Cider too acidy!

[TheflyingFiat]

Hi everyone, I am a new member, I have lots of experiment of brewery ales in the last four years all are successful, this year I am new to make a cider and to learn.
I have used Discovery, James Grieve and Tydeman's early Worcester apples. I have added Sodium Metabisulphate to kill the germs. Leave it for 48hours to make sure.
Now I have taste it is very sharp like a lemon. Test the pH is 2.8 I am not sure which is correct method to add Youngs Precipitated Chalk before add yeast? Or after the fermentation is complete?
I have 14 litres of juice, how many grams of Precipitated Chalk? What is the normal level of pH am I to aim for?
thanks.

 

[johncrobinson]

I would add about 2 teaspoons of precipitated chalk and get the yeast pitched ASAP once the sulphite has abated.

Your must seems quite acid,But you cannot really judge the taste just after sulphiting.

The added chalk should buffer your fermentation,But you need to make the final adjustment after the cider is made.

As long as there is enough acid for the fermentation ( which is important ) Final adjustment can be made at any time later.
The taste will change during and after fermentation,THAT is the time to make the final acid decision.

 

[TheflyingFiat]

Thanks, John.

 

[Cwrw666]

Too late now, but the best way to have less acidity is to store your apples for 3 to 4 weeks after picking, before you juice them. Of course you can't do this with windfalls as they'll just rot.

 

[TheflyingFiat]

Too late now, but the best way to have less acidity is to store your apples for 3 to 4 weeks after picking, before you juice them. Of course you can't do this with windfalls as they'll just rot.

Purchased two weeks ago and left in cool store, it smells sweet, but I could not leave a bit longer because it starts to go soft before turn to rotten.

 

[Tavi-brewer]

All the above is sound advice. Acidity is always a tricky balance. Once added is almost impossible to deal with.
You could see how the acidity turns out towards the end of secondary and consider a process called malolactic fermentation.
It would be impossible to sum up or do the process justice so a good search would be needed to learn about it. I've no doubt there will be numerous threads on the forum as well.
In essence the process breaks down malic acid to lactic acid effectively altering the acid profile of your brew.
It isn't something I done many times but has been successful. Have fun.
T

 

[TheflyingFiat]

My cider has stop bubbles, it is a sign that are ready soon, I am looking for bottles 330ml to order on Amazon, I was wondering if the glass bottle wire swing cap with a rubber seal ok for use in carbonation (fizzy)? It looks like it won't hold the pressure than the metal cap?

 

[johncrobinson]

Thats what these swing top bottles are for,Carbonating beer and cider
They are meant to be reusable unlike metal caps.

Buy the plastic ones until you get experiance of carbonating,As over carbonating a glass bottle can make it explode.

 

[Bando]

My cider has stop bubbles, it is a sign that are ready soon, I am looking for bottles 330ml to order on Amazon, I was wondering if the glass bottle wire swing cap with a rubber seal ok for use in carbonation (fizzy)? It looks like it won't hold the pressure than the metal cap?

Do not order stuff for wine off amazon, for one it costs 5 times as much as a homebrew website, for 2 you won't know for sure they can handle the carbonated drinks, I personally use brew2bottle.co.uk they have decent priced glass bottles but also have plastic bottles with screw caps for carbonating cider so you can feel the firmness of the bottle as it carbonates, amazon will rob you blind when it comes to wine stuff or bottles

 

[Shirley Bassett]

If you have a large volume of cider, and a bottling bucket, then siphon your cider off the sediment into the spare sterilised bucket. If you then know the volume of siphoned cider in litres, then dissolve 10g per litre of white sugar into some hot boiled water and then add this to the bulk cider. So for 15 litres of cider you would add 150g. This will dissolve in 200ml of hot water, Gently stir this through with a sterilised long handled plastic spoon.

The cider can then be siphoned into your final bottles. At 10g/litre it will be fizzy when opened, and is best chilled for a few hours before you open it, but your bottles won’t explode.

 

[An Ankoù]

My cider is always too sharp when it's made, but it mellows down over the next six months or so. I understand the relatively sour malic acid is converted over time to the less sharp lactic acid.
I used to use precipitated chalk and found it took something more than just the tartness out of the cider. patience is best. If it's still undrinkable at Easter, you can still add the chalk then.

 

[TheflyingFiat]

If you have a large volume of cider, and a bottling bucket, then siphon your cider off the sediment into the spare sterilised bucket. If you then know the volume of siphoned cider in litres, then dissolve 10g per litre of white sugar into some hot boiled water and then add this to the bulk cider. So for 15 litres of cider you would add 150g. This will dissolve in 200ml of hot water, Gently stir this through with a sterilised long handled plastic spoon.

The cider can then be siphoned into your final bottles. At 10g/litre it will be fizzy when opened, and is best chilled for a few hours before you open it, but your bottles won’t explode.

Thanks.