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ok my question is this i have bought a cider kit on the instructions it says to bottle after 7 days or when it reads 1010 on the hydrometer , my OG was 1072 and i have left it for seven days and it is now reading 1030 i have kept it at a constant 18 celsius . The only one thing i have done differently is add an extra pound of cane sugar to up the alcohol content , should i wait longer to bottle it or can i bottle it now??? Thanks in Advance

Grant

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Most ciders – especially with sugar added – are almost entirely fermentable sugars. As such, you should expect your final gravity to be close to 1.000, if not below for a lower-gravity OG.

1.030 is almost certainly not finished.

IME, without aggressive nutrient addition and/or very warm fermentation temps, cider ferments take at least 3 weeks, if not a couple/few months; let it ride. Patience and Time.

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    Adding nutrient at this stage also wouldn't hurt and might speed things along.
    – FishesCycle
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 18:52
  • but we don't want to wait, we want to drink it now :)
    – DefyGravity
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 22:27
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I'm on my 3rd batch myself. Patience is hard. 1.030 is not done. do not bottle. Some 1.1xx high OG starting gravities end in the 1.02x's, but 1.07x is not quite in that league.

Wait two days, take another reading, and make sure the OG keeps dropping. Patience.

Here is a link a cider judge would use to 'judge' your cider if you competed it, browse it to get an idea on what some cider styles 'should' be doing. I know, rules are meant to be broken, but you did start with a kit. I'm pretty sure the kit will try to follow the rules.

regardless of style, bottling before fermentation is done leads to extra CO2 pressure. Read this other question to get an idea what you need to do if you do bottle too early.

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  • This helps, thanks for advice I will wait a few more days
    – Grant Hogarth
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 17:07
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    My only concern here is that if the fermentation is as slow as I've experienced many cider ferments, SG readings even across multiple days might be the same, without necessarily indicating terminal gravity.
    – jsled
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 17:47
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Dont Panic
First 18C is a little on the cold side which is good for cider as it will reduce off flavours but will extend your ferm time, if its stopped bubbling take some hydrometer readings at 24 hour intervals, if the reading doesn't change then fermentation is finished.

Your original gravity was high due to the cane sugar most likely so I wouldn't be surprised if 1.03 is your final gravity. Fermentation could have stopped because the alcohol content was too high for the yeast or because all of the available sugars have already been converted.

It's worth noting that sucrose is not as easy for yeast to breakdown so your cider may end up quite sweet.

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