Sudden slowed fermentation

[Ian Banks]

apologies I am a total home brewing, novice but have a simple brewing question about a 5 gallon batch of cider started last week and using a pressed crop of mainly desert apples picked directly off our gardens tree last weekend. Since pressing the fermentation has gone like crazy for 4 days (bubbling through the lock every second or faster) but suddenly this morning has slowed dramatically overnight ( now bubbling once every minute or so).

Fruit was all washed, scratted and pressed and Camden tablets added to juice for 24 hours before adding cider yeast and nutrients. Starting SG was 1055 and I added 0.5 kg of sugar to take it up to 1060. The 5 gallon vessel was sterilised and has a fermentation lock and is in our centrally heated kitchen but also has a small heated brewing band around the middle and insulation around sides. The fermentation picked up very quickly within a day and for 3 further days had bubbled through the fermentation lock every second or faster up until last night. I haven't tested the temp or SG recently.

Question is: Is this sudden tail-off something to worry about, and is there something I should and shouldn't be doing?

I must confess to occassionally taking the lid off to check the yeast activity over the last few days, so am worried this inlet of air might have contributed to the slowing.

Cheers

Ian

[Handmade Cider]

Ian it is probably nothing to worry about.

There are 2 stages to fermentation, the primary, where the yeast uses the available oxygen in the juice to reproduce and the secondary, where the yeast metabolises the sugar to create the oxygen it needs and produces alcohol as a by product. The primary fermentation will be vigorous with lots of foam on the surface and the secondary will be slower and gentler.

Denis

Denis France   www.handmadecider.co.uk   07590 264804  Company. No. 07241330

White Label – Champion Farmhouse Cider, Bath & West Show 2015.

Spring Surprise - Cider of the Festival Chippenham Camra Beer Festival 2015 & 2014

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[Tim]

What is the sg? I'll bet it has finished working unlike mine which has been known to drag on for 9 months.

BTW. Cider makers FERMENT.

Tim in Dorset

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[Ray Blockley]

Hi Ian - and welcome! :-)

As Tim says there is nothing to worry about. Fermentation will slow as time progresses and may appear to slow rapidly in some cases.  Checking the SG now will tell you just how much sugars are left in the juice. As the fermenter is in a warm room & with a heating band (neither needed TBH, in the UK anyway) I'd hazard a guess that fermentation us virtually complete. Did you use a wine yeast as well as nutrients? Again that would point to the job being done.

Ray

[Ian Banks]

Dear Tim,

Thanks for this reassurance and I will remember I am a 'fermenter' of cider hereafter. Realised now a few of my novice mistakes but am already thinking of how to improve it next time.

PS: SG being the specific gravity.

Kind regards

Ian

[Tim]

Learn something new every day, I do.

 

Tim in Dorset

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[Ian Banks]

Thanks for the reassurances and the welcome Ray,

As well as being a cider novice this is also my first ever Google Group and so delighted and quite amazed to have had 3 responses already overnight.

I did use a cider yeast as well as nutrients, but suspect I had the temperature way too high as I only started the ferment it with yeast added last Tuesday afternoon (SG 1060) and by Saturday it was slowed right down (SG 1000).

Kind regards

Ian

[Ian Banks]

Dear Denis,

Thanks for the post and further reassurance (what a wonderful friendly community you cider makers are!)

Just off to drop my hired scratter and press back at the equally friendly http://themossciderproject.org/ in Manchester, so will also be badgering them for inside info also. Am already planning to buy my own kit for next years pressing I have enjoyed it so much!

Regards

Ian

[Ray Blockley]

Hi Ian,

The Moss Cider Project guys are helpful & knowledgeable so you should
get good support from them. Am I right in thinking you are "swayed" or
influenced by home wine-making & brewing beer? If so, you are best
forgetting most things about brewing beer; ignoring a good few of the
things about home wine making; and just do some background research &
ask questions about cider making in the UK :-)

I assume you've checked out Andrew Lea's website which is a gold mine
of useful info:
www.cider.org.uk

Try an ambient temperature ferment next time by using an out house /
secure shed and see how a long slow ferment & maturing (which most UK
cider makers employ) benefits your ciders. Forget heating belts & warm
rooms / airing cupboards, etc - unless you desire a "turbo cider" of
the sort the kits will give you... ;-)

Tip for buying kit: IMHO the most important component is a good
electric mill / scratter - the press can be handmade from timber or
metal (new or recycled / scrounged or any combination) & net
curtaining used for press cloths. Most beginner folk seem to think the
press is more important - it isn't. If you haven't got the right
consistency of pulp, you are on a hiding to nothing. If you have a
limited budget my advice is to seek out a good mill & use your money
on that.

Just my two penn'orth of course...

Ray.

> To post to this group, send email to cider-w...@googlegroups.com.

[Ian Banks]

Thanks again Ray,

Very happy to have your two penn'orth, and funnily enough a lot of what you suggested I had slowly begun to recognise myself anyway through my own learning experiences over the last week plus my  various reading online. I realise I should have researched more before jumping in, but that said, the current batch is still tasting pretty good to me for my first attempt, and that is just encouraging me to get into it more and do even better.

The Moss Cider guys have also been very helpful, but their rented scratter was a small hand crank affair and a bit too small and so took a lot of effort. I will bear in mind your suggestions, but have already been looking out for good deals online.

I have to say I am hooked on the cider now and only problem is I am not sure I can wait a year every year for our single tree in the garden to fruit!

Will check out your suggested weblink. Thanks again.

Kind regards

Ian

[Chris Worledge]

Hi Ian,

There are still plenty of apples on the trees! Have another go now. Be aware thought, cider making is an obsession now for many of us who thought we would 'give it a go'.
Have fun!

Chris
Ham Hill Cider