First brew. Do I have white mold?

Hey guys. I have a 4 day old fermentation on hard apple cider with what looks to me like white mold. Along the shoulder there seems to be a ring of cobweb like white stuff in addition to the spots of white mold that are all on the glass above the cider. some are near the surface some are near the neck of the carboy. This is a brand new carboy and i cleaned it with StarSan and Saniclean before I started fermentation.
I am a complete newbie so forgive me if I'm way off track but there is also a God awful strong smell coming from the cider. The cider has been bubbling along quite nicely and the airlock has been bubbling one to two times per second since the first day. I did not have any foam build on the top of the cider which makes me weary of the white ring on the carboy shoulder.
Let me know what you guys think? If you need more info just ask. Thanks for any help and suggestions you can give me!

The aweful smell probably was the sulfur. Thats natural and happened to me i refer to it as "rhino farts". Personally i dont think that is mold on there. mold is usually green and if it is mold i expect it to be on the fluid to. I'm sure its fine just relax and keep an eye on it

Ok sounds like good advice. Thanks disturbdchemist! Rhinofarts...lol'

From personal experience, I've noticed sometimes even when it didn't form a head, I still get a residue forming on the sides of the carboy. It could be that some of your cleaning agent was left on the top and has come out of solution on the carboy also.

Thanks Randzor I'll definitely keep that in mind.
So far it looks the same as yesterday. I'm thinking if it were mold or some other undesireable it would be rapidly growing. So therefore things are good!

Ok guys can I get your advice again?I haven't had any action in the airlock for about five days now. Today is day 10 I believe. No signs of mold or any other undesireables. My question is should I rack to secondary? Later today I will take a hydrometer reading. Also I thought about adding a cup of strong black tea for tannin and was considering doing this upon racking to secondary. Do you think this is a good idea? Thanks for all of your help guys! I appreciate it.

Before adding the Tea, taste it... It may be good to where you want now. The first time you brew, start simple add the least amount possible. Then the second batch add the tea. compare and say good or not. If you do to much all at once, it becomes a guessing game at where the cider went wrong if it does. To your question, I usually leave mine alone for 5 days and if there is no airlock action, its done and ready for the bottle. I use champagne yeast so I don't have to worry about it not getting all the sugar or the fermentation being slow. This depends on the yeast you use. Btw I was looking at my carboy yesterday and noticed white on the outside sure enough the airlock was a little overfilled(guess my wife can't read the lines) and had bubbled out and onto the outside.

Thanks for the help Randzor. I took a taste and with the premier cuvee wine yeast I used it is quite dry! Not a big deal though. I went ahead and bottled without any added tannins. It has quite a bite to it which I assume will mellow out with age. The hydrometer was right around 1.001 if I read it correctly?
Ha ha! Overfilled huh? When all else fails blame the wifey! Jk

Twhite1978 said:

Ok guys can I get your advice again?I haven't had any action in the airlock for about five days now. Today is day 10 I believe. No signs of mold or any other undesireables. My question is should I rack to secondary? Later today I will take a hydrometer reading. Also I thought about adding a cup of strong black tea for tannin and was considering doing this upon racking to secondary. Do you think this is a good idea? Thanks for all of your help guys! I appreciate it.

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Yes, rack and top up. You can add some tannin if you taste and feel it needs it.

Twhite1978 said:

Thanks for the help Randzor. I took a taste and with the premier cuvee wine yeast I used it is quite dry! Not a big deal though. I went ahead and bottled without any added tannins. It has quite a bite to it which I assume will mellow out with age. The hydrometer was right around 1.001 if I read it correctly?
Ha ha! Overfilled huh? When all else fails blame the wifey! Jk

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Wait- you bottled? Or racked to a carboy?

If you bottled, BOOM! will happen to your bottles. Soon, probably.

Yeah I bottled. I thought the yeasties were all finished? I bottled to PET though. I'll keep an eye on them. If they're feeling carbonated i.e. hard, I'll have to figure something else out!

Twhite1978 said:

Yeah I bottled. I thought the yeasties were all finished? I bottled to PET though. I'll keep an eye on them. If they're feeling carbonated i.e. hard, I'll have to figure something else out!

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Well, there are a couple of issues. First, it's simply not done. That yeast strain should ferment out completely, as cider is all simple sugars. "Done" would have been .990. That means bottle bombs, but if you stick them in the fridge they might not blow up.

Also, the cider isn't even close to clear so you'll have a boatload of cruddy crap in your bottles. Maybe you don't mind, but it grosses me out.

Most people would ferment far longer than 4 days, and allow it to clear and be drinkable before bottling.

Well if nothing else it's a good first learning experience. Worst case scenario i wasted a couple gallons of juice. Thanks for the advice Yooper!

I think I fermented my first batch for 3 weeks before bottling. My second batch was 2 weeks in primary and it's been two weeks in secondary (too lazy to bottle)