Cider won't start?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tdjb

Active Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2009
Messages
43
Reaction score
0
Location
Centennial, CO
So I'm stuck here, I have a cider that just won't start fermenting and was hoping the experts might have some ideas :). I previously made a 1 gallon batch that turned out great so I stepped it up to 4 gallons. About a week ago I pitched the packet of S-04 but after a few days nothing was happening. I took a gravity reading and that confirmed that there was nothing going on. I then added some yeast nutrient and pitched another packet of S-04 (that was on wednesday). I took a reading today and again, nothing. The temps are right around 65 so I don't think it's that.

I'm using a different type of cider then the last time but according to the jug it's just 100% pasturized cider, nothing added which is just like the cider I used for my successful 1 gallon batch. Outside of that the whole process has been the same. Is there anything I can do to try and get this thing going? I'd hate to dump out 4 gallons of cider.
 
Sounds like bad yeast or the cider has preservatives.

My opinion.

Try starting the yeast seperate in warm spring water and adding. This would rule out the yeast
 
there are preservatives in the ingredients? temps should be above 55F. maybe you got two packs of dead yeast, which is unlikely. you could buy a 5 gram pack of champagne yeast, make a starter to be sure its active
 
I had the same problem with my 5 gallon batch this year and I couldn't figure out what went wrong. I talked to a few local experts and this is what I tried.

I siphoned a half gallon into a clean glass gallon carboy
 
And then I diluted it with about a half gallon of water. I added a little more sugar and pitched a pack of lavlin ec-1118. I put it in a dark corner of my kitchen where it was a little warmer ( 65 degrees or so). And let it sit for a couple days. Yeast took off. Then I added it back to the main batch. It worked great. Started bubbling within a couple hours.

I'm still not sure what the problem was to start with. :)
 
wyldewal: I might have to give that a try as a last ditch attempt at saving this, thanks for the info.

BWN, I don't have the containers anymore but I'm pretty sure this was just 100% pressed apple juice. I head read on here what to look for so I made sure it didn't have anything added to it. The only thing was that it was pasteurized but my 1 gallon batch was as well. I'm headed to the same store this weekend so if they still have it I'll double check the ingredients again. I do know for sure it had a "drink before" date which was about 30 days out from when we got it.
 
Back
Top