When best to bottle cider?

[Adam apple]

Hi all,

Second year homebrewing cider. I have 45ltr of cider and another 20ltr of perry currently in my basement. It was all pressed and put in plastic brew buckets in batches during the first 2 weeks of November. When the airlocks stopped bubbling and it cleared up I transferred it all into 10 and 5 ltr glass carboys filled just below the stoppers with clean airlocks on. That was around 2nd week in December, it's sat in the basement since which is dark and a constant 18 degrees temp.

I have a few days free this week and am then travelling for work and won't be back until around April. I had planned to bottle it when I'm back and prime half the bottles for carbonation. Just wanted to check this will be alright or should I get it into bottles now?

 

[MattH1973]

if thr carboys are sterile and well sealed it should be fine. people on here have left them for months without issue. I am experimenting this year - bottling some batches straignt from primary after weeks, some after months, and some bulk aging in secondary for months. I want to see if these variables make any difference to the taste. See my brewdays thread for details.

 

[Adam apple]

Yes everything was sterilized and sealed in with rubber bungs and airlocks so guess I'll leave as is until April when I'm back.

Thanks for the reply, I couldn't see your brewdays thread but I'm also interested by this. Last year I bottled some straight from primary but think I messed it up as wasn't clear enough and the bottles ended up with lots of sediment and a strong yeasty taste. The stuff I put in secondary for a couple of weeks was far better and improved in the bottle too. Maybe next year I'll also experiment.