Newbie- Going to do my first cider today

[bullsi1911]

I will run through Costco today and grab some apple juice. I will be fermenting, and no one can stop me!

I have a 1 gallon beer kit that my wife got me for Christmas that I have added some equipment to from my local homebrew shop. I added a 2 gallon plastic primary, and a second 1 gallon glass carboy. Since I racked my first batch of IPA to secondary, and the primary is just sitting there sad and empty...

Time for cider! Or applewine, or whatever. I have some champagne yeast, some nutrient, and pectic enzyme. Been reading up here, and learning, but want some input from pros before I start detonating bottles, or creating strange apple based lifeforms in my wife's kitchen.

My plan is to put 1.5 gallons in the sanitized primary, toss in the nutrient and enzyme, pitch in the yeast, and wait.

When the bubbling in the airlock slows down, rack it to secondary.

Now, for bottling, I want to carbonate. But I dont want assploding bottles. Do i just put a little sugar in the bottles, fill, cap, and pray?

Any other suggestions? (Besides "get a hygrometer!"- that will be bought soon)

Anything to be aware of?

 

[bernardsmith]

In my opinion it is better to add sugar dissolved in a little boiling water to your bottling bucket, allow this to cool a few minutes and then rack your cider onto the simple syrup. You then stir the cider and simple syrup gently to fully disperse the syrup in the cider and now you can bottle without any need to prime each bottle individually.. the sugar need to carbonate will automatically be in each bottle. My suggestion is to use about 20 g of sugar or just under 1 oz per gallon of liquid that you are bottling... Feel free to cap and pray but the risk of exploding bottles is zero ... as long as you have allowed the cider to fully ferment dry before you bottle. If there is still sugar fermenting in the cider and you have no good idea how much sugar there is still producing CO2 then you have no good idea how much pressure each bottle will be asked to sustain... and IMO prayer at that point is like trying to cross a four lane highway with a prayer on your lips but with your eyes tightly closed..

 

[bullsi1911]

Got my juice today, sterilized everything, put the enzyme and nutrient in the fermented, vigorously poured in the juice, pitched the yeast... Then read the instructions. Saw that I was supposed to let the enzyme sit for 12 hours. First. Oops. Will that screw anything up?

Also, what chance is there of gunk blowing out the airlock when using 1.5 gallons in a 2 gallon fermenter? Just asking to help preserve domestic harmony and possibly my life. Should I put it in a tray or something?

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

In all likelyhood no worries of it blowing off with a regular airlock. As far as the enzyme if its regular apple juice you don't even need it. PE is needed for raw cider.

 

[Maylar]

You'll be fine with what you've done. I always put the pectic enzyme in when I pitch the yeast.

 

[bullsi1911]

Thanks, everyone!

When just dropping the yeast on the juice, how long does it normally take for it to start bubbling away in the airlock?

 

[Maylar]

Anywhere from 3 hours if it's warm and you used nutrient, or a couple days if it's cool and you didn't.

 

[bullsi1911]

It's bubbling now. Not as fast as I expected, but that might just because it's cold in the house.

 

[bullsi1911]

The airlock had stopped bubbling for about 2 days, so while I had all the bottling stuff out for my 1 gallon IPA, I went ahead and racked the cider to a glass carboy. Had a lot extra,cider, so I bottled some still, tried some (very dry- like I like it!) and put it to sit in a cool, dark place.

I'll give it a week, then prime and bottle it.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

The airlock had stopped bubbling for about 2 days, so while I had all the bottling stuff out for my 1 gallon IPA, I went ahead and racked the cider to a glass carboy. Had a lot extra,cider, so I bottled some still, tried some (very dry- like I like it!) and put it to sit in a cool, dark place.

I'll give it a week, then prime and bottle it.

But it hasn't even been fermenting a week right??

 

[bullsi1911]

Right. it was in the primary for 5 days. Course I can keep it in th secondary for however long I feel like it, but it seemed like it was 'done' when Ipulled it off into the secondary.

But it has started bubbling in the airlock ahain. So, I'll leep it there for a while. Suggestions as to how long? Tell me what I'm doing wrong!

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Right. it was in the primary for 5 days. Course I can keep it in th secondary for however long I feel like it, but it seemed like it was 'done' when Ipulled it off into the secondary.

But it has started bubbling in the airlock ahain. So, I'll leep it there for a while. Suggestions as to how long? Tell me what I'm doing wrong!

You probably should let primary run at least two weeks. All you did was move it over to drop more lees in a different carboy. Leave it alone for a couple more weeks at least.

 

[bullsi1911]

My little 1 gallon batch has been sitting in the secondary for a while. Thinking of bottling it today- should I just act like a beer, dissolve some sugar or agave syrup in a little water to prime it, mix together and bottle it?

I could bottle it as a still cider, and might do that for 1-2 bottles just for giggles. But I really want to carb it

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

My little 1 gallon batch has been sitting in the secondary for a while. Thinking of bottling it today- should I just act like a beer, dissolve some sugar or agave syrup in a little water to prime it, mix together and bottle it?

I could bottle it as a still cider, and might do that for 1-2 bottles just for giggles. But I really want to carb it

I typically carb my ciders to 2 volumes. Just go by a regular priming calculator.

 

[phug]

Prime it exactly as you would beer

 

[MindenMan]

You can always use 1/5 of a can of FAJC per gallon to prime with, and it will help to add a little flavor to your cider.