5g youngs cider yeast

[DeanoD]

i made up 1 gallon using this yeast but for some reason it turned out with a very heavy sediment in the fermenting bottle , i cooled it down to stop fermentation and then bottled it the trouble is sediment has formed in the bottles and its impossible to pour and drink without moving the sediment , i waited till it stopped bubbling before i cooled it down . how long should it take to be ready and how do i avoid the sediment forming in the bottle ? i didnt add sugar in any of the bottles as i wanted a cloudy still cider

 

[RobWalker]

give it some time to compact if you only recently moved it. with any luck it should be pretty firm, store your bottles upright in the cool and be gentle when pouring and moving. :thumb:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/pour

In future, try to clear out your cider before bottling. that way, you get very minimal sediment in the bottom. :

 

[DeanoD]

how do you clear the cider before bottling it ? the bottles are stored upright in a cool dark place but the sediment has formed quite alot on the bottom of each bottle its un drinkable as sediment moves as soon as bottle is tipped up to pour

 

[wilsoa1111]

to clear things can use cold, time, finings or a bit of everything-btw nuthin wrong with a bit of yeast in the pint- what wheatbeers rely on- could always remove from bottles, get cold-fine with gelatin(baking stuff is gd as) and rebottle- alot of aggro though and will compact and stay put if given 2wks where cider will be improving- my beers all have a bit of sediment btw and means they keep improving the longer they last not the other way around...

 

[DeanoD]

so before i bottle my next batch of cider i should add some finings once fermentation has stopped ? how long should it be left for so i know fermentation has finished ? its only a small 1 gallon batch im doing

 

[oldbloke]

I've used Young's cider yeast a lot and it seems to compact pretty well given a bit of time, certainly don't have much sediment in the glass if I'm careful near the end of the pour. I do split a 5g sachet across 2 demis though, but the way yeast multiplies itself this is probably irrelevant

 

[DeanoD]

to be honest i probably rushed it abit but i would of thought 4 weeks would be enough for a decent dry cider as the little sachets have no instructions on them but my hydrometer showed it was in the yellow bit ready to bottle

 

[Gayle]

If you clear it in the DJ before bottling you will get less sediment in the bottles. Some of mine have very little sediment and they're quite fizzy too. It can take weeks or longer to clear in the DJ, you can use finings but as the taste improves with age I try not to bother with them and just bottle when naturally clear.

Also, did you make sure fermentation was finished before racking/bottling? The bubbles may have stopped but thats not always a good indication, and even after it is finished your brew will be better off hanging around on the sediment for another week while the yeasties finish their job, and more sediment should settle out before you rack. Cooling the brew down does not stop ferment completely, it just kinda puts them to sleep and if it warms up again the yeast will wake up and feed on any sugar left in the bottles - not an issue if fermentation is complete for still cider, or if you want fizzy cider. You can use potassium sorbate and campden tablets if you want a still cider (and you can sweeten with sugar this way too)

If you want cloudy cider then you could try using cloudy apple juice, it should keep the haze. Ordinary apple juice will usually continue to clear in the bottle and this creates the sediment, but sediment is just fine to drink, I've got used to it now!

 

[DeanoD]

im happy drinking cloudy cider but it was sooo sweet , just like strongbow which makes me :sick:
all i want to do is brew a nice strongish dry cider and both attempts so far havent done that if i left it sitting on the sediment for 3 weeks then transferred it to another dj and left it settling for another 3 weeks would that stop the sediment forming in the bottom of the bottles

 

[oldbloke]

If it was sweet you bottled before it was done, and there will have been an awful lot of yeast still in the mix.
I always wait until it drops clear (up to 20 days sometimes) before bottling - and I mean read-through-it clear - and get good dry cider after conditioning 2weekswarm2weekscold.
I think you just rushed it a bit. Have another go, it's cheap enough.
Possibly your hydrometer needs checking in plain water, it may be off a bit - and then there's temperature correction. But, as said, I don't bother with the hydrometer, I just wait until it's properly clear. Always seems to work.

 

[DeanoD]

to be honest it tasted rank , i started a batch last night so think i will leave it 4 weeks in original dj then syphon it out into a fresh dj top it up with more juice so i will still have a gallon then leave it another 4 weeks before adding a campden tablet to stop fermentation then leave it for another sitting on sediment then bottle , does that sound sensible ?

 

[oldbloke]

It shouldn't take that long, and Campdens don't kill yeast they just give it a headache. You need Campden + potassium sorbate to stabilise.
I'd start it, top it right up about day 5, rack it when it clears without more topping up as there should be still almost a gallon unless you have weeny demijohns, and adding more juice will just get the yeast going again. Leave it 4 more weeks and there will deffo be no sugar left so no need to stabilise, the yeast has nothing to eat, so just bottle with maybe a Campden to guard against oxidation.
Since I like my cider quite fizzy I go to bottle as soon as it's clear, no Campden as the yeast will eat the little bit of oxygen that gets in during bottling, but you want still cider so a Campden is a good idea. But with no sugar left, no need for sorbate, I reckon.

Dunno why it tastes rank - when young mine are generally a bit sharp but not rank.
What juice? What did you put in for tannin?

 

[DeanoD]

i used apple juice i was unaware i had to add anything else , ive only got a gallon dj , i put 5g of cider yeast in with a gallon of apple juice so now all i do is leave it till it clears ?

 

[Gayle]

You don't have to add anything else apart from the juice and yeast, but tannin and yeast nutrient help. For the tannin you can use wine tannin (sold as powdery stuff in a tub) or a half mug of very strong tea (use a couple of teabags and leave it to stew, covered, for a while. The powder is probably better and means you're not diluting the juice unnecessarily, but I'm happy to use tea.)

Cider often finishes fermenting under 1.000 points, so if the hyrdrometer is reading in the yellow bit it could still have a wee bit more to go.

5g yeast is fine for a one gallon-batch, or upto a 5-gallon batch. You can use your yeast more economically though by doing two or even three brews one the same day and splitting the yeast between them, or by making a yeast starter and splitting that between the DJs. If I'm only doing one brew but know I'll probably be doing another in the next week or so, I seal the cut end of the packet tightly, tape up and store in the fridge.

The first cider I made tasted horrible too, but don't worry it does improve! :)

 

[DeanoD]

from reading all the advice on here i definatly rushed it , im just gonna leave this one to clear on its own then bottle it and cold store it for a couple of weeks before i try it