NEED HELP! Don't know what I'm doing - CIDER in danger

[Charles Daniels]

Cheaper and more cheerful, Well's squash £2 for 5ltrs(5ltr squash for -70p, plastic DJ £2:70!!) from Morrisons and others grommet 50p frome Homehardware, airlock, well youre going to buy one anyway!, or just use cling film :grin:.

Oh cool!

Does the squash have any preservatives? Like do you need to boil it something?

 

[Samarith]

If the airlock is in tight and there's no bubbles coming out then its a safe bet its finished.

You can pull the rubber bung out a little, just so the water is slightly up on inside part of the tube. If it is still fermenting the water will be pushed back down to the bottom again (if its a really slow ferment)

I think that once its bubbling less than once a minute then its time to put it somewhere cold so the yeast settles out but I'm doing my first TC myself so I am not 100% sure. Once it looks quite clear, bottle it with some primer sugar. About 3 days in the cold should do the trick.

Once bottled you need to put it somewhere warm (same place you brewed it) for another 3 days or so. That way the yeast can do its thing and carbonate your cider.

Once that's done put it back somewhere cold till you're ready to drink it.

 

[Charles Daniels]

Heya!

Well I racked the cider yesterday.
That went really easy.

One of the DJs looks like it's back at the beginning of the process - it just looks like some apple juice sitting there.

The OTHER DJ almost immediately got a thin white layer all around the top of the liquid.
I gave it a poke and it seems this thin white crust is on the DJ itself. It's not fermentation bubbles. I don't know what it is.
It appeared almost immediately.

I sterilized the hell out of everything.
Maybe some lees got moved over...or something? I don't know.

 

[Charles Daniels]

I didn't measure my starting SG. However I measured it today at 1010
I know there is sugar in there which hasn't been fermented or eaten by yeast

Should I re-pitch with champagne yeast? Or more cider yeast? Or should I just let it sit there.

I'm on week 4. I racked the cider last week. However due to some loss, I topped it up with sugar water.

 

[Charles Daniels]

Once bottled you need to put it somewhere warm (same place you brewed it) for another 3 days or so. That way the yeast can do its thing and carbonate your cider.

Thanks for your advice!
I followed it, and checked one of the DJs and it seems the carbonation has set in!

 

[Moley]

checked one of the DJs and it seems the carbonation has set in!

You aren't carbonating in a DJ are you?
They won't withstand any pressure at all.

 

[Charles Daniels]

checked one of the DJs and it seems the carbonation has set in!

You aren't carbonating in a DJ are you?
They won't withstand any pressure at all.

Well it seems mild. When I racked it was bubbly and I saw some bubbles coming up. But it's not bubbling or fizzing away or anything.
And it's plastic, not glass.

 

[Moley]

Sorry, been out for a few hours, just got back and found this.

And it's plastic, not glass.

Phew! Ignore anything I wrote before :thumb:

 

[Charles Daniels]

Sorry, been out for a few hours, just got back and found this.

And it's plastic, not glass.

Phew! Ignore anything I wrote before :thumb:

Thanks for your timely advice! I could have had a bomb in waiting! :)

Do you have any ideas regarding what I posted a bit earlier? About the gravity and sugar and such?
Cheers!

 

[Charles Daniels]

Well my ABV is 3.6% and it tastes like apple juice...
So, I'm going to pitch some champagne yeast.
Maybe dry things out a bit and get the alcohol content up a bit too.

 

[Charles Daniels]

The yeast has taken very well.

 

[Charles Daniels]

Here's something I found interesting.

Both DJs started off identical in appearance.

I have treated them precisely the same, and done all the same things at all the same times.

 

[Charles Daniels]

Just to update!

I've bottled the cider from one of the DJs. The other DJs full is sitting in my garage. I'll bottle it sooner or later.
I hope the cider clears out. It looks insanely murky.
A few friends wanted to try it, and then stopped in terror when they saw a bottle of it.
Eventually someone was brave and we shared a bottle. I reckon it's only 5.5%
The taste was unusual as there was quite a lot of apple taste on the tongue, but then, it just...evaporated.
Once you drank it down there was no after taste. No feeling that you'd drunk anything at all.
If that makes sense.

I started my second attempt yesterday. I pushed the gravity up to 1060 for this new batch.
It's bubbling away like mad!

 

[Samarith]

Looking good. Successful brew under your belt, drinkable result and more on the way. :thumb: