crafalik

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I am new to the world of cider. I just kegged and force carbonated my cider to the delight of all who visit. It came out great.

I placed three gallons of quality organize cider and two pounds of granulated sugar in a fermenter (3 gal glass carboy) and allowed it to ferment for 5 months. I then added preservatives and blended it back with two additional gallons of fresh unfermented cider (I wanted it to be a little sweeter with more apple character). Force carbonated it and its amazing.

Now here is the question. A few months before I started that batch I purchased some of the same cider to experiment with. I bought some airlocks and stoppers that would fit on the glass jugs. I emptied out a little cider and simply added some Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast. The plan was to try different methods of sweetening it to see if there was a preferred method. What I ended up with was vinegar. NOT PLEASANT.

Where did I go wrong? Why was I successful the first time? Did I let them sit too long or do I need to do something to prevent wild yeast?

Thanks

crafalik

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For the record - the cider I used was pasteurized but did not contain preservatives.

Yooper

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Boy, I don't have an answer for that except to say that obviously it got infected by Acetobacter. How that happened is a mystery- could a fruit fly have gotten in there? Was there contamination on the yeast packet? Did your airlock/stopper not get sanitized properly? Did the stopper ride up at some point and allow the infection?

I'm a winemaker, so I do use Campden tablets in everything I don't boil, and I've never had an infection. But there are people who don't use them, and don't get infections, too! I'm sure that it was sanitation- but how/when will always be a mystery, at least to me.

I say try it again- use Campden tablets if you want to be sure to kill the wild things. It might not be necessary, but it might help.

Lorena

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zoebisch01

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I agree with Lorenae, that is exactly the reason I used Campden in my cider. My guess is that one would be hard pressed (pun not necessarily intended) to produce a wild yeast cider that kept itself from turning into vinegar unless you have a seriously dominant wild strain. My best guess would be the cider itself because although the cider was pasteurized that does not garauntee it remains free from bacteria getting into it after it has been pasteurized. You are really just assured that no contact stuff (ie. ecoli and all that jazz, which I believe are not airborne) that can hurt you. But this stuff does have some exposure to the air, so maybe. Either way, you should try to get a hold of some fresh, unpasteurized cider in the fall and use some Campden (follow the directions, too much is a bad thing) and then pitch your yeast about 36 hrs later (I pitched at 24 and it was fine).