Time to bottle my cider?

[dmrevis]

Hello all, my cider has been fermenting for 10 days now. I have just checked it and there are no more bubble rising to the surface which suggests its bottling time. However the hydrometer is showing 1008 and the instructions say bottle at 1006. Reading taken as per the instructions at 20C.
What are your thoughts on this?

As an aside, is it ok to re-use crown caps? I've tested some on bottles of water and they seem to re-fit well with my capping tool.

 

[BrewStew]

2 points is pretty close for a kit, so yeah you should be ok to bottle.

i wouldn't re use crown caps more than once as the metal will start to weaken from being bent around the bottle lip. also make sure they're not damage and the plastic gromet inside is still sound before you re use it

stick a permenent marker pen dot on the caps you do re use so you know you've already re used it once and know to throw it away :thumb:

 

[dmrevis]

Thanks for that. Could I sweeten tonight which will obviously mean i need to stir up the brew and thus make the sediment come up, the bottle tomorrow. i.e would the brew be ok sweetened tonight then primed and bottled tomorrow when the sediment has settled again?

 

[BrewStew]

your best bet is to rack it to another sanitised bucket, sweeten, prime then stir and bottle from that. that way you're not flicking up sediment, and your sugar is evenly mixed between bottles. Batch Priming for the win :thumb:

 

[dmrevis]

Right, i bottled last night. The instuctions say 5 days at 20C then ready to drink in 5 weeks. After the 5 days at 20C do i move the bottles somewhere cooler or just leave them where they are. Also, i presume the brew wil clear up during that 5 weeks? I've bottled a couple of pints in clear bottles so i can check progress without opening bottles - they are in a dark room so no problems with light.

 

[Wez]

5 (or 7) days at 20c then somewhere cooler is good practice and yes it will clear over that period of time :)

Good call on the clear bottles for checking clarity progress - when i bottle I fill 1 500ml coke bottle that way you can check clarity and also feel by squeezing how much pressure is building up :thumb:

 

[dmrevis]

That was my exact theory - this being my first brew I didnt want to waste bottles by opening early.
I noticed the sediment settled on the bottoms is quite firm so shouldnt move too much if pouring slowly when drinking, correct?

 

[arturobandini]

The time you leave them in the warm is for the fermentation process to continue with the priming sugars you've added. A small amount of alcohol will be produced but more importantly co2 will be made. A week is a pretty safe estimate in order to get sufficient co2 and for all the priming sugar to be used up.

Once you've got the co2 now what? Ideally you want this co2 to be dissolved into the beer and the best way for this to happen is at cold temperatures. Place your bottles into a cold environment and the co2 will start to dissolve into the beer carbonating it nicely. I usually leave it another week for this to take place fully but that's pretty conservative. Once these two key stages are complete you can hold your bottles up and see how clear they are. A bright bottle with a layer of yeast at the base indicates a sedimented-out bottle and is good to drink.

You're not making any long maturing cider here so as soon as you get a clear bottle I would drink it up as and when you're ready. I've just popped a brew in the fridge for some speed chilling to check for carbonation. The bottle has only been warm conditioning for 5 days and is clear as a bell in the bottle so that to me suggest it'll be nice to drink and carbonated fully. Instructions tend to be quite blanket and far reaching to cover all bases and in most cases as long as you give your brew these two stages you should be laughing/drinking.

Edit - If you've got a clear drink and a firm sediment then crack it open and decant it out in one smooth movement and trap the yeast in the neck of the bottle.

 

[Wez]

Some yeasts pack down quite hard and with careful pouring you can get away with just leaving that last few ML in the bottom of the bottle :) S04 is a good 'packer'

 

[BrewStew]

i tend to leave mine in the warm (18-20'c) after bottling for two weeks, just to be certain of carbonation before sticking it in the cold. They're pretty much clear after the two weeks in the warm anyways, but they do get an extra polish from at least two weeks in the cold even without finings.

that's just a personal preference, but i've not had a flat one yet from batch priming. had loads from the half teaspoon method though which is why i try to batch prime as much as poss