Weird Fermentation???

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Microphobik

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So am am making my first cider in 15 years or so and have completely forgotten what is normal and what is not.

I bought some organic unfiltered juice with no preservatives, aerated with a good shake, pitched a pack of US-04 and set my temperature at 18 C (64.4 F). No sugar, nutrients, pectic enzymes or anything. Just juice and yeast.

Within 30 minutes it looked as if I was seeing the beginnings of fermentation. Later that evening and the next morning there was a krausen that looked fairly similar to that on top of bread yeast as it proofs.

But then later that day the krausen started to fall back. I got worried I was fermenting too cold so I raised the temp to 19 C (66.2 F). But by night it had completely disappeared. However I could still see a spritzy bubbling at the surface. No bubbling in the air lock whatsoever.

This morning (about 43 hours in) I checked on things and I definitely smell sulfur in the fermentation chamber (not so pleasant). But still no bubbles and all signs of krausen were gone. I'm using a glass carboy with a rubber stopper and airlock. I understand the possibility of C02 escaping but I have used the same set up for a long time and have never failed to see bubbling in the airlock, so I dont believe there is a leak.

I took a gravity reading and it's down from 1.049 to 1.035 so fermentation seems to be taking place. But this just seems odd. My experience is with beer so I thought I'd ask. Does this sound normal? A krausen >> then none >> no bubbles in air lock >> but sulfur escaping >> and not a lick of foam or yeast on the surface of the liquid?

Any input from those of you more experienced with cider?
 
You have a leak. Check the airlock where it goes through the bung, I've had CO2 escape from around the airlock before.

The foam falling after a couple days is normal.

The sulfur smell is normal when you don't use yeast nutrient - the yeasts are not happy. It goes away eventually.
 
You have a leak. Check the airlock where it goes through the bung, I've had CO2 escape from around the airlock before.

The foam falling after a couple days is normal.

The sulfur smell is normal when you don't use yeast nutrient - the yeasts are not happy. It goes away eventually.

Thanks. Yeah, I figured folks would say that, but I can't spot it. It's a rubber bung jammed pretty solid into the glass carboy with, and is the same airlock and stopper I always use, and which always bubbles away fine. But you may be right. I also wondered if perhaps it's just a much slower ferment and I've just missed the bubbles. I'm just doing a small batch and the carboy is only half full so there is a lot of head space. I've never stuck around to watch for more than 45 seconds or so. Perhpas it's just glugging at a much slower pace than beer and there is less pressure because of the head space? Anyway... I mostly just wanted to make sure that the foam falling away after just a day, and the sulfur was normal. I had read mixed things on using nutrients so I didn't this time around. But I'll add them next time. Thanks.
 
Wouldn't you know, I just went out and checked the fermenter (hadn't checked it in a couple of hours) and it's now bubbling every three or four seconds. So that box is ticked. Thanks for letting me know the foam dropping was normal. That was my big concern.
 
The foam on top disappearing is normal. The airlock probably has a little leak.

Wouldn't worry overly much about that either.

My own air locks don't *quite* fit properly on my jugs, so sometimes they can show much the same. Cider seems pretty resilient to getting infected during brewing as far as my experience has shown.
 
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