. You could try that.

Give it a taste and see how it is. if its revoltingly sweet, try some beer yeast. Something neutral that will take a bit of alcohol. Like a while labs 001 - cal ale. If its not too bad, try adding acid to balance it out. Or you might like it just as is.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Ok Dave thanks. ive a temp controled ferment fridge sitting at 19-20 max. it did drop abit 15-18 during the nite. I have keged it and put co2 in to stop any more activity.now i will leave it for a week or so to see. thanks again for your help.

 

[Airgead]

Did you taste it? Keen to find out how it came out.

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Hey Dave. Yes mate I tasted it bf putting in the keg wasn't very nice tbh. Now it's been chilled and carbonated it's quite nice. Nit to dry. I back sweetened with 1 lt of Apple juice as I put it in the keg. Over All very happy with my first attempt. Thanks again for all your he

Did you taste it? Keen to find out how it came out.

 

[Airgead]

Wow.. 1.018 finishing and back sweetened as well. That's a sweet tooth you have there.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

"back sweetened" is a begininers statement.I added the apple juice more for flavor than anything else.As This was my first brew ive not tasted a hot noncarbonated cider before.Thanks to your help it has turned out very nice.Its not over sweet on the finish and i think its the moltodextrin giving it a high Fg. Ive had four Stines of the stuff today and can say its very drinkable.Stightly tart not to sweet.A great start i feel.

 

[philmud]

I didn't think it warranted a new thread, but I'm curious if anyone has used BRY97 in a cider? I just popped some in my first cider because its what I had on hand and I see people use US-05 quite often.
I pitched a pack into 6L of apple juice and an 840ml can of pear juice, along with some rehydrated yeast nutrient.

Anyone used this yeast in cider before?

 

[Airgead]

Cracked the first keg of this year's cider. Tasting pretty good. Will carb up the second keg and do a side by side between the two yeasts (71B and CRU005).

Cheers
Dave

 

[LiquidGold]

Just a couple of quick questions so figured a new thread wasn't necessary. I've done one batch of simple cider and although I like it I'd like to play around with more flavours in my next batch.

I have some frozen mulberries I picked myself from a tree that was screened off and didn't appear to have any fruit fly. I'm considering racking onto them after primary is finished. Anyone done this? Too big a risk of infection?

Also considering adding mint and I was wondering if fresh leaves or a tea would be best. Primary or in secondary with the mulberries?

Cheers