Our cider has been bubbling away for about a month now, making our annex smell slightly like a pub.
Do you see the bubbly water in the jar? That is gas being created by the yeasting process. You have to allow some method for this to escape the jug, without introducing oxygen. So we set up this tubing system that terminates in water.
After a month, the fermenting process is probably over, but we can't get out the glasses just yet! The liquid is still cloudy and unappetising, so now we need to rack the cider.
Racking cider just means siffoning it from one jug to another. Very easy and quick, if you don't count the time and energy it takes to sterilize all the equipment. But I do count that, because I had to do it!
To siffon the cider we used a set-up you see here.
Pretty basic!
It took about 3 minutes to move 19 liters, so this is definitely not a time-consuming task.
A lot of oxygen is introduce into the brew during racking, which can initiate a second fermenting process, but that is quite rare, and unnecessary for the final product. Just thought I'd mention it.
And look what we found in the bottom. Eeeww!
Although it looks quite nasty, it's actually mostly the added yeast. This sediment not only makes the cider cloudy, it can deteriorate and make the cider taste bad as well. So it had to go.
The new jug of cider is clearer, but still not clear, so we'll rack once more before bottling, Be sure to check back in in about 6 weeks for part three!
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