Has my cider gone bad?

[Ali Pixie]

Hi everyone,
I am generally new to brewing cider. I successfully brewed some lovely cider in my 20’s but that’s a fair while ago now so I can’t really remember what I did!
Anyway I have made a batch of cider from fresh apples, a mixture of lovely crisp eating apples with some cooking apples. I put the yeast in on Sunday evening but we went away for a few days on Monday so I haven’t been able to see if there’s been bubbles in the airlock or not! There hasn’t been any that I can see since we were back yesterday. I’ve been worried so I had a little peek....It smells fizzy and apple/cider like! It is fairly dark in colour with small bits of sedement floating on top and about 6 big bubbles on the surface. I don’t know if this is how it supposed to look or does this mean it has gone bad?? I would appreciate any thoughts!
(I did try to upload a photo but couldn’t get it to work! Lol)
Many Thanks, Ali

 

[Ali Pixie]

Just checked the hydrometer reading and it has gone from 1035 to 1010..... I take it that means that fermentation is happening!?!? Yippe!

 

[Ali Pixie]

So should I syphon it for fermentation 2 when it nears 1000?...

 

[LED_ZEP]

That's sounding like all's going well Ali.
Don't have to rush to clearing, give it time to fully ferment and get two or three readings over a couple of days that remain the same. At that point you know it's finished and ready to clear (assuming you want to clear) and then bottle and prime.
As you do more brews you'll start to trust the process more and just know if you've done things right it'll mostly work out OK.

 

[Ali Pixie]

Thank you so much, that’s great news! I feel a bit more confident now.... I think I just wasn’t expecting all the yeasty junk on top! I look forward to syphoning it out and seeing what the next stage brings. But I will take your advice and leave it a little longer with a few readings here and there to check the progress.
Thanks so much for replying.
Great user name!

That's sounding like all's going well Ali.
Don't have to rush to clearing, give it time to fully ferment and get two or three readings over a couple of days that remain the same. At that point you know it's finished and ready to clear (assuming you want to clear) and then bottle and prime.
As you do more brews you'll start to trust the process more and just know if you've done things right it'll mostly work out OK.

 

[Ali Pixie]

Also, I’m just wondering what is best to do next?? I’ve read on some sites that after fermentation 1 you can syphon straight into bottles with a little sugar for fizz and then leave.... or alternatively you can syphon into Demijohns for fermentation 2 and then bottle. Do you have advice on what’s best?
Thank you, Ali

That's sounding like all's going well Ali.
Don't have to rush to clearing, give it time to fully ferment and get two or three readings over a couple of days that remain the same. At that point you know it's finished and ready to clear (assuming you want to clear) and then bottle and prime.
As you do more brews you'll start to trust the process more and just know if you've done things right it'll mostly work out OK.

 

[LED_ZEP]

There's no right or wrong way, I'd go the easy way first; ferment, clear (siphon in to demijohn and let the sediment fall out for a week or two) then bottle and prime (don't know how much you know already so priming is the adding a little sugar to the bottle to give fizz).

The people on here are a good bunch and if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.

 

[Ali Pixie]

Amazing. Thank you so much for your help!

There's no right or wrong way, I'd go the easy way first; ferment, clear (siphon in to demijohn and let the sediment fall out for a week or two) then bottle and prime (don't know how much you know already so priming is the adding a little sugar to the bottle to give fizz).

The people on here are a good bunch and if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.

 

[DavieC]

Hi, I do same as @LED_ZEP , let it clear in DemiJohn then bottle and prime.I have left in DJ for upto 6 months(airlock in place and no headspace) and it still carbed up no problem when I eventually bottled it although leaving it that long, I think may risk infections.?