In the rocks help please...!

[Andyglanville]

Hi guys,

I’m part way through my first brew, a beach and mango on the rocks cider kit.
Primary fermentation has just finished. Hydrometer reading below 1.000
Iv transfered into my second with a siphon and sediment trap, and added the extra flavouring sachet and stirred (tonight)
The impression I get from the instructions is that you bottle it pretty much straight away after after stirring in the add back sachet and adding more sugar. I have some carbonation drops I planned to use instead of adding more sugar, my question is should I bottle it straight away now and let the secondary fermentation take place in the bottle, or leave it in the second vessel for a while before bottling with carbonation drops?

 

[cushyno]

In my understanding, when you add extra sugar or dextrose you're adding more food to the yeast to kick it into life again. It will raise the SG, and ultimately add more alcohol and co2 so long as the yeast continue to be active.

If you're after conditioning, adding more sugar to a secondary FV won't help if you want to let the yeast settle out, it just supplies more food and yeast go for the simple sugars again.

If you're after carbonation, there's no point in letting it sit in the FV for hours/days because all your co2 is lost before bottling.


The purpose of leaving your brew in a secondary vessel for 24/48 hours is to let most of the sediment drop out so it doesn't end up in the bottles. You can't then add add sugar to that vessel and stir up all that yeast that has settled, you must either:
a) add the priming sugar to the bottles and bottle carefully from the secondary FV
b) add the sugar to a third vessel (you can reuse your primary vessel once it's been cleaned), transfer your brew from secondary to third vessel, ensuring not to splash or introduce oxygen, mix slowly. Then bottle from there.

Every time you transfer from one vessel to another you add more risk of infection. You must decide if you are happy to trade that risk for the increased likelihood of less yeast in the bottle.

 

[Oneiroi]

How long was is in primary?

I would probably just bottle it today or tommorrow with the carb drops and let it condition for a few weeks in the bottle.

Won't take any harm leaving it longer, but I'm not sure it will gain much either.

 

[cushyno]

You could move primary to where you will rack/bottle from and just let that settle. So long as you are careful not to disturb the sediment you won't need secondary FV. Leaving an extra day or two will do no harm.

When I used to make wine, racking to secondary made a big difference to clarity and taste. With wine if you have to leave a long time to clear it is possible to get unwanted flavours from the dead yeast. I'm talking about leaving the wine for months though. The other advantage is the yeast left in secondary fermentation compacts more and is less likely to be disturbed when you do your bottling.

A couple of days extra in primary for your cider will do no harm and the brew may be a little clearer.