Question. My cider has stopped bubbling. It's been about 10 days. 3 of them have cleared up nicely but the 4th (bottom left) is still cloudy. Same exact ingredients went into all. Is there a problem with it? Should it be tossed?
Cider still cloudy
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Looking at the airlock there is still pressure in there. It maybe just going slower.
I'm surprised the other 3 have cleared that fast! I would give it another couple weeks and it will clear.
And of coarse it doesn't have to be clear, just a nice add if you can get it there.
I'm surprised the other 3 have cleared that fast! I would give it another couple weeks and it will clear.
And of coarse it doesn't have to be clear, just a nice add if you can get it there.
With EC 1118 It should be bone dry. Consider trying Safeale S04 or S05 next time.
Ugh, now I feel super dejected. The instructions call for a can of frozen apple juice concentrate per gallon as a backsweetener. Would it be ok to add 2 per gallon you think?
Depends on how sweet you want it. But EC 1118 will continue to consume any sugars added up to about 18% alcohol. You either must stabilize / inhibit the yeast with those chemicals that do that, kill them by pasteurizing or filter them out to be able to sweeten your cider. I personally prefer cold crashing and pasteurization. See the "sticky" at the top of the forum from Pappers for pasturizing.
Yeah, the instructions say to backsweeten then pasturize as soon as I add the concentrate.
Also, if the advice is to rack it, I have a 5 gallon container. Can I put 4 gallons into a 5 gallon container or will the remaining air not be good for it?
EC-1118 isn't bad, but I'd recommend D47 or Mangrove Jack's M02 for future use, they retained more flavor in my store bought filtered juice yeast tests.
I seem to be missing something here, cause people keep talking about this or that yeast finishing at a higher FG. I just did a comparison with EC-1118, Safcider, D47, US-05, and Mangrove Jack's M02. Primary only for a month and a half. All finished 0.999-1.001. Past use of S04 also finished here. Is it that I'm doing primary longer than others or some other reason I'm not seeing any significant variation in FG? Store bought filtered juice is what I'm using.
And for the OP's sake while I didn't see hardly any variation in FG there was a big difference in flavor, hence my recommendation of D47 or M02.
Way too much space. You want the least possible amount of headspace possible for secondary. 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy is fine for primary, as CO2 production will flush out nearly all the O2, but in secondary there's not much CO2 production, if any, so headpsace will lead to oxidation.
Then can I just leave it where it is? I have no more containers.
Likely, but my own experience is still quite limited. I've only started with clear store bought juice, and I've done between a month and a month and a half in primary, no secondary. Of the batches I've made so far:
- I've not seen it clear up in 10 days, usually takes a few weeks.
- I've not seen it go cloudy after clearing up.
Also, I just got my next idea for cider testing. I think I'll do two small batches, one where I rack to secondary, one I leave in primary, and compare both after two or three months. I like testing things like this.
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I've been using D-47 for store bought juice. I do about two weeks in primary, a week or two in secondary, K-Meta, then K-Sorb twelve hours later, then sweeten and keg within a week.
My last batch of straight apple cider, I sweetened with one can FAJC per gallon and it was perfect for us. For flavored ciders I make a simple syrup using a 2:1 ratio of Morena sugar and the flavored juice, and sweeten to taste. We like about 3/4 cup of sugar per gallon.
I'm not particularly concerned with getting my ciders clear and realized that I don't own any pretty glasses to show off my creations. I also don't add any sugar to up the ABV, OG of around 1.050 is fine with me.
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You could add another gallon of the same juice when you rack to a five gallon secondary and let that ferment out. The lees will be minimal from that extra gallon and you'll have five gallons of cider instead of four.
OK just to be clear. - The only way to tell if your yeast are still active is to check your SG a few days (preferably a week) apart if no change then your likely OK. In lieu of that you must be sure they are dead or not able to convert your additional sugars. (And NO 12 hours is likely not long enough.)
If your yeast did not die or give up the ghost from too much alcohol or you did not kill or inhibited them then the yeast you used will consume any sugar added (FAJC) will likely re-start a ferment and will again go to dry leaving you with more alcohol and little or no additional sweetness.
To get a sweet cider by adding FAJC after fermentation is complete you only have a few options.
- Kill them (With heat by Pasteurizing), inhibit (using chemicals) or filter (to 0.45 Microns)
If you bottle it after adding more sugar and a gravity of >1.006 and did not do one of the above then you risk over carbonation and even bottle bombs. (Trust me flying glass and or spraying cider all over the room is not fun.)
If my ciders do not go to 1.004 or less or if they do and I sweeten with FAJC back to 1.004 and bottle. I will then pasteurize immediately after bottling. I have used a non-fermentable sugar (Xylitol) if the SG is 1.000 or less but personally don't like the flavor.
If your yeast did not die or give up the ghost from too much alcohol or you did not kill or inhibited them then the yeast you used will consume any sugar added (FAJC) will likely re-start a ferment and will again go to dry leaving you with more alcohol and little or no additional sweetness.
To get a sweet cider by adding FAJC after fermentation is complete you only have a few options.
- Kill them (With heat by Pasteurizing), inhibit (using chemicals) or filter (to 0.45 Microns)
If you bottle it after adding more sugar and a gravity of >1.006 and did not do one of the above then you risk over carbonation and even bottle bombs. (Trust me flying glass and or spraying cider all over the room is not fun.)
If my ciders do not go to 1.004 or less or if they do and I sweeten with FAJC back to 1.004 and bottle. I will then pasteurize immediately after bottling. I have used a non-fermentable sugar (Xylitol) if the SG is 1.000 or less but personally don't like the flavor.
New problem: I just went into the garage and checked. I don't have enough bottles to bottle this stuff. I was going to bottle some as wine and some as carbonated cider. I can order more on Amazon but that will take days. And by that time the yeast will have eaten the FAJC i threw in. So what are my options here? If I need to add more FAJC that's just more liquid I'm adding that I'll need to bottle. And I wouldn't know how much to add because I don't know how much of my original FAJC was eaten. This is frustrating and depressing.
Also, it's still cloudy. Is there anything I can add while I'm waiting for the bottles to make it clear up? Pectin Enzyme?
Also, it's still cloudy. Is there anything I can add while I'm waiting for the bottles to make it clear up? Pectin Enzyme?
Rick Stephens
Well-Known Member
You can add the enzymes and they will help clear. Best method is just sit on it. Let it age naturally and then bottle later. That gives you time to have enough bottles on hand. And, letting it age will definitely mellow the alcohol flavors. With 1118 I like to give it a couple months to rid it of the rocket fuel flavors, before deciding how I want to sweeten, then prime and bottle and lastly pasteurize when appropriate level of cabonation is reached.In that order.
Clearer walkthrough: I take the aged (or not, depending on which yeast) cider and make sure I am around 3.4 to 3.6 pH via adding malic acid, then add AJC and/or other sugars and flavors to taste, when I have the taste right, I then add priming sugars if I want it carbonated in the bottle (that way I don't change the taste by converting my 'to taste' sugars). I use 1 to 1.5 ounces per gallon of corn sugar for primer since it mixes so easily and adds no additional flavors. I always fill a plastic coke bottle to monitor how my carbonation is coming along. When it is where I want it, I pasteurize in warm (140ƒ) then hot (175ƒ) water for 10 minutes each. Done and stable for long term storage.
Clearer walkthrough: I take the aged (or not, depending on which yeast) cider and make sure I am around 3.4 to 3.6 pH via adding malic acid, then add AJC and/or other sugars and flavors to taste, when I have the taste right, I then add priming sugars if I want it carbonated in the bottle (that way I don't change the taste by converting my 'to taste' sugars). I use 1 to 1.5 ounces per gallon of corn sugar for primer since it mixes so easily and adds no additional flavors. I always fill a plastic coke bottle to monitor how my carbonation is coming along. When it is where I want it, I pasteurize in warm (140ƒ) then hot (175ƒ) water for 10 minutes each. Done and stable for long term storage.
Hey Greekdude, Im pretty new to this myself but if you need to wait on more equipment, my advice would be to pasteurize it all to stop all of the yeast from doing anything else and re-rack it. I like to think of pasteurizing like hitting the pause button. Usually when I pasteurize a cider it helps it to clear up quickly because NOTHING else in the brew is alive and their carcasses sink to the bottom. This method would leave you without any carbonation however. I've never tried this myself, but what if you: pasteurized -> re-pitched a yeast once your bottles came in -> bottle -> give it time to carbonate (I usually do 2-3 days) -> and then repasteurize to kill your new yeast colony?
P.S. I usually add 1 frozen juice container per gallon and find it plenty sweet for my liking.
Good luck!
P.S. I usually add 1 frozen juice container per gallon and find it plenty sweet for my liking.
Good luck!
Rick Stephens
Well-Known Member
I bought it at the blob that ate the world.
I also keep and use a lot of ascorbic acid for various purposes including cider. Getting the acid just right does more for the end product taste than almost anything else. At least for me. Note, a Coke is pH 2.8. So aiming your cider at 3.4 is a reasonable target.
More common than using malic and ascorbic acid is to use one of the brewers acid blends, which blend ascorbic, malic and tartaric acid.
when adding acid, sneak up on your target. I usually end up in the 6-8 grams per gallon range. First measure pH, I use the little sticks. Then start out with 4 grams and depending on how it changes, add more.
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