Hooray, I caught something!

A week ago I took some 12 kilos of the masses of Belle de Boskoop apples that we still had lying around in the refrigeration unit, chopped and mashed them and left them in a food-grade bucket until today. Was a bit shocked after opening the bucket today and sticking my nose in, only to inhale a massive cloud of acetone. Anyway, undeterred I proceeded to press the pulp. Got a 5 litre carboy full, plus one litre that I put in a separate bottle, and had a bit extra for a hydrometer reading (1040, though probably already some lost due to fermentation). Not here to ask for any advice, just wanted to share my enthusiasm as I look at the beautiful bubbles going through the airlock. Best nail polish remover ever! Wild fermentation is exciting stuff!

And who knows, it might all work out.

My first attempt with a wild fermentation turned out so great i'm doing it again with apples from a different orchard.

People used wild yeast to make quality cider successfully for thousands of years, no reason to stop now

That being said, when trying for a wild ferment I typically add sulfites to about 30ppm to give the best yeast a head start over any naughty yeasties.

This morning the smell is more like those banana candy things. Or Pisang Ambon if you're familiar with that. How interesting! How fascinating!