inoculation temp

If your must is around 65 degrees and perhaps below, say down to 60, at the time you wish to inoculate, do you heat it up to say 70 to get the yeast going well and then let it cool back down? (I like a slow fermentation). If so, how do you accomplish this. My concern is that sometimes the area where I store apples, press and ferment can get down into the low 60s, and I'm wondering if that accounted for some big lag times I saw last year (all the ciders came out great, but lag times are intrinsically stressful to me). I'm sure it's also yeast specific, as some strains deal better with different temps, but I was just curious to see what you all think and do. Any thoughts appreciated.

I like to pitch my yeast when the wort (or must) is at the same temperature I plan to ferment at (unless I'm doing a very high gravity fermentation in which case I pitch to a cooler wort and let it warm up). Yeast tend to start going dormant when temp drops. Warming up your must, pitching the yeast and then letting it cool doesn't sound like the best plan to me. If you are having trouble with lag times, try cold crashing the yeast and then pitch to the must at whatever temp you expect to ferment at. This way the yeast experience a warming trend instead of a cooling trend when introduced to the must.

60F is a good temperature to pitch at. It may go a bit slower and cause a bit of anxiety but the cider will be better for it. The most dangerous time is the end of fermentation, the start can be slow without causing any problems.

gregbathurst said:

60F is a good temperature to pitch at. It may go a bit slower and cause a bit of anxiety but the cider will be better for it. The most dangerous time is the end of fermentation, the start can be slow without causing any problems.

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Old post, I know, but we are going to pitch our first batch of cider with fresh pressed juice tonight. I've been researching a lot the last few days, and we've decided to go with D47 yeast. My question is what do you mean by the end of fermentation is the most dangerous? Keeping the temp constant? Thanks.

At the start of fermentation there isn't much alcohol and the activity of the yeast protects the juice. Oxidation doesn't bother juice, but when there is alcohol you can get acetobacter and straight oxidation of the alcohol. As fermentation slows down at the end there is a lot of alcohol and the production of co2 slows down, oxygen can start to dissipate into the headspace even as co2 is still being produced . At this later stage it becomes important to minimise or preferably eliminate headspace, to be sure the cider is protected from oxygen.

gregbathurst said:

At the start of fermentation there isn't much alcohol and the activity of the yeast protects the juice. Oxidation doesn't bother juice, but when there is alcohol you can get acetobacter and straight oxidation of the alcohol. As fermentation slows down at the end there is a lot of alcohol and the production of co2 slows down, oxygen can start to dissipate into the headspace even as co2 is still being produced . At this later stage it becomes important to minimise or preferably eliminate headspace, to be sure the cider is protected from oxygen.

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Ok, is being airlocked enough protection until primary fermentation is done, or should we add must up into the neck when gravity is down around 1.020 or so?

There aren't any absolute rules, a lot depends on the speed of your fermentation. A very slow fermentation that takes months should be topped right up to the neck as soon as possible. A faster fermentation that takes a fortnight you should have an airlock on after 3-4 days than topped up to the neck after 9-10 days. It is about making the cider safe, once you have a good seal and an airlock things should be ok, topping up to the neck is to give 100% protection against oxidation/acetobacter.

We probably overreacted a bit, but 24 hours after pitching, the half-inch or so of krausen that was present 12 hours after had dropped and we decided to airlock. Temp at pitch was 68°, after we pitched we moved carboy to a cold room (45°F) and wrapped it up in a thick quilt. Within minutes of attaching airlock, we were getting a bubble every 3 sec, temp measured with a infrared was 58°. Checked again this morning, temp is still 58° and a bubble every 2 sec, maybe less. If it increases to a bubble per sec, should we let it cool more to try and slow it a little, or should we just leave it?