Firstnten
Well-Known Member
I left 4 gallons out for two days and it looks like they started to ferment. The containers expanded. Should I dump them?
Freesh pressed cider
- Thread starter Firstnten
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
OP
OP
Firstnten
Well-Known Member
too late for that my wife put them in the fridge out of fear they would explode...I guess I should have mentioned that...sorry
xumbi
Well-Known Member
There's no reason you can't take them out of the fridge and pour them into a fermenter. The yeast will "wake up" as the temperature rises.
OP
OP
Firstnten
Well-Known Member
I'll try it...should I take an SG reading? should I add any sugar?
CvilleKevin
Well-Known Member
Put airlocks on them and see how they do. Try to keep them cool - around 60 degrees or lower. Wild yeasts can run away and ferment out all the yeast in no time. They also tend to get bad tasting below 1.020, depending on the mix of wild yeasts present. They will actually be easier to deal with in gallons because wild yeasts can be really tough to crash. Also, wild yeast ferments dont like to be handled much at all, so I would not advise pouring them into a new carboy. Keep them in the original containers and try to keep everything that touches them as sterile as possible
Maybe add sugar to one or two, later in the ferment, but you cant add much because the wild yeasts can only convert so much sugar to alcohol before they start going weird. You're probably going to get more apple taste with no sugar but if you have four gallons it might be worth experimenting
Maybe add sugar to one or two, later in the ferment, but you cant add much because the wild yeasts can only convert so much sugar to alcohol before they start going weird. You're probably going to get more apple taste with no sugar but if you have four gallons it might be worth experimenting
OP
OP
Firstnten
Well-Known Member
I was going to put them all in one Carboy...I'd have to go out and buy 4 more air locks and I don't see me getting to a LHBS untill this weekend
CvilleKevin
Well-Known Member
I'd keep them in the fridge until you can get the airlocks. Wild yeasts dont like being handled and if you put them in a 5 gal carboy there will be 1 gal of air sitting on top of them, which is not ideal given that wild yeast ferments are finicky and contamination prone to start with. Plus it will be harder to crash a carboy and with wild yeast you will almost certainly want to crash it before it ferments out unless you get very very lucky with the yeast that is in your juice.
Also with gallon batches you could crash at different points and try to see how low you can go on the final sg - and if one or two goes too far and craps out, you will still have some good ones.
Also with gallon batches you could crash at different points and try to see how low you can go on the final sg - and if one or two goes too far and craps out, you will still have some good ones.
Similar threads
