Cider with Nottingham Yeast FG of 1.005?

I have 6 gallons of a simple apple cider going (Mott's pasteurized apple juice, Nottingham yeast, no sugar). It has been in the fermenter for 3 weeks and the gravity seems to be leveling out at 1.005 based on repeated measurements over the course of a week. Fermenter temperatures have been in the 68-70F range.

My understanding (possibly wrong) was that this cider would go to 1.000 or lower with Nottingham. I am planning to leave this in the fermenter for at least one more week, but I eventually want to bottle carbonate and I am concerned about the possibility of bottle bombing. Is this ferment stuck, or is it done and safe to bottle at this gravity?

Attached is a photo of the sample I pulled today. Still a little hazy.

Both of my Apfelweins have gone below .995, but 1.005 isn't that far off. Frankly that sounds perfect to me, but I understand wanting to make sure you don't have issues with renewed fermentation in the bottle.

I find that they clear quite a bit in primary between weeks 4 and 5, so I'd let it sit for another couple of weeks. Less yeast in the bottle is good, and it will provide more assurance that fermentation is really complete. Take another reading then to see if it changes.

What's the alcohol tolerance on this yeast? If your gravity does drop finally, you should definitely cold crash for a week to clear or at least move it to an area 10 degrees colder. Should clear fast. Maybe even consider some Sparkalloid.

It's about 6% now. Nottingham should be able to handle that, no problem. I didn't add any sugar, so it's only had to chew through the sugars in the juice. It may be that the last couple of points are going to be *really* slow coming off.

I'm going to keep the fermenter in the 70s for another week, then probably rack it into the original PET bottles the juice came in just to free up my fermenter.

In my experience...you are correct. The last .005 points do seem to trickle off using nottingham. I usually just crash and bottle at 1.005 or so anyway to keep the yeast from stripping any apple flavors.

Meadiator said:

What's the alcohol tolerance on this yeast?

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I have successfully done 12% with Nottingham.

We had a warm day today and I gave the fermenter a good swirl to get things moving along. The sample was nice and dry, yet still apple flavored. I'm really looking forward to this ice-cold and carbonated later in the summer.

One thing I have noticed is that the airlock activity always seems to pick up right after I have opened things up to take a sample. I wonder if maybe low oxygen is why the ferment gets so slow. I aerated the juice as vigorously as I could when I put it in the fermenter, but maybe that isn't completely adequate?

Gravity finally crept down to 1.001 so I called it good and bottled a gallon. I still have 5 gallons still in secondary. Now I have 5 gallons of beer going!

For the geeks in the crowd, here is a plot of gravity vs. days in the fermenter for 6 gallons of apple juice, no sugar, with Nottingham ale yeast. Cider temperature ranged from a low of 64 F to a high of 68 F. The first 40 points come off in a week, but the last 10 points are slow to come off. You do need to wait at least 4 weeks.

Thunder_Chicken said:

One thing I have noticed is that the airlock activity always seems to pick up right after I have opened things up to take a sample. I wonder if maybe low oxygen is why the ferment gets so slow.

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This happens to me all the time. I always attribute this to off-gassing. There's CO2 in solution and when I put my thief in there to extract a sample I assume it disturbs the CO2 a little. I'm always careful not to introduce O2 at this point because introducing oxygen after the bulk of the fermentation has completed isn't a good thing.

It always seems to settle down after a couple of days.

Check your hydrometer for calibration too, it could be off. Stick it in some 60 degree water and it should be right at 1.000.

CRock303 said:

Check your hydrometer for calibration too, it could be off. Stick it in some 60 degree water and it should be right at 1.000.

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Yep, did that. I also correct the reading for temperature. And my thermometer is calibrated.

i just experienced this aswell but after 4 weeks it went to 1.000 dead on. i racked tonight and was left with a nice think dense yeast cake on the bottom. crystal clear product. going to bottle tomorrow most likely.

I have been making this recipe for a few years:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/sams-choice-sparkling-cider-99923/

it uses Nottingham and, in accordance with the recipe, ferments down to 1.005ish. I have since switched to s-04 and usually end up at about 1.008.

I am surprised that you're finding that Nottingham ferments it down to 1.000 without any sugar added.

MichaelBrock said:

I have been making this recipe for a few years:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/sams-choice-sparkling-cider-99923/

it uses Nottingham and, in accordance with the recipe, ferments down to 1.005ish. I have since switched to s-04 and usually end up at about 1.008.

I am surprised that you're finding that Nottingham ferments it down to 1.000 without any sugar added.

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Sam's Choice apple juice contains maltodextrin which isn't fermentable so you can only attenuate down to 1.005-1.008. That might actually be a good thing as it may help reduce the dryness and thinness of the resulting cider. If it is straight juice it will go to 1.000 or lower.

The cider is now just about down to 1.000 and is clearing nicely. I'll have to let it sit for a while before I can bottle as I am still scrounging up some good bottles for it. A little time to age won't hurt it.

I haven't been using Sam's Choice juice. I buy 100% juice that has only ascorbic acid (vitamin c). I didn't know that about Sam's choice though (never used it). Perhaps I am fermenting down lower than I think. I haven't bothered to measure it after the first few batches. I guess I should verify it.

I have gotten to 1.000 with juice and brown sugar. Very clean and clear. Swell as 13% Abv. Nottingham is definitely my go to cider yeast now.

Any problems doing this if I wanted Still? The treetop juice bottles are pretty heavy duty, I have 10 one-gallon jugs I rinsed and filled with water....thought I'd go fill them at the artesian well (SL,UT) but 1 gallon jugs might be a lot to haul around.

Thunder_Chicken said:

It's about 6% now. Nottingham should be able to handle that, no problem. I didn't add any sugar, so it's only had to chew through the sugars in the juice. It may be that the last couple of points are going to be *really* slow coming off.

I'm going to keep the fermenter in the 70s for another week, then probably rack it into the original PET bottles the juice came in just to free up my fermenter.

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MrMonkey said:

Any problems doing this if I wanted Still? The treetop juice bottles are pretty heavy duty, I have 10 one-gallon jugs I rinsed and filled with water....thought I'd go fill them at the artesian well (SL,UT) but 1 gallon jugs might be a lot to haul around.

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There is nothing wrong with still cider. It is wine-like and definitely very tasty. Many people do still and carbonated batches separately.

The only thing I would recommend is that you occaisionally burp the bottles for several weeks after you rack to them. Since the ferment is so slow towards the end you'll still get a little gas created in the bottles, plus some dissolved gases will be released. Just open the cap and then retighten it every couple days until it stops releasing pressure. I doubt you would get bottle bombs after a full primary fermentation but this keeps you from having lightly sparkling cider.

OT: I kind of want lightly sparkling cider so no problems there! I was going to do my 2nd batch of 'kind of keeved' cider like this so I could drink it up, & bottle the best batch. I just wasn't sure..... My first batch of orchard cider w/ notti started turning vinegary as I got to the end of the batch...it was a little vinegary mid way too...but I'm not sure what caused that.

>>>edit: main question was to make sure I could do this without fear of sanitation issues, and not have to refrigerate..

Vinegar is caused by an acetobacter infection. You'll want to watch your sanitation practices and limit exposure to air. If you want to bottle this still, you may consider bottle pasteurizing to prevent this. There is a sticky in the Cider subforum that shows you how to do this on the stovetop.

Remember that apple cider vinegar is pretty good stuff too, keep it for cooking!

OT: thanks.... I actually made some BBQ Sauce w/ the last little bit that I left out...I used a lot more than the recipe called for but it turned out great for the country style ribs.

Lemonade from lemons...Love it! Good job monkey.