Cider clearing...

alex

Hi Guys. Me again! My cider has been fermenting away for almost four weeks now. I am going to check with the hydrometer before bottling but I think im not too far off. However the cider does still seem very cloudy and has hardly cleared at all. Could you shed any light on why this may be? Im wondering if its because there is still a good bit of fermenting to do (I have had it in a cooler part of the house so it maybe taking alittle longer), or could it simply be the type of apples i used will create a cider that is more cloudy than others? Is it a case that the cider may clear more when racked in the bottles? Sorry to keep the questions coming, finally what specific gravity should I look for before deciding to bottle? As I mentioned the cider will have been fermenting 4 weeks on tuesday and if poss id like to get it bottled soon.

Thanks for all your help. The forum is such a useful tool for a new brewer like myself. And the itams I have bought from the Home Brew shop are great!!

Alex

HBO_Staff

Hi Alex. Your cider will normaly be a bit cloudy at that stage but this isnt something to worry about. If your hydrometer reading is around 1005 - 1010 then it should be ready for bottling. Your cider should get clearer in the bottle during secondary fermentation hopefully, but like you say some ciders will turn out cloudier then others. I like mine cloudy, it reminds me of the scrumpy I use to drink when I lived in the west country, proper cider. Dont worry about the questions either, keep them coming, its helping to build up our forum. So thanks for coming to us for advice.

alex

Thanks team : ) and thanks for the help when I rang the other day. I decided to go ahead and bottle up. There was a white substance floating on the top, I thought it was mould but it all smelt fine and didn't really look too much like a mould. Anyway I symphoned from under it and am going to see how it turns out. If I open it and it's clearly bad I'll tip it and try again next year.
Alex

Theirishraider

hi Guys,

 

just reading your post...would pectolase clear the cider? if so do you put it in to the fermented cider before bottling?

regards

 

HBO_Staff

You can do a couple of things to help it clear, you could transfer it to another vessel and leave it to settle for another few days which will allow more sediment to settle out, and ideally have used a good quality yeast to ensure the sediment compacts well. Pectolase helps to prevent pectin hazes, so you can add around a teaspoon to the juice before leaving it to ferment. Another useful thing to do is to use finings, these are added after fermentation and help to remove the sediment so your brew is clearer. It depends on what is causing the cloudiness, many brews are cloudy because they have not settled, so by leaving the brew to allow sediment to collect at the bottom of the vessel, and then trying not to disturb it when syphoning over into a barrel or bottles, it will help the brew to clear after secondary fermentation, with the minimum of sediment in the finished bottles/barrel. What people sometimes find, is that the brew is clear until chilled down before drinking, and then can go cloudy once chilled, this is because haze producing proteins in the brew make the brew appear cloudy, but this sometimes goes when the brew is warmed back up again. It is referred to as a 'chill haze' and will not affect the taste of the brew.