Racking Cider

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BRAD T

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I have a batch of cider which has been in the fermentor 1 week and I was thinking of racking to a cube to finish fermentation as I want to free up the fermentor to have a go at my first partial, is this a good idea or should I just wait.
The OG was 1.047 and it has come down to 1.013, I was expecting a FG of 1.005.

<_< <_< :unsure:
 
you'll need to loosen the cap to release CO2 every now and then otherwise it'll carbonate and might cause problems.
 
I would keep it warm for another month, let the cider go through the malolactic ferment

Jovial Monk
 
Thanks for the advice on keeping it warm for another month JM, the cider is for SWMBO but as we are only 3 weeks from drop date of the latest sprog she is not drinking at the moment, so there is plenty of time. I am able to put an airlock on my cube so I think I will rack to it and let it play by itself in a nice warm spot for a while.

Cheers :chug:
 
Well I have had the Cider in a cube for a couple of months now. Took a Hydro reading today and it has come down to 1.000 and a smidge. Had a taste, it is extremely dry, even though I used an Ale yeast. Does anyone have any suggestions of what to prime it with when bottling that may leave some residual sweetness as i don't think SWMBO will like it as dry as it is now.
 
Dryness is a problem with any of the non malt based drinks. Lemonaid, ginger beer and cider all end up fermenting right out.

The priming sugar is consumed to give you bubbles, not sweetness. Even if you prime with DME, the very small amount that does not ferment out will not make much difference to your cider.

Malt based beers have sweetness and body as they still have the longer chain saccharides in solution which are not fermented out.

The commercial kits use artificial sweetners which you could use too.

Do a search on Stevia, some people have used this to sweeten their drinks, but overall, the response was not postive.

One suggestion, when serving, let your wife blend the finished product with lemonaid to give the required sweetness, do this in the glass for a shandy.

All the best to you and the missus and the baby.
 
Making naturally sweet cider can be done, but it's very hard - I only know of one cidermaker out of about 50 in the Devon/Somerset area that bothers with it. Most farm cidermakers sweeten their cider with artificial sweetners. A few use sucrose (which tastes much better) and rely on it being consumed quickly before it ferments again.

The best option for sweeting really (if you can't manage to acquire a taste for proper, dry, cider) is to add something sweet when you drink it - ordinary table sugar is fine, apple juice even better. That way you can sweeten it to individual taste.
 
Assuming you are carbonating your cider, then adding sugar at drinking will cause an eruption of foam as it instantaneously degasses, better to use a juice or syrup if you want to retain the bubbles.
 
Guest Lurker said:
Assuming you are carbonating your cider, then adding sugar at drinking will cause an eruption of foam as it instantaneously degasses, better to use a juice or syrup if you want to retain the bubbles.
[post="66435"][/post]​
True - I was thinking still cider.
 
My question is; do you *have* to rack cider the same way you would w/ a beer? I've just racked my second brew ever, and while I'm waiting for a couple of weeks for it to settle out I figured I'd throw a cider kit in the fermenter. I know the point is to try and get the brew off the sediment, but does the same apply for cider? Will off flavors develop in the cider if left on it's sediment? :huh:

Also, (he asked, as he slipped on his goalie mask, preparing for "off thread" beatings) :ph34r: any recommendations on whether corn or cane sugar is preferable when mixing up the kit?
 
Sorry, forgot to add, when you're saying "warm" what range do you recommend?
 
This article may be of interest. The guy who wrote it is French and he brews from his own apples in the traditional Breton way.
 
Over the weekend I started up a cider with 24L of Aldi apple juice, a can of peach juice (as I hear this can help get a cloudy cider?), some tea for tanins and some Old Rosie yeast I made from a starter. I also threw in some Malic acid, as Old Rosie has the bacteria required for an MLF reaction. I read somewhere it's best to keep it in a secondary fermenter for a while to help try and produce the MLF.

How important is fermenter temperature during when in the secondary (I'll prob stick in in the secondary after 3 weeks or when FG is suitable). Is room temp fine once fermentation has stopped and the cider isn't on the yeast cake anymore? Or should I still try and keep it around the 18 degree mark where my primary is currently at?
 
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