What do you do about high cider FG?

I went ahead and tried one of Mangrove Jack's cider kits — the raspberry and mango one if anyone is interested. Shoved the fermentation bucket into the garage, and checked in after a couple of weeks. I noticed quite a bit of the infamous rhino farts, which was unpleasant, and the SG was around 1.011. Realising that the temperatures were probably a bit low (nothing too extreme, around 17–18 degrees Celsius) for the yeast at this point, I moved it inside and left it for another week. Now, according the Mangrove Jack's website, FG should be 1.006 ± 0.002 for this cider, but it seems to have stalled at ~1.009, might be 1.010 (I find it's sometimes hard to read on the bloody hydrometer :P ), which feels somewhat high to me. I used dextrose together with the extracts, so I would have expected it to finish lower.

So, what do you guys think? Is it possible I'm getting low attenuation because of low initial temperatures (the sachet said 20–25 degrees Celcius, whoops!)? Maybe it's just varying degree of frementables in the syrup from Mangrove Jack's? Would you wait longer? Would you try repitching? Any input would be greatly appreciated! :)

Topic fruit-extract final-gravity kits cider homebrew

Category Mac


I would probably let it sit another week. The FG only seems one point of from their range. Your temperature would have slowed fermentation but should not have killed it to be honest.

I wouldnt bother repitching yeast unless you intend to use a yeast with a much higher attenuation (eg champagne yeast) but that will also effectively dry out your yeast.

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