CIDER 101

[mr hoppy]

I saw that - and that's why I split 3 ways. 1 with Notty (ok), 1 natural that seems ok (yay!) and 1 natural that I'm not so sure about.

It's all good though. I knew what the risks were!

My Christmas pudding recipe calls for 100 mls of cider so it was great to be able to use me own!

[Ciderhead]

It may still be ok
If it gets a hold rack from underneath you may still be able to save some of it
Don't throw out remainder either as you sir have Cider Vinegar which is really really nice on salad

[mr hoppy]

The flakey one looks ok now, and the demijohns are on the way. It looked a bit like the first one on this page here - except nowhere near as bad.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/post-your-infection-71400/index12.html

Big fan of everything about cider vinegar - except the price.

[mr hoppy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqvENVPhWuQ

Crikey!

[Shanna]

We have said from the start you can naturally ferment with nothing added, but it's potentially a big risk, a bit like sleeping around, you may get lucky, you may get an infection
@ Shanna pics please for embarrassing ciders, where Dr Will and Dr Ch will have a prod at?

Can't comment about sleeping around but I put the cider in on top of a previously cleaned plastic fermenter. This involves soaking in mix of hot water and chlorine based cleaner wvp for approx 30 minutes.  Fermenter was rinsed with clean water and then given a 2 minutes rinse with starSan. The cider was mixed in with 16 Camden tablets.  I added 1 pack of cider yeast 24 hours after initial transfer to fermenter. I had no activity for three days and had addeda 2nd pack of yeast and also stirred it with previously cleaned plastic spoon for 10 minutes.  Going to transfer it to a stainless steel keg at the weekend and will grab a picture then. Does not smell or taste off per se but not really nice v either.

Shanns

[nigel_c]

Just transferred back to the original drum they cider came in.
Very clear already but a fair amount of farts in it.
I'm planning on just leaving the drum in my folks greenhouse till about march. My question is should I fit an air lock or will the sulfur just dissipate all sealed up. 

[nigel_c]

Cheers tube.

[Eoin]

Fit an airlock to allow it to off-gas at the least. Decanting risks oxidation.

Sent from my HTC One

[Ciderhead]

Minimise transfers and try and put them in a container with no headspace or flushed with co2

[nigel_c]

Cheers John. Squeezed as much air our but didn't flush with co2. A job for tomorrow.

[Shanna]

Planning to transfer my 25 litres of cider in to a 50 litre stainless steel keg that I have removed the spear from. I still have the original collar for the keg that I can just about fit a bubbler in to. I plan to inject some Co2 in to the keg relying on the fact that Co2 is heavier than air to help flush the headspace of air. Anybody see any problem with this?

Shanna

[Greg2013]

Getting ready to transfer my cider into secondary for cold crashing. Can we use the original containers the apple juice came in for long term secondary storage of the cider? Not sure what plastic they are made of, also have the normal 33lt fermenting buckets or a couple of 19lt water bottles. Which one of these would be best ?

[Greg2013]

Don't know what type of plastic the original apple juice drums are made of as there are no markings on them i can see. The water bottles are marked with a 7 inisde a triangle which the "Plastic Professor" tells me is food grade but NOT for storage of beer or cider or wine any longer than 4 weeks maximum. The FV buckets are ok for long term storage but i was hoping not to be tying them up that long. I want to condition until the new year, around six months time i am thinking. I will hopefully have my chest freezer and stc 1000 sorted soon and the cider is going in there then for crash chilling and storage.

I don't currently have glass carboys as i am waiting to see if the GB goes ahead, if it does the cider will be going into those.

[Ciderhead]

Ok just to repeat myself and others you need to store in glass or stainless filled to the top or with a co2 blanket.
The drums are made from HDPE the buckets PP(random or Homopolymer) these all have lousy oxygen permeation properties and none of these are good for greater than 3-4 months.
2l Pet coke bottles would be better or If your cider has sufficiently cleared and you have no carboy or stainless into glass bottles  .

[Greg2013]

Ok just to repeat myself and others you need to store in glass or stainless filled to the top or with a co2 blanket.
The drums are made from HDPE the buckets PP(random or Homopolymer) these all have lousy oxygen permeation properties and none of these are good for greater than 3-4 months.
2l Pet coke bottles would be better or If your cider has sufficiently cleared and you have no carboy or stainless into glass bottles  .

I heard ya the first time, i have no stainless and no glass as yet. All i have are the water bottles and the FV buckets. My cider has not sufficiently cleared so i will need to cold store it for a few months first. I don't want to put it in bottles yet for this reason, i want it a lot clearer than what it is right now before i back sweeten and bottle for conditioning.

I heard ya on the glass CH but as you know i was waiting on 2 x 25lt glass carboys off the group buy. Since this has been pushed out probably until the new year would i be better to just get two of the carboys from homebrew.ie ? They are the only ones with them currently in stock and they will deliver.