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9 days for first year cider - Rack?
My OG was 1.072 and my latest gravity reading was 1.045. This is 9 days later. I will definitely say I've learned some lessons already. Always do a starter for your yeast. I took a "shortcut" that made my fermentation somewhat slow. I'm not sure whether this is normal or not, but I did it and there's no turning back now. I'm sure that it will drop in gravity more, but would it hurt to rack it over to a secondary so I can have my primary to start another brew? The airlock still bubbles, but not as vigorously as it did even 3 days ago. Patience is not a virtue that I possess so if I could get a pointer it might help me be strong and wait.
This is my first batch of anything. So advice from me, is ify at best.
It's been 9 days, I don't see why not, take my advice at your own risk,
like I said, ify.
That's pretty much the same thing I'm doing on the morning.
It's slowed down a fair amount, just going to free up the jug to start another one.
If you want ot wait, I'll let ya know if it screws up mine.
unless we hear from someone else that says not to do it. It's slowed down enough, i think it's just time to age it a little.
I'll going to find out I reckon.
If I screw up I'll know better on the next one.
Marv.
I am also on my first cider, but I let it go about a month in the primary. I just changed it racked it this past weekend.
From what I have read and heard, patience is pretty key to making a good cider.
Well, I did it anyway. If it continues to ferment in the secondary, what's the danger to the batch? I think there are several factors that lent to it's slowing prematurely though. I say premature because of the high gravity reading, still. After a week to only be down to 1.045 is slow I'm thinking. The taste test was very sugary. I did have a bit of a punch even after only being progressed what I think was about half way. Maybe the basement where I keep it is cool which didn't make the ferment vigorous enough to mix the sugars. The temp has hovered at about 64-66 degrees F. After I racked and let it alone for the night, I came back to check it this morning and WOW, it was producing more CO2 out of the airlock than it did at its fastest in the primary. It really took off. I'm not sure why this is, but could it have been a semi-stalled ferment? When I mixed it back up during the rack something happened that sent it off fermenting at a good pace again. Well, this is a learning experience and I've already learned enough that I'll have to check my notes to make sure I don't make the same mistakes again.
I didn't make a starter on my cider either, and it really got going from the beginning. Did you aerate your cider before you pitched? That might explain why it started going again when you racked it to your secondary, as I am sure some more oxygen was mixed in at this time.
If you get a sudden temperature change even as few as five degrees you risk stalling out the yeast. 1046 is not finished, unless you're making syrup, give it some time, 9 days doesn't mean anything unless it's finished.
Oh yeah, I'm sure it wasn't anywhere close to being finished. I tried not to aerate it when I was racking, but I don't know if I got the auto-siphon/hose connection secure enough. There was a gas building up at that link that could have been an air leak, but I thought it might also be some CO2 coming out of solution. I would think that the O2 shouldn't be needed by the yeast anymore. Whatever the cause for the restart and perking up of my fermentation, I'm happy for it. I will probably leave it for several weeks now and bottle just 3 weeks before Xmas. Gotta have gifts ready!
I think I might check SG again tonight to see where I am. I was gone for the weekend so I didn't see it go crazy, but I saw the evidence. I left very little head space in the 5 gallon carboy that I racked to. I saw residue from the krausen (is that still the right term considering this is cider?) that was all the way up the neck and touching the bung. It is now back to about a 3/4 inch krausen which is about 1/2 of the headspace. I'll try to keep everyone updated, but will probably use a different thread considering this one is pretty much dead.
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