Day 3 -
Fermentation slowed to about a bubble every 2 seconds out of the airlock. It is cooler in my garage closet (closer to 62) so that may have slowed things down. The cake at the top of the cider is about gone, replaced by a lot of foam. It stinks in the closet.
The sulfur smell is pretty common and fades in a couple weeks.
The first thing I ever brewed was a Cider. well actually without knowing what I was doing I made a cyser as I dumped in 5 lbs of local honey. In fact I found NB when I was looking for a good yeast to use for it and now 6 months later I’m brewing beer like a mad man too. Been doing a batch a week almost.
Mine turned out strong at 11%abv and that is with using the semi sweet yeast strain which kept it at 1.010 it was very good I want to add cranberry next time.
Mine had that sulfur smell. it had a few strange smells actually and at one point I was beginning to worry about it but It end up being great
I lost this thread, glad I found it again.
Here we are at the end of the year. The 5 gallon carboy is still in the garage. I seem to have lost my log notebook, glad to have found this forum again, as it has my
A couple months after fermentation stopped (or dramatically slowed down) the cider was still very cloudy. I racked it into a secondary 5gal carboy, and continued to check it every couple weeks. It remained cloudy.
I lost interest and quit checking it up until a week ago. It is clear. I guess it is kind of like boiling water…
So, at this point I am ready to bottle, my hope is to have a dry carbonated cider. Is it safe to assume there is still some live yeast in there? Is there any kind of test I should do before bottling? How much sugar should be used to minimally sweeten it? Is corn sugar best (like with beer) or should I use cane sugar? It has been going for the better part of 11 months, I want to make sure not to sweeten it up, and to just add the carbonation.
Thanks in advance.
I wouldn’t count on the yeast being viable enough to carbonate. At this point, your best bet would be to rehydrate a half packet of champagne yeast and add it to your bottling bucket. Use NB’s priming sugar calculator, either dextrose or table sugar will work fine. I would aim for the high side of your desired carbonation range, as much of the residual carbon dioxide will have dissipated. Regular beer bottles, maybe shoot for 3 to 3.5 volumes of CO2.
The bottling yeast will cloud up your cider, but don’t worry, it will clear up again in the bottle.
Be careful with too much carbonation. 3 years ago I primed a 5G batch of cider with 2 cans of frozen apple juice(comparable to about 3.5volumes according to my calculations at the time). Turned out VERY fizzy, like champagne amount. Actually turned into a bit of a pain pouring into a glass.
Now I use 1 can, and the carbonation is light, just right for me.
By the way, none of the sugar from the concentrate is retained. It does help with a little apple flavor and aroma.
Sure, but after 11 months in the carboy it’ll have a lot less residual CO2 than one that had been bottled after a few months. Even if you prime it at 3.5 volumes, it’ll have considerably less carbonation than 3.5 volumes. This is part of the reason why long-aged beers often end up with less carb than desired. Just err a bit on the high side and you’ll be fine.
I see. Makes sense. 
Off topic- these emoji things are pretty hideous
Definitely creeping me out!
Where can I find a calculator for the sugar or is there a rule of thumb?
Should I use cane sugar, brown sugar, corn sugar, honey, or apple juice?
And how much?
I like the idea of using apple juice or honey, but not sure how much to use.
Thanks.
If you google “priming sugar calculator” you will get the Northern Brewer one as the first hit. And if you don’t like that one, use a different one. They are almost the same, though some do give more options than others for the type of sugar you use.
And you can use any sugar you want, but the amount varies depending on the form. Most calculators use corn sugar as the default, but just multiply that by 0.9 to get the amount of table sugar to use (my default, as it works well and is the cheapest, easiest option). If you want to add some flavor element, you can use almost anything that includes fermentable sugars.
The nice thing about the NB site is it has a very wide varieties of sugar to choose from, but not all. For anything not there, you just have to adjust the amount to compensate for the concentration of sugar present. For example, honey is about 75% fermentable sugar, so you would calculate the amount of sugar you need, then divide by 0.80 to get the amount to add.
I one time used hard candies for priming sugar, and several times different syrups. They will transfer some flavor to the beer, and give you something unique. Not always good, but unique.
