So about a week ago I brewed my first cider. I'm still a bucket brewer and am pretty broke in general. I picked up some very fresh apple "cider" juice in Hendersonville, NC. 3gal. of a blend of red delicious, jonagold, fuji, crispin and a few others. I added a gal. of water that I dissolved a cup of brown sugar in and steeped a vanilla bean and 2 cinnamon sticks for 30 min at 150. I fermented with Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast (2 packs). Also added pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient. Added more nutrient after fermentation slowed ~36 hours. All signs of fermentation stopped at ~72 hours. Now it's been in the primary bucket for a week after fermentation stopped.
What I'm looking for in this cider is a nice sparkling dry cider. I don't want to introduce any more flavors into what I already have. So I'm not looking at adding any oak. Clean apple flavor with a hint of the vanilla and cinnamon.
Now you're caught up. My questions are: do I need to rack it into another bucket and age it out for a while? How long am I looking at aging it? Can I put it directly from primary into bottles and age it that way?
Thanks my networks
McD