Doing 1st ever cider brew - is it too late for more apples?

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Poolio

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Hi y'all,
THBF's newest addition here.
Just recently built myself a press out of some old wood and a car jack and managed to convert a sack (15kg?) of apples into pulp using a spare piece of 2x4". I've then chucked the mush into pieces of net curtains and crushed the juice out of them (about 6L) which is in a bucket by the radiator wrapped in a duvet with a home made airlock in the top (made from a pen, a berocca tube, an old pill bottle, with a spot of glue and the help of Mr Drill).

The airlock is happily bubbling away, which feels me with almost paternal pride :oops: ... but now I want to do more!!!

Where can you get apples at the moment - have I missed them - are they all fallen and manky now?

Is there anyone in Stockport with more apples than they know what to do with?

Looking forward to more alcohol based fun in the future!

TTFN
JP
 
i think you've just missed it, the apples on my 5 trees have all dropped and gone rotten :(

of course you could buy a load of apple concentrate/juice, chuck that in a sanitised fermenter and add yeast. we call that a "turbo cider" :twisted:
 
Poolio said:
a bucket by the radiator wrapped in a duvet

Welcome to the forum!

Get a thermometer, sanitise it and check the temperature of your fermenting cider. Ideally it wants to be around 20 degrees C. Next to a radiator and insulated in a duvet might mean it's higher than that. Temperatures between 22 and 25 degrees tend to introduce fruity flavours, any higher than that and you'll get some off flavours develop which might taint the cider.
 
Hi - Help needed for first time cider maker please.

Last week I pulped and juiced some apples and put the juice into a gallon demijohn with an airlock - the juice didn't start to ferment on its own so I used some dried bread yeast we had and its now bubbling away happily in the lounge. With a bit of sugar added its SG was 1055 when it started.

A few questions:
1) what temperature is best for this stage of fermentation? At the mo its probably around 16 to 20 degrees C - is this ok?

2) Should I transfer ('rack'?) it to a clean demijohn partway through the fermentation?

3) how often should I measure the SG?

3) How long should I keep it before putting into beer bottles?

Any other advice appreciated.

ps I also have another batch (2 gallons) which is basically cut up apples + some water + yeast - fermenting in a bucket. I have read I keep it like this for 10 days then strain it & put it into demijohn for a couple of months - then bottle it. Not sure what folks think of this method.....

Cheers

Mike
 
mikeinsomerset said:
Hi - Help needed for first time cider maker please.
1) what temperature is best for this stage of fermentation? At the mo its probably around 16 to 20 degrees C - is this ok?
From the constant nagging questions I seem to ask on this forum - 18'c-20'c is ideal. It will still ferment below 18'c obviously, but just at a slower rate. Going above 22'c may cause off flavours and anything more than that may kill the yeast.

mikeinsomerset said:
2) Should I transfer ('rack'?) it to a clean demijohn partway through the fermentation?
I'm not really sure its neccesary, you can definatly rack after the fermentation is complete for it to clear! But I'm not sure I would recommend racking inbetween a vigourous fermentation.

mikeinsomerset said:
3) how often should I measure the SG?
Measure it after the first week, and then maybe every 3 days or so depending on what speed the fermentation is going at. You may want to measure it more often if it seems to be going fast.

mikeinsomerset said:
4) How long should I keep it before putting into beer bottles?
If you're planning on keeping it and maturing it for a while (not something a lot of us guys do here! :lol: ) rack it when the fermentation is complete and let the sediment settle for 2 weeks. Then syphon into the bottles.

Hope that answers your questions! - Hope its all good information :P
 
Hi - well its (pressed apple juice) been 2 weeks fermenting now and I've measured the SG and it was 1000 or a bit less!! This seems mighty quick but it was in my lounge (open fire in the evening so not too cold anytime).

Is it generally better to ferment it more slowly?

Should I bottle it now or perhaps add a bit more sugar to get it going again?

If I bottle it now I guess I could add a teaspoon on sugar per bottle so that its not too dry - is this ok?

I have 2 more demi's with cider from my other batch made differently (cut apples + sugar for 10 days + water in a bucket then strained into the demi's plus some sugar to get it to 1055). A week has gone by and its bubbling away like mad (1 bubble every 1 sec through the airlock) and it measured 1012. What should I do now? At some point I would like to bottle it.

Help appreciated.

Mike
N Somerset
 
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