I was going to shuffle the cider on to a new demijohn today so that I could use the yeast at the bottom to start the new “Newport” batch.  When I carefully carried it in from the garage (trying to avoid twisting and bumping) I thought it looked pretty clear.  My instructions said that I should bottle it at this stage, so I went through the process again like yesterday, sterilising my tube and filling the bottles evenly.  The batch looks pretty clear and the specific gravity was 1.002.  This batch has an interesting history, recorded in my initial scribbled notes.  It was 1.040 then I had added a mysterious 113g of sugar (which looks like 4oz).  113g turns out to be the sugar needed to raise one gallon at 1.040 to 1.050.  I had worked this out from the sheet in the hydrometer.  So, the gravity went from 1.050 to 1.002 – according to the sheet this means that the final alcohol content is about 6%, which is spot on right.

I then added one heaped teaspoon of sugar to each bottle and topped them up a little with water so they looked about the same height so looked nice and even.  It wasn’t much water so I don’t think it will affect them much at all.  I remembered to have a little taste as well.  It was much less harsh than last time.  Almost drinkable.  Another few weeks and it will be worth a try.  A little shake to get the sugar dissolved and off they go to do their fizzy magic for a few days.

I left the must at the bottom  in the hope that can be my cider yeast for the next batch.