How long before cider can be drunk

[cask is best]

The Wife has just bottled her Black rock cider on the 27th Nov. It's been standing at room temp for a week and now moved to a slightly cooler place. It's crystal clear in fact it was very clear after 24 hours of been bottled sediment is at the bottom. She is now itching to crack open a bottle i have told her it's way to early.
Has anyone left cider for a week after bottling and had a sneaky odd one. Or will it be far to early as i have told her.

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[Mark1964]

should be fine to drink i drink ours at a week :thumb:

 

[shearclass]

I would leave turbo cider much longer than that, but it could be different with a kit cider.

You should probably find out for yourself. Try one, see how it tastes, and then take it from there. Put a couple of bottles away for 6 months and see how it tastes then.

 

[Mark1964]

we used youngs wine yeast and drunk it a week after bottling and it was great thats why its called turbo cider ferment bottle and sup its a hell of a lot better in glass bottles as we used to use 2 litre coke bottles when we did it that way it was awful after a week but after 6 months was nice :thumb:

 

[cask is best]

OK she cracking one open tonight. Don't need asking twice. She only has a couple on a weekend so putting 39 bottles away won't be a problem so she will still have some by spring and then she will most probably have another batch bottled up.

I told her not to expect a cider like Magners esp as it is only just ready to drink. Will report back on her first failure or success. here's hoping.

Thanks for the advice as always Guys.

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[cask is best]

Cracked a bottle it was still so i though oh oh she likes fizzy cider. I'm sure we followed the instructions to add sugar for a fizzy cider but anyway i had a sip [not a cider lover] and i was pleasantly surprised.

Anyway she finished it in half an hour and said i feel like i've had two already. even thou she said it did not taste very strong she said she does not go for a still cider but it was quite nice. So a thumbs up i would say and hopefully it will improve even better in the coming weeks.

 

[Mark1964]

you need to prime TC a bit more than beer 1 heaped spoon of sugar will sort it thats what we do and the fizz is great come round you can have a bottle to try it out its only been bottled a week

 

[RobWalker]

you should be fine, you don't actually need to add priming sugar if you've got plenty of time - it will slowly carbonate anyway, what OG/percentage are you looking at? graysalchemy's general rule is 1 week for every 10 points of gravity - so 5 weeks for a 1.050. It will be much much better after 3 months too!

 

[graysalchemy]

I find cider like red wine improves dramatically with time.

Most beers I brew taste fine after they have carbonated but improve tremendously with time. Cider on the other hand I find very insipid when it is young, but developed more complex flavours on maturation.

Cider continues to under go some major changes after the initial fermentation most notably malolactic fermentaion this is where the malic acid changes to lactic through a bacterial mertabolism. My turbo cider brewed in september is still in the fv and tasting rather good.

The other reason it takes time to mature is like red wine it has a fair amount of tanin (or it should do) which mellows over time.

You will enjoy it more with time give it 3 months and then try it you will be amazed.

 

[cask is best]

Hi Mark1964 It isn't turbo cider it's black rock new Zealand cider. Is t c where you make it from for instance Tesco apple juice. Please accept my apologies if not.
We prime batched at 3/4 of a teaspoon per pint. I'm sure that's what it said for a fizzy cider and add no sugar for a still one. I won't take you up on the free bottle invite it's to bloody cold to move tonight even thou your only 7 miles away. Thanks any way. : BTW is your T.C fizzy already?

Hi Rob walker. We did not take a reading to be honest i don't always but it's something i must start doing. I thought it's her first kit so just made sure everything was sterile and it was kept at around 72c constantly with an immersion heater.
It will take her around 3 months to drink it so now she has said it's quite nice after only one week i can see her getting another kit going with a hydrometer reading with the next one. Nice to know it will carbonate naturally thou :

Thanks Guys for all the input

Hi Grayalchemy. wow that's some biology lesson you give.
Your T.C has been in the f.v since September, i get worried after two weeks if mine has not fermented.
Once she has a production line on the go waiting 3 months won't be a problem. It will save her around a tenner a week :party: :

 

[Mark1964]

Our cider is fizzy thought that was what you were discussing. So its a kit cider you have made. Yes the cider we make is from apple juice from lidl,tesco,etc anywhere really. You do need to prime the bottles with this cider or else it will end up flat and still.

 

[alphacento]

Most cider kits suggest that the cider will be ready to drink 2 weeks after bottling. Some of them are relatively fine after a couple of weeks, some other taste horribly. I would suggest to wait at least 2 months after bottling in order to let it msture to a decent brew.

 

[oldbloke]

When bottling I start my syphon by sucking, and the first bit through goes into a glass, plus any spare at the end. I taste that, and can then judge how long it'll be before it becomes nice rather than just drinkable. Many are drinkable right away, most need at least 3 weeks.
I have hit one problem though: I was leaning towards Gervin D and SB24 yeasts, but it turns out my wife prefers the crisper results from a proper cider yeast. Looks like I'll have to do twin batches, or drink beer.