Black Specks in Home cider

[Rose585]

Hi there. This is my first time making a big batch of anything (have made 1 gallon ciders and meads before). I was bottling the 7 gallons of cider I brewed today. It started in December. clarified earlier this week. While siphoning off, as I approached the bottom and there was a dark spot in the sediment. I picked up the container and looked from the bottom and it looked like a bunch of small black pellets (like chocolate sprinkles?) among the dead yeast. Any idea what it is or if it is safe? photos attached, ignore my hydrometer that fell in
TYIA

 

[Maylar]

did you add any powdered spices like cinnamon? they don't dissolve well. otherwise, no idea.

 

[Kenmoron]

That's pretty bizarre looking, especially how uniform they appear. This may be some sort of precipitation reaction. Did you add any sort of nutrients? How about any problems where metal may be leaching from something?

 

[Electricbrew]

Looks like the bottom of your hydrometer broke when it was dropped in there? Pull it out and check, I don’t know what they put in those for weight but I wouldn’t drink it if that’s what happened... but that’s just me

 

[Drifted88]

RIP hydrometer. I agree that it does look like the weights from the hydrometer. Not sure what they’re made of. Hopefully not Lead

 

[bucketnative]

If a broken hydrometer is indeed the source of those black pellets... and this was my first thought when I saw those... you need to assess when the hydrometer broke. If it broke prior to siphoning, and there is any change of broken glass being in the cider, then this is an unsafe situation. Just thinking of the potential for drinking broken glass (and said glass passing through digestive tract) should be enough of a deterrent.

If it broke after siphoning, then there is no danger of broken glass in the cider.

 

[Jaiyan]

Did anyone ever work out what this was caused by? I have 5 separate containers all carefully sterilised and all started on different days, all with the same black grit in the bottom. The only common thing is the yeast which is Young's super wine yeast.

 

[Jaiyan]

Sorry, this shouldn't be an afterthought but thank you to anyone who spots this and is able to help. I started making cider last summer and have loads of apples lined up for this year. Enjoying making and sharing and drinking the stuff!

 

[day_trippr]

I know this is a cider thread but I've found the same references for apple cider, so could this be what you are seeing?

"Why are there black spots in my wine?

Natural tartrate crystals

Tartrate crystals are bits of potassium bitartrate or calcium bitartrate that have fallen out of solution in the wine. They're more common in white wine and usually happen when wine has been refrigerated for a long time."

These crystals are apparently also known as "wine diamonds", fwiw...

Cheers!

 

[Jaiyan]

Thank you for your reply! It's a thought but in one of my containers it has only been going a week and has definitely not been cold. I am not sure that the 'wine diamonds' could form in such a short time.

I would still welcome anyone's thoughts on this but I just looked on Amazon at the 1 star reviews for the yeast that i used and while there aren't a lot, they nearly all say the yeast arrived dead and just sank to the bottom. Well mine has fermented a bit but the size and density of the grit does seem very similar to that of the yeast.

I wonder if it could be anything to do with temperature though? It isn't super warm in here, but it's comfortable, would the yeast die if it was too warm?

 

[Jaiyan]

The yeast says it is good until 2024 but here's a picture of it, it seems to be made of two different compounds (yeasts?) and my black gritty bits looks suspiciously like the grey parts of the mix..

 

[day_trippr]

Honestly can't be of much help with specifics wrt cider (or wine) production but I would think yeast in general are comfortable at temperatures that humans are comfortable.

As for that picture: the dark bits aren't shaped similar to the light bits. I presume the latter are actually yeast, and I wonder if the former are some kind of yeast energizer?

Cheers!