When to rack my bubble-less cider and can I rack it into a bag in a box?

Question

I recently pressed a some garden apples into two buckets of cider.

The first bucket has been air sealed in a fermentation bucket with an airlock for 2 weeks. As explained in another thread I have about 8 litres in a 15 litre bucket so there is quite a bit of headspace in there. With this batch I added some wine yeast after a week.

The second bucket has been sealed for around a week and has around the same headspace, being 10 litres in a 15 litre fermentation bucket. With this bucket I added my yeast when I added the airlock a week ago.

Neither of the buckets is yet showing any bubbling through the airlock.

My questions are as follows..

1. When will it be ready! LOL. I know this is an obvious question but despite some googling and YouTubing I’m still not entirely clear of this. I am assuming the lack of bubbles is due to the excessive headspace? If this is so, will I be lacking an important indication of the fermentation taking place?
2. I would prefer not to rack it into bottles for various reasons. My ideal outcome would be to add it in a 'bag in a box'/keg with a tap so I can pop out to the garage and pour a glass as and when I fancy one. Can I siphon it directly into a bag in a box and then that’s it I am done and ready to drink?
3. If I want to sweeten it with honey or sugar, can I add that to the bag in the box or can I only do this is if I bottle it?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

When will it be ready! LOL. I know this is an obvious question but despite some googling and YouTubing I’m still not entirely clear of this. I am assuming the lack of bubbles is due to the excessive headspace? If this is so, will I be lacking an important indication of the fermentation taking place?

Well, that depends on what you really consider "ready". Fully fermented should only take a few weeks, but some longer term conditioning, say a month or so is usually a good idea and will help improve the flavor. Really, the longer the better with cider. If you pitched a wine yeast on this- it should be showing some fermentation. More likely the bucket isn't fully sealed and air is escaping. However- you need a meaningful measure of fermentation, i.e. a hydrometer. Without that, the best you'll ever be doing is guessing.

Can I siphon it directly into a bag in a box and then that’s it I am done and ready to drink?

I don't see why not. I haven't used these- and I doubt they are rated for carbonation pressure, but perhaps that depends on your specific model. As long as you are just racking in still, or pre-carbonated cider that will no longer ferment it should be fine.

If I want to sweeten it with honey or sugar, can I add that to the bag in the box or can I only do this is if I bottle it?

Do you plan on the cider being carbonated? If so, it gets a bit tricky. Adding sugars will cause the cider to likely continue fermenting- unless you add some sorbates to prevent fermentation- or keep it quite cold. Adding sorbates however will prevent the yeast from working- and stop your ability to carbonate.

I typically add a cup or two of fresh juice directly into my kegs to backsweeten- I don't bother with sorbates as it is kept quite cold, and the keg can withstand the pressure of fermenting cider if it does continue to work despite the cold.