Cider brewer introduction

Take a minute to introduce yourself to the Borg and tell us what's brewing. You can ask questions here too!

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Cider_Drinker
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Cider brewer introduction

Post by Cider_Drinker »

Hello! I am new to home-brewing (just started my second batch) and I'm very excited to learn more here! I do have two questions right off the bat...

1. I got my kit and supplies from BrewDemon, and their instructions recommend leaving my cider in the fermenter for one week, then bottling and letting the bottles sit at room temperature for one week, then cold conditioning for however long I like. I've seen mention of "3-2-2" around the forum, but will following a longer timeline ruin my recipe?

2. I have a bubbler airlock at the top of my fermenter. For my last (first) batch, the water stayed level between the two sides/canisters of the airlock. This time, it seems more pressure is building up in the fermenter as the water is mostly all pushing to one side/canister and it "gulps" about every 30 seconds. The water does return to being level on both sides when I gently, slightly lift the airlock's plug out and replace it, but then it pushes to one side again within a few minutes. Is something horribly wrong happening or is it fine to keep doing its thing?

Thank you, and I'm very excited to glean info from this forum and dive in!
--Cider_Drinker
bpgreen
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Re: Cider brewer introduction

Post by bpgreen »

Welcome.

I'm not much on ciders, so I can't answer your first question.

On the second question, the airlock is doing what it's supposed to do. When the airlock is bubbling like that, it's a sure sign that fermentation is happening. Note that a lack of bubbling doesn't necessarily mean a lack of fermentation. There can be slight leaks, fermentation may be slower, etc. But that bubbling means the airlock is doing what it's supposed to do.
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mashani
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Re: Cider brewer introduction

Post by mashani »

FWIW, the last person here that I saw that did a cider with 1 week in the fermenter ended up with bottle bombs / over carbonation (maybe won't become bombs if you were going for flat cider, but instead would end up fizzy instead of flat), so I would say going 2 weeks in the fermenter is a good thing, and I doubt 3 would hurt.
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John Sand
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Re: Cider brewer introduction

Post by John Sand »

Welcome aboard! I haven't made cider, but it's still yeast eating sugar. I leave everything for three weeks.
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