chalino
Member
Excuse the emotion in this thread. I'm so pi$$ed off I can't even express it. I'm a fairly experienced brewer and have always been OCD about sanitation. (NEVER have infected beer, BTW) I've recently made some cider. While I have juiced my own apples and made it that way, I had no infection at all, despite the obviously inevitable exposure using that method (used D47).
The problem I've had now with 15 gallons (three 5-gallon batches) is fermenting store bought cider. Twice with Wyeast's cider yeast it infected and I decided perhaps it was taking too long to get active based on airlock activity (or lack thereof). So I did a starter with a batch last Friday night (now Tue). I used nutrients, rehydrated 1118, and a half gallon of juice. About 18 hours later, no infection, bubbling away. So I added another half gallon of juice to keep enough sugar in there while I left town for the night. Sunday night, it looked good. So I dumped in the rest. Until this morning when I got up, not a hint of that sour infected smell I've become so familiar with. Now it's there.
Ok, now tell me, WTF have I done wrong?!?!?!??
The problem I've had now with 15 gallons (three 5-gallon batches) is fermenting store bought cider. Twice with Wyeast's cider yeast it infected and I decided perhaps it was taking too long to get active based on airlock activity (or lack thereof). So I did a starter with a batch last Friday night (now Tue). I used nutrients, rehydrated 1118, and a half gallon of juice. About 18 hours later, no infection, bubbling away. So I added another half gallon of juice to keep enough sugar in there while I left town for the night. Sunday night, it looked good. So I dumped in the rest. Until this morning when I got up, not a hint of that sour infected smell I've become so familiar with. Now it's there.
Ok, now tell me, WTF have I done wrong?!?!?!??