No drop in gravity?

Thursday (3 days ago) I started my first non kit cider. To 12 litres of apple cider and about a litre of high malt glucose I pitched 1.5 oz of ale yeast. Not sure of the exact strain. I have kept the brewing temperature at 21 celcius since and as of last night there had been no real drop in the gravity. SG was 1064 last night it was 1062.

I know it can take a while for the little yeasties to get going so I'm only just starting to worry. Should I start considering re pitching some more yeast. I added nutrient by the way.

1062 is lower than 1064........
It's working, give it time.

IrregularPulse said:

1062 is lower than 1064........
It's working, give it time.

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Yes, it is....Remember we're dealing with living microorgganisms, they are in charge, not you...and they haven their own timeframe.

We're not mixing coolaid here, patience is the key.

Thanks guys I just wanted someone to tell me twhat I already thought I knew. It's just that I never tried to do this without a kit before. I will wait a little longer. But man it smells so damn good by the fermenter right now.

It was over 72 HRS last night and with no sign of activity in the air lock I decided I had better take a sample and test the gravity. Still 1063ish (I must have read the last reading wrong). I really don't want to lose this batch. It took some looking to get just the right apple juice and sadly it cost more to make than my beers do. I had stopped by my LHBS on the way home to get some fresh yeast just in case. I was telling the owner about the problems I had been having and he told me that they had a problem with a batch of ale yeast a little while back and maybe I got some of that. He offered me any strain that I wanted free of charge. Re ptiched last night hopefully it will be doing something tonight.

He also gave me a $10 gift card for my troubles.

Okay man. I had this problem before. Now, you need to look at some thing first before you go all crazy. One thing is PH. You need a good ph level for the yeast to multiply and ferment. Temp is also important, and you seem to know that it is in the good range. These are pretty important for the yeast. Now, if your yeast is having trouble starting, I am wondering if you made a starter before pitching your yeast? This is where you start the yeast in a half gallon for 24 hours before pitching that into your mash. If not, it's not a problem, but it does help. Now, next question would be if you have use a yeast nutrient. If not, first try that. The instructions are on the container. This is a nitrogen mixture that gives the yeast extra nutrients to help it thrive. You can add that any time durring the primary fermentation. I added this to my stuck batch and it kicked it off the next day. One other thing you might do is to add a yeast energiser. This is a B vitamine mixture to help stuck yeast get going. Now if any of these things do not work, then you can always pitch more yeast in your liquid mash. Your yast might be bad. If you do this, look up making a starter. Let me know how this turns out too! I really hope this helps you. Oh, and stop taking samples after this and pe patient! Cheers!

I started my first batch of cider about 5 days ago. I checked the gravity earlier today, and found it to be exactly the same as when I pitched the yeast. I did some research and found out that the preservatives in the juice I used--sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate--provide a hostile environment for the yeast. Hopefully you don't have this problem, but if you still have the juice containers around you may want to check to make sure. I also read that with a big starter or yeast cake you may be able to overcome the preservatives, so all hope may not be lost if you made the same oversight that I did.

I made sure to buy a cider that was preservative free as much as possible. It contained only .001% sorbate.

I used nutrient as well because I heard that sometimes the apple juice didn't support yeast well.

Last night I checked on things and sure enough something is happening. I can smell the fermenting happening now. It also looks like it started with a bang and has slowed. I didn't take a gravity reading since it has only been one day but there is some "scum" on the top. Not a krausen and the sides of the fermenter are now covered in cider from the foaming action that seems to have slowed.

Hopefully something is actually happening now.

I was bummed when I found out I made that mistake. I'm glad you didn't you're seeing some movement.

loctones said:

I was bummed when I found out I made that mistake.

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As long as you learn from your mistakes, then you are bound to be a good brewer! Learning from your mistakes also means that you will gain real life trouble shooting experience.

SFBEER said:

I made sure to buy a cider that was preservative free as much as possible. It contained only .001% sorbate.

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Well, ANY sorbate is too much. It inhibits yeast reproduction, so it's not recommended to use juice that has any sorbate in it.

Some people have successfully overcome the sorbate by using a huge starter, and had enough yeast cells to ferment without reproduction. You could try that if this repitching doesn't work.

Next time, don't use juice with sorbate, even a little bit. The purpose of sorbate is to inhibit fermentation.

True. Funny as it is, the biggest thing that bothers me about the failed batch is that I'll have to clean up and I won't have anything to show for it. Even though I know it's very important, I hate cleaning!

There is a huge amount of yeast in there now. I added another 150 grams of Coopers Ale yeast the other day and it seems to be fermenting now. REALLY, REALLY, REALLY slowly though. It is going to take a while but I think it will work. I am going to leave it another couple of weeks and if there is no real drop in gravity by then I will give up then.

Next time I will be more careful in regards to the sorbate.