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Cider nearly ready for secondary

  • 27-11-2016 12:06pm
    #1
    proponent
    Registered Users Posts: 123 ✭✭


    Hi all,
    Have a fine batch of cider(30litres) just about to finish primary. Approaching 1.008.
    Should I go straight to primed bottles or would you advise secondary for maybe 2 weeks?
    I Donnocha want to use any artificial sweetener to keep it all natural.. how will I sweeten without a)making bottle bombs and B) setting off more fermentation?
    Sorry lots of questions there!!


Comments

  • #2
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,705 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    No real expertise other than brewing my own cider for the last number of years. I find for the first batch made from early windfalls I have to add some sugar to get a decent brew, but none once the fruit has ripened. I like my cider clear and dry, so transfer and filter from main keg to secondary keg after about 2-3 months, and then bottle a couple of weeks later. I found this book pretty good and quite entertaining for small scale cider making. Still very much experimenting myself, but find that any sediment that ends up in the bottles is more likely to end up as bombs or vinegar.


  • #3
    hooplah
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭hooplah


    Hi smacl,

    So you ferment for 1 - 2 weeks, then keg and then transfer to another keg?
    Or you ferment in a keg for months?


  • #4
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,705 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    hooplah wrote: »
    Hi smacl,

    So you ferment for 1 - 2 weeks, then keg and then transfer to another keg?
    Or you ferment in a keg for months?

    I ferment in the keg for a couple of months, transfer into a second keg avoiding the sediment and filtering through a muslin, and then bottle some time after that, as needed (usually 2-3 weeks). My kegs are in outside sheds, so fermenting slows down significantly as the weather cools. If I want sparking cider, I bottle and leave the bottles indoors for a few weeks where its warmer and there usually seems to be enough residual live yeast at this stage to do the trick. I've a couple of pear trees as well and leave the perry in the keg much longer, as the sediment can take a long time to settle.


  • #5
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,716 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    Approaching 1.008

    It'll go lower than that, cider usually finishes below 1.0
    I Donnocha want to use any artificial sweetener to keep it all natural.. how will I sweeten without a)making bottle bombs and B) setting off more fermentation?

    you can use camden tablets to kill the yeast then backsweeten with sugar or more apple juice (in fact if you add camden now before it hits 1.0 there may be enough residual sweetness that you don't need to add sugar). You won't be able to carbonate in the bottle without live yeast though so it'll stay flat. If you have kegs you can put the sweetened cider in those and carb with CO2.


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