Newbie here! Need some advice about my sediment!?!

[Homebrew_Honkey]

Hi everyone, my wife and I just took up the great hobby of homebrewing! We're just starting to ferment hard cider seeing as though its the most inexpensive to learn with. Our first bottle was finished yesterday. It was a 750mL bottle, and we used Fleischmanns RapiRise yeast, wich we probably shouldn't have used, we vsited one of the local shops here in town and picked up a sparkling wine yeast for our next batch! Im excited for that. I am curious as to how to rid our brew of the sediment in the bottle though? I left the first batch to ferment for 2 weeks, and we just drank it last night and got a good buzz! It was pretty sweet, and well rounded but was more of an apple wine rather than a cider? And there was quite a bit of sediment in the bottle after the 2 weeks, is there any way I can get rid of it, or use it to our advantage?

thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Mozart]

I'm certainly not a cider expert, but there's a forum here for cider brewers where I'm sure you'll get good information. That said, I'll tell you what I do know.

Most homebrewed cider is like you describe, more like an apple wine (more dry) than what most Americans think of as cider. The reason is that the sugars in apple juice are completely fermentable, that is, convert entirely to alcohol, so there aren't any residual sugars left in the cider to make it taste sweet. This is unlike beer where some of the sugars never ferment and stay behind in the brew to lend that malty sweetness.

If you want a sweeter cider there are two ways to go. One is to stop the fermentation process early before all of the sugars have been converted. There are a couple of ways to do this, and you can find threads on this on the cider making forum here.

The other way is to back sweeten -- that is, add sugar for sweetness after the fermentation is complete. One thing to note, if you use a fermentable sugar to do this (e.g. table sugar), it will start the fermentation process all over again. Another way is to use a non-fermentable sugar. There are a few people use, and you can read about them on the cider forum.

As for the sediment, it's just a natural part of the process. If you don't like it, you can ferment in one vessel and rack (siphon) the liquid into another for later consumption leaving the sediment behind. I think most of us just pour gently and leave the sediment in the original bottle.

As for using that sediment, it makes a great garden fertilizer! One can also simply pour more apple juice atop it as it contains a lot of good yeast which will start to make your next cider.

I hope this has helped, and I encourage you to read a few threads on the cider making forum here.

Cheers!

 

[DrunkleJon]

If you bottle carbonate you will always have some sediment. The added sugar for carbonation gives the yeast a little mini orgy where they reporduce to eat the sugar which when finished then fall out of suspension. The best way to minimize it is to make sure that it is clear before bottling, but you will still find a layer of yeast in the bottom. Pour to the shoulder leaving the sediment behind. It isnt bad for you, beneficial infact though until your system becomes accustomed to live yeast may cause an increase in toxic green gas production in your gut.

 

[Homebrew_Honkey]

Thanks guys, I am probably going to try using the sediment to brew more, I didn't think that was a good idead at all, I figured it was just waste product? and I do notice the live yeast making me fart a bit lol! What kinds of sugars can I use that are not fermentable so that I can backsweeten with them? Also I have read that you can use juice concentrate to backsweeten, would that start fermentation also?