arringtonbp
Well-Known Member
Here's my story:
I had a 6 gallon batch of cider sitting in secondary. It had been there for about 2.5 weeks. I just recently got a hydrometer and took a measurement the other day. The SG was at 1.010, so I decided to let it keep fermenting. I had noticed that bubbling had stopped in the airlock. I checked it today and noticed that there was a thin white/milky/translucent film on it. It smelled very strong (I am not sure if the smell was alcoholic or vinegary). I checked the hydrometer and the reading was 1.005, which is what I wanted to end at. I decided to go ahead and bottle the cider since it may have been on its way to vinegar or could have been at risk for acetobacter. The main idea here was that the bucket fermenter that I was using had about 3-4 inches of head space, and very little carbonation to fill up that headspace. Because of the film and the smell, I thought I could bottle, thus reducing the amount of oxygen available. Is there a chance my brew will be okay if I bottled it?
Before bottling, I added 5 ounces of brown sugar and about a half cup of splenda for sweetness.
I had a 6 gallon batch of cider sitting in secondary. It had been there for about 2.5 weeks. I just recently got a hydrometer and took a measurement the other day. The SG was at 1.010, so I decided to let it keep fermenting. I had noticed that bubbling had stopped in the airlock. I checked it today and noticed that there was a thin white/milky/translucent film on it. It smelled very strong (I am not sure if the smell was alcoholic or vinegary). I checked the hydrometer and the reading was 1.005, which is what I wanted to end at. I decided to go ahead and bottle the cider since it may have been on its way to vinegar or could have been at risk for acetobacter. The main idea here was that the bucket fermenter that I was using had about 3-4 inches of head space, and very little carbonation to fill up that headspace. Because of the film and the smell, I thought I could bottle, thus reducing the amount of oxygen available. Is there a chance my brew will be okay if I bottled it?
Before bottling, I added 5 ounces of brown sugar and about a half cup of splenda for sweetness.