First cider (usually beer) - looking some feedback/tips

[fubofo]

Hey guys,

Been a while since I posted, haven't been doing much brewing as I haven't had the time lately. Also been trying to gather supplies for AG BIAB.

Anyways, I got myself a little 1gallon DJ to do the odd 'experiment' while I'm waiting for BIAB equipment (and spare time). I usually make myself some fruit drinks a few times a week from blending bags of frozen fruit. So I kept some of the leftover pulp (blueberries & strawberries) and thought I might try my hand at a cider, using this as additions. Which is what I did today

Having mostly done beers, I'm not too sure about timings and additives like pectolase and tannins, etc. I read through a few posts and used the following (taking tips from here and there):

- 4lt Asda 100% apple juice (no acid, just water + juice) [didn' t go the Asda Smart Price route as it was only 50% juice with added flavourings, etc]
- 1tsp pectolase (to help prevent haze/clouding because I added pulp - correct??) :wha:
- 1 cup tea made from 2 tea bags (as a tannin replacement - not sure what for, yet lol)
- 200g plain sugar
- about 200g(-sh) of pulped berries
- 1 heaped teaspoon cider yeast (the packet was for 5 gallon, this is just 1 gallon)

1. added sugar
2. added pectolase
3. added 4lt AJ
4. added pulped berries
5. added tea (warmish)
6. gave good stir/swirl
7. added yeast
8. waited 5-10 for yeast to rehydrate
9. gave another wee swirl to get 'em good and mixed

Ended up with 1044 OG @ 20' (I believe this changes anyway as the fruit/pulp releases more sugars??)
Here is what she looked like:

Can't wait to try this as the initial tasting was amazing (I believe it will lose pretty much all sweetness and be quite bitter/dry?)

 

[fubofo]

Another question - I've seen some posts mentioning adding 3/4lt to ferment for 5 days then the last 1lt to ferment between 5-10.
What is the reasoning behind this?

 

[buzzharvey22]

Another question - I've seen some posts mentioning adding 3/4lt to ferment for 5 days then the last 1lt to ferment between 5-10.
What is the reasoning behind this?

sometimes the fermentation will go off like a rocket, and will cause a "blow out" basically meaning a lot of the **** will attempt to come out of the airlock, so by not putting in as much liquid, the **** cant rise as high.

i think you will be ok aslong you dont keep it too warm, i think 18c will be about right. fermentation will take a little longer but i think it will turn out better.

im currently having a bottle of my 2nd turbo cider that i made with blueberry juice and apple juice, it was in the DJ for 10 days and its been in the bottle 9. its very drinkable but slightly harsh. i think the more time left and the nicer it will become.

Enjoy!

 

[fubofo]

Another question - I've seen some posts mentioning adding 3/4lt to ferment for 5 days then the last 1lt to ferment between 5-10.
What is the reasoning behind this?

sometimes the fermentation will go off like a rocket, and will cause a "blow out" basically meaning a lot of the **** will attempt to come out of the airlock, so by not putting in as much liquid, the **** cant rise as high.

i think you will be ok aslong you dont keep it too warm, i think 18c will be about right. fermentation will take a little longer but i think it will turn out better.

im currently having a bottle of my 2nd turbo cider that i made with blueberry juice and apple juice, it was in the DJ for 10 days and its been in the bottle 9. its very drinkable but slightly harsh. i think the more time left and the nicer it will become.

Enjoy!

Thanks, I've had it fermenting at around 20. It had been going fine, no blowouts. Should I still add e remaining 1lt after 5 days?

Did you as any sweeteners to yours?

 

[LeithR]

I don't read any mention of using a hydrometer. You really need to rely on it rather than watching the airlock. When the brew slows down and is only burping about every 2/3 minutes, take an SG reading and if its around 1000 then you might want to taste test to see if its too sweet for you, if it is let it continue to work away and take another reading if it is reading above 990 and below 995 then it is going to be a dry cider and is finished fermenting. If its 995 - 1000 then it is a medium dry cider. These are approximations. If when you get to this stage and you take 3 SG readings daily over a 3 day period then the brew is ready to bottle and you can add a little sugar to prime the bottles 5g per 1L is pretty normal. If its too dry for you then you can back sweeten using a non fermentable sweetener like Splenda. The best way to do this is to take a pint out of the DJ and add sweetener at the rate of 1tsp per step and taste it until you get to the level of sweetness you want. You then need to multiply the amount put into your pint by 7 to get the remainder of the gallon to the same level of sweetness as you require.

