New to brewing, i have some questions...

[dmrevis]

Hello all. I'm a new forum member and also new to home brewing.

I have my first batch of cider fermenting in the bucket as we speak, its been in for a week. I have the following questions if anyone would be able to help me.

1) Is it ok to open the lid and check the progress?
2) I'm planning on sweetening some prior to bottling - is it alright to stir up the cider and disturb the sediment at the bottom of the bucket (i'm assuming its sediment, it looks like that from the outside of the bucket).
3) If i can stir it up after sweetening must i let it settle before bottling?
4) When bottling do i syphon from the bottom of the bucket, which means getting sediment in my bottles?

I'm sorry if these are silly questions but as i said before i'm a newbie to this and dont want to mess it up and waste the whole brew not to mention the money it cost me.

 

[BrewStew]

1) Is it ok to open the lid and check the progress?
yes
2) I'm planning on sweetening some prior to bottling - is it alright to stir up the cider and disturb the sediment at the bottom of the bucket (i'm assuming its sediment, it looks like that from the outside of the bucket).
if you're using sugar to sweeten, this'll get fermented in the bottle... too much and you'll have explosive bottles :shock:
3) If i can stir it up after sweetening must i let it settle before bottling?
a little yeast caught in syphoning is fine... too much sediment in the bottle though and you'll be pouring it into your glass if it doesn't want to stay put
4) When bottling do i syphon from the bottom of the bucket, which means getting sediment in my bottles?
from the bottom, but just above the sediment... a sediment trap (looks like a miniature cup) on the end of the syphon tube helps :thumb:

I'm sorry if these are silly questions but as i said before i'm a newbie to this and dont want to mess it up and waste the whole brew not to mention the money it cost me
no worries mate, every single one of us were in you're shoes once :thumb:

 

[dmrevis]

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try and sweeten with a non-fermentable sweetener. I've read mixed reports about Splenda but i'll give that a go for this first round.

I was planning on doing half dry (as it is) and half about medium sweetness. For priming i was going to make a sugar/water solution and add to the whole bucket rather than a little sugar in each bottle - if i'm doing this obviously i'll need to mix the primer in with the whole batch - how long should i let it settle before bottling?

 

[percival]

Just to add a little detail to BS reply .... hygiene is one of the golden rules of brewing, so if (like me) you have long hair and a beard then make sure none of it drops in your bucket when you open the lid, sterilising anything that will got into the brew is a must too (thermometers, hydrometers, syphon tubes etc etc). Be a stickler for sterility and your next enemy then is impatience .... which means that time is your mate.

 

[BrewStew]

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try and sweeten with a non-fermentable sweetener. I've read mixed reports about Splenda but i'll give that a go for this first round.

I cant comment on splenda as to how fermentable it is i'm afraid... but Aleman or Steve Flack may be able to IIRC both Glucose AND sucrose are both very fermentable. so check the ingredients

I was planning on doing half dry (as it is) and half about medium sweetness. For priming i was going to make a sugar/water solution and add to the whole bucket rather than a little sugar in each bottle - if i'm doing this obviously i'll need to mix the primer in with the whole batch - how long should i let it settle before bottling?

yep batch priming is better as you get a more even distribution of sugars between bottles so you dont get some flat as the proverbial heathen's breast or as explosive as a an H-bomb. as soon as you've gently stirred it in you're good to start bottling :thumb:

 

[tubby_shaw]

Splenda is fine to use to leave residual sweetness, but you can taste it, it depends on whether you find the taste objectionable or not :wha:

 

[dmrevis]

well i've tried it in my tea and on my cereal just to make sure i dont mind the taste and personally i cant taste the difference between it and sugar.

I've heard that syphoning can be tricky to start - i.e no sucking the tube, and messy to use. How would sterilising a jug and funnel, and using these to bottle go down?

 

[BrewStew]

syphoning isn't hard once you get the hang of it... you dont need to suck if you fill the tube with water before you dip it in, and kink the end to start the water coming out while your faffing with getting it into position. spending £2 or £3 on a tube tap from your local HBS makes life ALOT easier.

decanting is an option, but too much splashing can cause oxidation and give an off flavour.