is this going ok??

[slav]

hi all, new member here,
I have been trying to make my own cider, so i followed the basic instructions on the net and had this set up, the date of pitching is on the bottle and the temp isnt quite right, the bottles are against a heating pipe to keep them a bit warmer,
anyway for the first 2 days i had loads of foam on the top and it spilled out of the piping and airlock, then it died down and has been bubbling only a small amount now for a few days, the SG has only dropped 0.04

is this suppost to be happening?




EDIT: sorry guys, ment it dropped 0.004

 

[ericbw]

When you say it only dropped .04, from what to what?

 

[slav]

from 1.044
to 1.040

sorry ment it dropped 0.004

 

[ericbw]

If it bubbled for 2 days, it seems like it would have dropped more. And it could run out in a couple days.

 

[Randzor]

Make sure there were no bubbles on the hydrometer. seems like alot of new brewers make that mistake, and take readings that make it appear no action happened.

 

[slav]

ok i made sure there were no bubbles, its now 1.018

 

[ericbw]

That's better! You could check it after a week, but I would let it go 2 weeks. Don't open it too much and sanitize everything well.

 

[slav]

i think it needs to be a bit warmer, any ideas for artifial heating? all the rooms are pretty cold here

 

[MindenMan]

Got a heating pad and a rectangular cooler? Split the heating under both bottles in the cooler, set the heat on low, and keep an eye on the temperature in the cooler. Not a perfect system by any means, but you will get heat into your bottles without putting the plastic jugs in jeopardy.
I have stated on another post about using a heating pad w/o issue.