Hope this helps! :thumb:

 

[fubofo]

That's the info I was looking for. I did use the hydrometer, that's how I got 1044 OG.

 

[LeithR]

my apologies I didn't notice it on first read.

 

[fubofo]

OK so it's been fermenting for almost 2 weeks now.

Any tips on how to clear it with gelatin? I was planning on just moving to a secondary DJ with gelatin for a week then bottling it.

 

[fubofo]

Today it was settled nicely and sitting at around 996 SG, tasted pretty good, quite dry but very little carbonation.
Most of the crud and fruit pulp had cleared out nicely.

I went on the hunt for some gelatin but couldn't find any - though I did pick up a few packs of vege-gel on offer at 40p lol (does anyone know if this will work the same as regular gelatin?) :wha:

Considering that I couldn't find any good finings (also hunted for isinglass), I have just gone ahead and moved it into secondary (after 12 days in primary), then put straight into beer fridge to cold crash it. Am I right in thinking this will clear it out over ~48hrs, ready for bottling in a few days? (what temps should I be concerned with?) . I realise there is quite a bit of head room left and was actually considering topping it up with another 1lt apple juice before putting straight into beer fridge (though I opted out due to uncertainty about re-fermenting and infection).

My thoughts were this would:
- reduce head room
- add a little more sweetness back
- not effect fermentation too much as it was going to cold crash straight away

Am I right in thinking this will clear it anyway, and the gelatin would only 'enhance' the clearing? Also I presume there will be plenty of suspended yeast to carbonate once bottled at around 0.5tsp per 500ml bottle?

I can't help but think I should be doing something else, either before cold crash or prior to bottling.

Anyway here is a pic of it in secondary :)

 

[fubofo]

...just thinking, should I actually be racking it in the secondary for another week before cold crashing? :hmm:

 

[fubofo]

So, I went ahead and just cold crashed it anyway for 48hrs then bottled with 0.5tsp sugar per bottle.

Question: what do I do now? Do I follow the normal 2weeks warm + 1week cold routine? Do I just keep it to warm in the bottles since I cold crashed?

It was pretty clear during bottling, almost looked like a nice Rose wine. Tasted pretty good too.
Hopefully it will carbonate fine and develop nicely in bottles.

Here is a pic prior to bottling

 

[oldbloke]

Question: what do I do now? Do I follow the normal 2weeks warm + 1week cold routine? Do I just keep it to warm in the bottles since I cold crashed?

Well, I like 2weeks/2weeks, but yeh. Actually it's 2weeks/AsLongAsYouCanStandIt

 

[fubofo]

Question: what do I do now? Do I follow the normal 2weeks warm + 1week cold routine? Do I just keep it to warm in the bottles since I cold crashed?

Well, I like 2weeks/2weeks, but yeh. Actually it's 2weeks/AsLongAsYouCanStandIt

Ahh OK, so is this to reduce the yeast that has now flocculated since adding sugar and bottling?

Basically I keep warm to carbonate (lightly ferment), then store child until ready to drink?

 

[oldbloke]

Question: what do I do now? Do I follow the normal 2weeks warm + 1week cold routine? Do I just keep it to warm in the bottles since I cold crashed?

Well, I like 2weeks/2weeks, but yeh. Actually it's 2weeks/AsLongAsYouCanStandIt

Ahh OK, so is this to reduce the yeast that has now flocculated since adding sugar and bottling?

Basically I keep warm to carbonate (lightly ferment), then store child until ready to drink?

Yep. Many ciders are drinkable immediately after the conditioning but they all benefit a lot from a bit of aging.

 

[fubofo]

Great, thanks oldbloke :-)