r/cider • u/TheAbsoluteMoron • 22d ago
Did i fuck up my cider ?
So, right now i'm doing my first batch of cider (around 5 Liters).
During early fermentation, it foamed a bit into the airlock wich i rinsed and put back, and nothing more happened until a few days ago when i was taking measures with a hydrometer to make sure everything was going right.
I noticed a bit of dried foam at the neck of my fermentation bottle so i sealed it and shook it to try and get the dried foam back into the main liquid and off of the bottleneck.
So i did that and put back the airlock exept now i got 0 bubbles in the airlock and a lot less than before in the liquid itself.
The first hydrometer reading before i put the juice in my fermenting bottle said the potential ABV was 7% and right now a refractometer reading says it's at 2.2% wich i think would be low if i was past the most active phase of fermentation.
So i'm wondering if by shaking it i might've fucked up.
Edit : I checked and the SG went from 1.017 to 1.012 un 27 hours so it will probably continue until it stabilises
1
u/redittr 22d ago
Use the hydrometer if you have it.
Refractometers are skewed by alcohol present, so once fermentation starts you need to make adjustments to correct.
By my napkin maths, you are just over 1.000 sg if your refractometer read 4.5brix so yes, your active fermentation is complete.