I have decided to carb it with concentrated apple juice.
The original gravity was 1.07, I just checked the final gravity and it is sitting just below one, so I would say 0.999 which puts me in the range of 9.3% alcohol. I poured the gravity sample over ice and am drinking it now. It is quite good very dry, retained apple characteristics.
I picked up some organic apple concentrate which contains 26g of sugar per serving (* 6 servings) so 156g of fructose which I have readis the same efficiency as Sucrose (100% fermentable). I feel pretty safe that there is no more sugar in there, and I want it pretty fizzy, so I am going to prime with a whole can, which should put C02 Volume at just about 3.312 at 55 degrees (current temp in my garage) which seems same to me.
I am adding in about 1/4 of a packet of yeast just to be sure (brand new fresh yeast).
Because it is going to be on the cooler side down there I am going to let it go for 6 weeks before sampling. Hopefully that gives it plenty of time to carb up and age a touch.
I will keep you all posted.
Make sure to rehydrate the yeast first - otherwise it’ll just float for awhile and eventually settle to the bottom as a clumpy mess! Rehydrating it first will ensure it dissolves properly.
I used white liquid yeast.
Sounds like this will work very well.
Try your best to get the temp somewhere in the upper 60’s to 70’s which will help keep the yeast active so they can carbonate it. Maybe wrap things up in a sleeping pad, or use a heating pad set on low(I do this anytime my basement temp is below 65).
Good luck, hope she turns out well!
I am keeping them in the kitchen for a week, then moving down stairs. I have a few other brews going down there, and everything is moving pretty slowly. I am not in a rush, and don’t mind slow ferments. Will try one in 6 weeks or so and see how they are tasting.
Here is a pic of the bulk aged cider (on the right) before bottling, next to the new batch I started yesterday (on the left).
Looks pretty clear. It looks darker than the two that I made. What type of apples did you use?
I use a local cider I pick up from the local heath food coop. When I find some time I need to explore the local farmers markets here in the bay area to see if I can get a better deal. This is not the cheapest cider (I want to say its $6+ per gallon) but it is quality cold pressed UV pasteurized fresh local cider.
It took FOREVER to clarify. I racked it at least once from the 6.5 gallon to the 5 gallon once a lot of the sediment had settled on the bottom. Maybe a second time as well. It took at least 8 months to clarify. I didnt think it was going to ever happen, had to eventually just forget about it, then it seems to have worked its own magic when I wasnt checking it every week.
I also add some Brown Sugar (two pounds) and some Black Tea. Here is my whole basic recipe (at least for this year):
5 Gallons local grown/pressed apple juice - UV pasturized
2 Lbs Brown sugar
1 REALLY strong cup of english breakfast tea
1.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1.5 tsp Acid Mix
1 tsp white labs yeast nutrient
1 packet White Labe English Cider Yeast
This latest batch I did no boil (previous one I did)
I instead took about a half a gallon and boiled that to dissolve the sugar in, then rapidly cooled the sugar solution under 100 degrees.
poured the remaining juice into a 6.5 gallon carboy
added the cooled sugar solution to the rest of the juice
then put in all the dry ingredients (pectic, acid mix, yeast nutrient) and have it a good shake before aerating it for an hour (little aquarium pump with a 500 micron stone).
Original gravity for both batches was right in the 1.07 range. Final gravity for the one I just bottled was a hair under 1.0 (0.999)
I then poured off about 500ml into a sanitized beaker and pitched the yeast into that, to create a starter. I let that go on top of my fridge for 12 hours.
The starter was so the yeast could multiply and acclimate to the mixture, while the pectic did its job on the larger batch.
After 12 hours there was no action on the carboy’s airlock (which is a good thing, no natural yeast was doing its things in there) and quite a bit of yeast build up on the starter, so I pitched it in.
Within 24 hours it has a 4" head on it and a lot of action on the airlock.
The two batches I did were from my own squeezed so I added Camden. The batch I have fermenting now was only partially my apples I needed to buy dome more to make up the difference. Had a hard time finding any juice that didn’t have p sorbate in it. Good call checking the health food store don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Why the tea?
First recipe that I liked had tea so I always have. As I understand it the tea provides some tannin, a touch of bitterness / body.
