The first time I made cider I just took grocery "cider" (the cloudy kind but pasteurized i think) and threw in some cider yeast (smack pack). We thought it was good but a little vinegary. The forums suggest the solution was Campden tablets to kill the vinegar-making bacteria.
So for this batch I put one tablet in each of 5 gallon jugs of "cider" 24 hours before throwing it in the fermenter with the yeast (this time 2 packets of Safale S-05 american ale yeast. Nothing happened for 4 days. I thought maybe the campden had still been active and killed my first crop of yeast, so I put 2 more dry yeast packets in there on day 4. Now, another 2 days later (total 6 days) there is still no activity and the hydrometer still reads 1.050.
What is going on here and what should I do? I assume (hope) its still sanitary from the campden and not a lost cause. But how do I get it to ferment?
Jason
So for this batch I put one tablet in each of 5 gallon jugs of "cider" 24 hours before throwing it in the fermenter with the yeast (this time 2 packets of Safale S-05 american ale yeast. Nothing happened for 4 days. I thought maybe the campden had still been active and killed my first crop of yeast, so I put 2 more dry yeast packets in there on day 4. Now, another 2 days later (total 6 days) there is still no activity and the hydrometer still reads 1.050.
What is going on here and what should I do? I assume (hope) its still sanitary from the campden and not a lost cause. But how do I get it to ferment?
Jason