With a little spousal inspiration, I fermented my first cider a few weeks ago. It was a long and tedious fermentation with Nottingham ale yeast, especially compared to my usually vigorous 3 day beer fermentations. All airlock activity has finally stopped after a couple weeks and I need the fermenter space for some brewing I’m doing this week. Obviously I will take hydometer readings to confirm fermentation is complete. Normally with beer I leave it on the yeast cake for 3 weeks or so to clean up any fermentation byproducts. Is cider similar or can I rack to a keg to condition until time to serve?
My preferred cycle is rack when SG has reached 1.025, rack again when fermentation has completed, final racking in three months. No need to rush cider and end up having to add concentrate.
