First attempt = Problems
 

So I decided to make a batch of Brandon O's Graff. Followed his recipe, pitched some rehydrated nottingham, and put it away to ferment. Then I started reading about some of the problems people have been having with Nottingham. I got worried so i started checking it once a day, and 72 hours later i still had nothing. I was going to repitch with some S-04 or S-05, but when i opened the lid this time, this is what i found.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...2/IMG00019.jpg



Is there any saving this or is it a dumper? can i rack from below it and repitch?

I've made 6 or 7 batches of beer and never had an infection so this is new territory for me

That is definitely a dumper. Obviously the fermentation never started and when you leave sugars sitting around for that long with no yeast activity (ie, alcohol) this can easily happen. Did you have old yeast? Pitch it too hot? What was the OG?

OG was 1.058, everything was good and cool when i pitched. I really don't know how old the yeast was, i should have checked it but i didn't. I didn't pay attention at the lhbs when i told the guy i needed some nottingham, and when i got home i found he had given me windsor, so i had to run to a close shop and pick some up and didn't pay attention to the date. I've heard that you can rack from underneath it sometimes and still save it, but I didn't know if that was possible here or not.

Ewwwww not good

Ewwwwww.. by the looks of it it's floating all through it, don't know if you'd be able to rack that out :(

I see how it looks that way in the picture, but i think its all just floating on top....

in that case rack from underneath and pitch the US05. IMHO US05 works better for malt ciders

do i need to do anything to it after i rack it and before i pitch the new yeast in order to keep it from doing this again?

Ideally you could put it in a carboy with a lot less headspace and blow some CO2 on the top so that you arent getting random organisms from all that air.

Make sure that the surroundings are clean. Mold in the cider is usually an indicator that there is mold nearby

that's some pretty nasty stuff