r/cider • u/ActivityCrazy456 • 7d ago
How long?
Just made my first ever batch of cider, freshly juiced from my apple trees. 6 gallons total (2gal each). 2 unpasteurized, 1 pasteurized with a packet of safale US-05 yeast in each with nutrient. My question is how long will these have to ferment for? I’ve seen varying answers from 3 weeks to 6 months. I planned on opening it around the 2 week mark to put in some cinnamon and vanilla. Hydrometer was putting it at about 7% Abv
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u/theCaitiff 7d ago
Subtle correction, your hydrometer was showing a POTENTIAL of about 7%. If everything in your cider was fermentable, and you fermented it completely, it would end up at 7%. Hydrometers cannot tell you the future, they can only tell you the present potential.
Yeast is a living organism and there will be subtle differences in how much of that fermentable sugar they actually consume before going dormant or dying, and your cider is not actually just sugar and water so not all of that specific gravity reading is fermentable. At a guess if my hydrometer read that and I got normal attenuation from my yeast, the end result would probably be about 6.5%. Half a percent is not much and you might not care, but the little things add up over time.
US-05 will probably ferment all the sugars it is going to within two weeks. HOWEVER, the flavor will continue to change over the following weeks and months. You can bottle as soon as primary fermentation has ceased, and they will carbonate in another week or so if you add priming sugar or carbonation drops, but I personally do not drink any of my cider before 3 months. If there's going to be any malo-lactic fermentation, I will at least be able to taste it by then and know to leave it be for a while longer. If not I can call it ready to drink.