Stalled Cider...

I recently made a 6 gallon batch of graff, an one gal batch of apple-mango habanero cider, a 5 gal batch of caramelized cider, and a two gallon batch of grapefruit-apple cider. My problem is that they all have no/very little airlock activity and smell like the worst rhino farts ever!!! I don't know what has caused this. Any suggestions would be helpful. I used Nottingham and yeast nutrient in all...

What does your hydrometer tell you? What was your starting gravity, and what is the current gravity?

What's your temperature?

My gravity readings have not changed in a couple days and the temp is 69-71 F. Could I have possibly got a bad packet of yeast?

LandoAllen said:

My gravity readings have not changed in a couple days and the temp is 69-71 F. Could I have possibly got a bad packet of yeast?

Click to expand...

Depends, what are the current gravity readings?

I added a bit of yeast nutrient and energizer and re-pitched a new packer of Nottingham split into all of them. They are all bubbling away now so I'm thinking that the energizer helped to kick start things again.

My wife was helping me with sanitizing as I was taking samples for SG, pH, and taste readings and when I opened the graff she says
"what is that smell?!?! Is it rotten?"
I responded by saying "it is the sulfur that you are smelling from the yeast. It is normally referred to as 'rhino farts'."
She then said "it smells like the rhino did a little more than just fart into that bucket of cider."
I started laughing so hard and then I said "it's just from the yeast getting stressed out and they produce funky smells."
She then says "well if the yeast are stressed, maybe you should give them one of my Xanax."
I was laughing so hard that I was crying!

Haha!

Yeah my wife suggested I put the brew bucket in the pantry. Keep it safe from the cats she said... Then she opened the door to the after a couple of days... :-D

Just a little tip, if it started bubbling when adding the nutrient or energizer (and you added it to an already started fermentation) the perceived activity is most likely C02 being knocked out of suspension by the particles. It sounds like they are still doing fine though

I checked the SG again and there is indeed activity again.

The graff has the worst rhino fart ever but it is fermenting. Does this mean the yeast are going to be giving off flavors as well as bad smells?

No you should be fine. If I have a batch that the sulfur seems to hang around longer than expected...it's probably unorthodox...but I give the carboy a rouse every day to allow the CO2 to bubble up and release the sulfur through the airlock.

As I mentioned, it's probably the wrong method, but it works for me. I don't worry much about oxidation since theres no oxygen in the carboy and can't get in with the airlock in place.

You might want to try degassing with a wine whip or something similar. I've heard that helps get rid of sulfur smells.

A whip might introduce oxygen, so you would probably need to also use sulfites to prevent oxidation.