First attempt at hard cider and I can't seem to get primary fermentation going...

[Stretch_s]

First try here making some hard cider from apples I picked and pressed from a local orchard. I started with two gallons of my own pressing, and one additional gallon of raw juice that I purchased from the orchard just to compare some different apples. I am working with three 1-gallon carboys (one containing orchard juice, the other two containing my juice. I've been meticulously following instructions from Drew Beechum's Everything Hard Cider book.

Here are the steps I've taken, unfortunately with no fermentation to show for it...

1. Adjusted juice pH with malic acid to 3.6
2. Added 0.75 tsp potassium metabisulfite (to each gallon)
3. Allowed to sit 24h at 68 degrees F
4. Checked starting specific gravity = 1.050
5. Boiled 1/3 cup water and cooled to 105 degrees F
6. Added one packet Red Star Premium Cuvee yeast and 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
7. Allowed to sit for 1h, then divided yeast mixture into thirds and pitched into carboys
8. Placed in 61 degree F basement
9. After 36h, no appreciable ferment, so increased basement temp which brought juice temp to 65.1 F
10. After another 24h, no appreciable ferment, so pitched again with another packet yeast and nutrient (same as previous)
11. 14h later, still nothing (now 4 days from first pitch). Checked specific gravity = unchanged at 1.050
12. Concerned that perhaps the yeast packets that I got from my cider kit were dead, I went to a local brewery and got advice from the brewer and he gave me a packet of Fermentis Safbrew s-33 Belgian Dry Brewing Yeast (I'm at a cabin in the mtns so no homebrew stores around).
13. I pulled 1.5 cups of juice from one carboy and pitched the yeast and 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient into this starter solution and allowed to rest for 1h.
14. I thirded the starter juice and added back to the three carboys
15. I'm now 24h later and still don't see a damn thing going on in the carboys.

What gives? Toxic juice or incompetent homebrewer? Or simply impatience?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Stretch

 

[Yooper]

WAY too much k-meta! You need 1/4 tsp of the powder for 6 gallons. And not enough yeast- use 1 package for each gallon if you have them separate like that.

So, start stirring as much as you can, keeping the lid off (cover with a towel to keep out fruitflies), and try to get the k-meta to disipate. You can also pour back and forth into a new sanitized vessel to really get as much S02 out of it as you can. In the meantime, use some new juice and new yeast (say, a quart of juice) and make a yeast starter by adding a package of new yeast to that juice, and get it really active. In about 5 days, you can try adding a big batch of actively fermenting yeast to the rest and hopefully that will work.

 

[Yooper]

One other thing to consider- apples are already high in malic acid, so adding more may make more of a 'bite' as well as a more difficult fermentation. I would not add malic acid unless you absolutely need it. The yeast will drop the pH quite a lot as it is.

 

[Stretch_s]

Thank you so much for the quick reply! I wondered about the K meta. I even went back and double checked my measurements and calculations, but that dose came right from the chart in Beechum's book. I will pour all three into a sanitized stock pot and stir the bejeezus out of them for a bit and then return them to the carboys with a new yeast starter.

A bit frustrating but I guess that's all part of the learning process. Beechum's book is also where I read that the sulfites don't really do any good if the pH isn't less than 3.8, and he therefore recommended the malic acid. I guess when you massively overdose with K meta, pH probably doesn't matter anyway!

Thanks again!
Stretch

 

[Yooper]

I don't have that book (never even heard of it), but Drew is a friend of mine and he usually knows his stuff, at least about beer. However, I'm the one who talks about beer/cider/wine at HomebrewCon, not him. He talks about beer. LOL.

 

[Stretch_s]

Ha! Well thanks again for the advice. My cider (all 3 gal) is now in a sanitized stainless steel stockpot, which I am stirring for a couple minutes about 6-8 times per day with a whisk to see if I can get the SO2 to blow off. I'm picking up some new fresh cider from our local farmers market today, and will begin the yeast starter tonight and let it smolder through the weekend before adding it to the pot next week. I will then pour back to the 1 gal carboys and see what happens. I'll post an update here regardless of the outcome in case it ends up being helpful to anyone.

Sound reasonable?

 

[Stretch_s]

Well, this has been a long experiment but a really good learning experience. I whisked regularly for several days and then adding a really robust yeast starter made from some new juice. It bubbled slowly for a couple days, then ceased at a specific gravity of 1.034. I was about to give up after watching it do nothing for several more days, but then noticed a couple bubbles in the airlock. Decided to give it one more kick start with another yeast starter and a bit of dilution with some more fresh cider, and then damn thing FINALLY took off. Who knows what the end result will taste like at this point, but at least I think I might end up with something that could officially be considered hard cider...

 

[cottonwoodks]

I don't have that book (never even heard of it), but Drew is a friend of mine and he usually knows his stuff, at least about beer. However, I'm the one who talks about beer/cider/wine at HomebrewCon, not him. He talks about beer. LOL.

It's kind of a rah rah book--written with a lot of hype talk, which personally I find annoying. I like the other two books I have, The New Cider Maker's Handbook and Apples to Cider, a whole lot better.

 

[cottonwoodks]

Well, this has been a long experiment but a really good learning experience. I whisked regularly for several days and then adding a really robust yeast starter made from some new juice. It bubbled slowly for a couple days, then ceased at a specific gravity of 1.034. I was about to give up after watching it do nothing for several more days, but then noticed a couple bubbles in the airlock. Decided to give it one more kick start with another yeast starter and a bit of dilution with some more fresh cider, and then damn thing FINALLY took off. Who knows what the end result will taste like at this point, but at least I think I might end up with something that could officially be considered hard cider...

I'm hoping that I'm not going to have the problem you're having with this last batch of mine, as I don't want to keep re-pitching yeast. (I used campden tablets instead, with the same dose I've used on my other batches), but I'm having a no-reaction at all too. And I KNOW the yeast is okay, because the same batch sent something else bubbling like mad. In my case, I think it's low temps. Today is going to be 84F (after days of being in the 40s), so maybe that will get it going.