24 days of wild yeast (many pics)....

This was the last picking off the tree out back, a little more than two gallons of juice that did some interesting things in the carboy, to say the least.

Basically just juiced the apples and put it in a glass carboy, as I'd had good luck with wild yeasts from that tree earlier.

Around Day 21, the fermentation took off and things progressed normally from there; I racked into two PET jugs and took samples off at different gravities -- that'll be another thread. Just thought folks might be interested to watch the pre-ferment separation, the rise and fall of the pectin etc.

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3


Day 5


Day 6


Day 7 (notice the monster gas pocket really starting to form)


Day 8


Day 9 (the little flecks were slowly rising and falling)


Day 10


To be continued ....

Day 11 (the last day for the giant white bubble -- popped it to thief a gravity sample)


Day 12 (this "dual layering" stayed suspended for two days)


Day 13


Day 14


Day 15


Day 17 (starting to cloud ever so slightly)


Day 21 (cloudy and a finally active airlock)


Day 22


Day 24


As I said, from here it was pretty standard fizzy stuff, if very, very slow. Today is Day 37, and the fermentation has nearly stopped.

The giant bubble reminds me of a Scoby - a kombucha mother-

Awesome! (or should I say wild?) Thanks for sharing.

interesting progression. thanks

Just as an update, I bottled this and it carbed up, had my first taste last night.

...Odd nose to it, almost like eucalyptus or Cepacol? Very weird. I may go back to cultured yeasts next year.

How was the taste and do you know what the ABV ended up being?

Vinegar mother?

Looking at my notes, by OG was 1.050, and it came down to 1.000 before it petered out. The *taste* is decent, but it did give me an uncharacteristic headache.

The smell is pretty off-putting after a few sips, though. And that was even in a narrow half-pint glass.

ack! well I can say I've never ventured into wild yeasts...so congrats on giving it a go.

Seems appropriate to kick this and mention I've been tasting it off and on for months, opened another last night. Still nicely carbed, clear, beautiful... and has an overwhelming eucalyptus nose that makes drinking it no fun.

I went back to store-bought yeasts this year.

Sounds like geranium taint. Caused by an number of lactic acid bacteria. Sometimes it just happens, regardless of yeast. Another good reason to use sulfites.