Few noob questions

Cider
1

Hello everyone, today I picked up 6 gallons of fresh pressed cider from the orchard and started my first brewing experience ever. I picked it up in a freshly washed but not sterilized 6 gallon ale pale. Brought it home and transferred a gallon into a one gallon washed and sterilized glass carboy with an airlock. I just thought I would let that go and see what the wild yeast would do. After I transferred the gallon out, I sterilized the lid of the pail and the exposed plastic above the cider by spraying it down with some potassium metafulfite and mixed in two crushed camden tablets into the cider. My question is am I good with the sterilization or should I sterilize my carboy and go ahead and transfer the cider into it? I was going to use it as a secondary here in a few weeks. Also I took a measurement and my SG is 1.052 and I am using Red Star Cote Blanc. Is that good or should I add sugar? And last question, there is about 3 inches of space above the cider and I heard air is bad. Will that be a problem or will CO2 fill the space? I am picking up Ben Watson’s Cider, Sweet and Hard book tomorrow, but was hoping for some feedback here in case the book doesn’t cover these questions.

Thanks in advance

2

Depending on the condition of your plastic bucket, I think everything should be just fine. Don’t worry about air space – it will be just fine. If your bucket was old with scratches, it could cause problems, but if it’s fairly new and clean, you’re going to be fine. You can add sugar if you want at this point, but personally I would just leave it alone – you’re going to have 6.5 to 7% alcohol even without adding any sugar. Good idea picking up a copy of Watson’s book. You’re already well on your way to some good hard cider. Best of luck to you.

:cheers:

3

Thanks for the reply. Now the tough part of waiting.