5 days after the start of fermentation for the Apple Cider Wine from Windy Ridge Orchard, on December 9th, I tested the must to see what progress we had. The juice measured in at 1.010, obviously fermenting at a very rapid pace. Earlier in the week, on a daily basis I stirred the juice to break the cap that was forming on the surface. I knew that I was the bucket was a bit too full, because one day, I checked on it and found that the foam was pushing up through the small port in the lid. I had a bit of mess to clean up…but was excited to see how aggressively it was fermenting.
The next day, on December 10th, I racked the wine through a fine filter into a secondary carbuoy. The specific gravity was down to 1.000. I was able to get a full 6 gallons leaving behind a murky sludge of lees behind. I took the carbuoy down into the cellar which stays pretty consistently around 60 degrees farenheit. Up until now, the juice was fermenting on the first level of the house where I could keep it at around 70 degrees.
12/28/09 – Cider is still (slowly) perking away in the cellar. I’ll wait another week to test the SG and perhaps rack it again.