Newbie Cider Ferment Temp Question

[BlackRegent]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and brewing generally. I have a large apple tree in the garden and couldn't bring myself to spend another year throwing bags of apples away because we couldn't eat them quick enough.

I bought a starter kit and press from Love Brewing and I currently have about 13 litres of juice in a fermenter having followed the Love Brewing starter guide to the letter for that quantity.

My only concern is temperature. Ideally, I want to ferment in the cellar as it is a very consistent temperature and also means I don't have a huge bucket in the kitchen.

The temperature is a very solid 14C (even now in winter - it is sometimes warmer than the rest of the house!). My question is - based on your experiences is this too cold for good fermentation of cider? I have read different things on the internet. Love Brewing suggest 18C as the bare minimum, whereas the FAQ on Vigo Presses suggests that actually a cooler temperature of around 13-15C will produce a better flavoured cider. It suggests that 10C is really the lower limit. What have people found in their experience? If it helps, I have used a commercial yeast (the one supplied in the ingredients pack by Love Brewing) rather than the natural yeasts in the apples.

There is no sign of fermentation so far, but it is only c 48 hours since it was first mixed.

I wanted to get this sorted quickly as, if I need to warm it up, I would rather do it sooner than later so I do not run the risk of spoilage.

Thanks everyone.

 

[freester]

I'm no expert - but in my experience (with the same yeast as you) - my fermenting buckets started in the kitchen where the temp was 18-22. It took 48 hours for the ferment to start I then moved the buckets to another cooler room where temp was about 16-18 deg. It's been fermenting slowly for 2 weeks now. If I were you I'd be tempted to possibly move the bin somewhere a tad warmer then move it back to the cellar. Others with more experience may disagree!

My friend who I split the apple juice with had very few signs of fermentation (sorry I don't know what temp but he had a different yeast to me) but a week later the brew was down to 1.00 on the hydro so I wouldn't worry too much about lack of apparent signs of fermentation!