Fermentation seven months later?

[cottonwoodks]

Hey folks,

I made a bunch of cider last summer when my apple trees went completely nuts making apples (32 gallons altogether). The first fifteen gallons tasted awful (I didn't know about yeasts and temperatures), but after aging for six months greatly improved. But I still had two 5 gallon carboys that I didn't bottle (ran out of bottles), but just let sit in the basement. They both had a SG right around 1.000. About a month ago, one of them popped its stopper. I smelled the cider, and it smelled great--way better than any of the earlier batches (with too high a fermenting temperature), but I still didn't have bottles (or time), so I stuck the stopper back in and forgot about it.

But it's since grown something white on the top in the neck, and the stopper came out again today, and it doesn't smell so good. This time I put an airlock on, and there are bubbles coming through it. What's going on? Is it turning into vinegar? Would it be doing this seven or eight months later? Should I just pitch the whole ten gallons?

 

[doublejef]

You probably let to much airspace at the top of your carboys so the cider is in contact with O2 and is turning into vinegar. Does is smell vinegar?
White stuff on the surface is a consequence of it. Lactic bacteria or vinegar mother that both need oxygen to grow. Any picture of it can help to know what is it.
Well about the gaz production I'm not sure because I don't think a lactic fermentation nor a vinegar mother should produce CO2. Maybe you cider is just warming up and dilatation in the carboy is pushing air through stopper.

 

[cottonwoodks]

You probably let to much airspace at the top of your carboys so the cider is in contact with O2 and is turning into vinegar. Does is smell vinegar?
White stuff on the surface is a consequence of it. Lactic bacteria or vinegar mother that both need oxygen to grow. Any picture of it can help to know what is it.
Well about the gaz production I'm not sure because I don't think a lactic fermentation nor a vinegar mother should produce CO2. Maybe you cider is just warming up and dilatation in the carboy is pushing air through stopper.

Well, there was only an inch of space, but maybe it was the warming up that did it. I'll try to get a picture. I'm afraid it's ruined, though.