When to add the airlock

[Michael Davidson]

I have pressed a mix of Arkansas Black, Stayman Winesap, Cortland, and Macintosh apples and have 3 gallons of juice ready for my first ever batch of cider. I am taking a sample up to a winemaking friend who will help me determine sg, pH, and TA, so I should have those numbers in a couple of hours. I have added the recommended amount of pectin enzyme, and will be adding campden tablets per Andrews website as soon as I know pH. My question is when to put on the airlock. Do I do it now, after adding the Campden tablets, or when I add the yeast tomorrow night?

[Andrew Lea]

So personally I would let it run a couple of days with an empty airlock after adding the yeast, in case it foams up early on and it's a mess to clean. Once the fermentation is steadily under way, then fill the airlock with liquid. Yeasts need air in their growth phase to develop strong cell walls (although this isn't so important if using a good quality cultured yeast).

Andrew

Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
www.cider.org.uk

> On 4 Nov 2016, at 19:46, Michael Davidson <mdvd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have pressed a mix of Arkansas Black, Stayman Winesap, Cortland, and Macintosh apples and have 3 gallons of juice ready for my first ever batch of cider. I am taking a sample up to a winemaking friend who will help me determine sg, pH, and TA, so I should have those numbers in a couple of hours. I have added the recommended amount of pectin enzyme, and will be adding campden tablets per Andrews website as soon as I know pH. My question is when to put on the airlock. Do I do it now, after adding the Campden tablets, or when I add the yeast tomorrow night?
>

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[Michael Davidson]

I'll be using Red Star Premier Blanc yeast. I left about 3 inches of headspace in the carboy and figured to add more juice to top it off after the fermentation starts to slow down.

[Dick Dunn]

On Fri, Nov 04, 2016 at 07:55:10PM +0000, Andrew Lea wrote:
> So personally I would let it run a couple of days with an empty airlock after adding the yeast, in case it foams up early on and it's a mess to clean. Once the fermentation is steadily under way, then fill the airlock with liquid...

Yes, and there's a variation and an additional thought on this:

If you're fermenting in a carboy, or where you can rig it up conveniently,
you can start with a "blowoff" as home brewers do. This is just a chunk of
the largest tubing you can arrange to connect to the fermenter, e.g. a
length of 1.25" OD tubing fits snugly in the neck of a standard US carboy.
Bend the tubing over and immerse the other end in a bucket of water with a
bit of sanitizer or bleach. As the rowdy fermentation begins, it will push
the grunge and foam out the tube (which is easy to clean) into the bucket.
This also means you can start with a nearly full carboy and this initial
process will clean up the juice a bit.

For the first fermentation lock, use the 3-piece type since you can take it
apart to clean if the fermentation kicks up into it. Later on you may
prefer to use the S-shape (swan's neck) one-piece lock. It's easier to see
slow fermentation with the latter type, but they're nearly impossible to
clean if they get grunge in them.

--
Dick Dunn rc...@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA