How did I stall my cider at 60 deg F??

[d_rock150]

Hi everyone! This is my first time making cider, therefore, first time asking a question on the forums. (It seemed inevitable, haha!)

I've got a 6 gal batch of cider going and I'm pretty sure it's stalled. I have no idea why. I've looked up and down on these forums for someone in my similar situation and have not had much success. I feel I've made a few too many mistakes along the way and am not interested in making more.

Here are my details so far:

GOAL:
- Sweet hard cider with ~9% ABV, carbonation optional

JUICE:
- 3 gals of Nana Mae’s Organic Mid-season Heirloom orchard pressed juice (pasteurized but not preserved) from Sebastopol, CA
- 3 gals of North Coast Organic fresh pressed apple juice (pasteurized but not preserved) from Sonoma County, CA
- The combined juice was at 1.055 without added sugars

ADD-INS:
- 2.5 lbs of Organic light brown sugar
- 20 oz (by weight) of Apple Cider Syrup (see picture below) from Philo Apple Farm, CA. I called them up for details and they confirmed that there are no preservatives, no added sugar, etc. They assured me that the syrup is “simply just boiled apple juice in a jar” and nothing else. It tastes amazing (especially on waffles)! I told them that I am using it as additional fermentable sugar. They said that they do the same thing in their hard cider!
- Nothing else. No yeast nutrient. No oxygen stone. Nothing.
- The above ingredients raised the OG to 1.078. I was aiming for 1.070. whoops. The syrup had a bit more sugar than I calculated.

YEAST:
- First packet of Nottingham ale came from a brew store in Washington while out traveling (and also got inspired to try). Turned out that this yeast didn’t fare so well on the trip home.
-Second packet of Nottingham ale directly from the HBS. Definitely alive this time.

EQUIPMENT:
- Built a fermentation chamber from a used semi-mini-fridge I got on craigslist and cleaned the begeesus out of using PBW and then Star-san. (See picture below)
- Ranco temp controller set at 60 deg F
- BeerBug used to constantly monitor SG and brew temp because I'm a sucker for tech (See my readings here)
- Food grade brewing bucket and accessories purchased from HBS

BREW DAY PROCESS:
(Followed roughly the same process as outlined by CvilleKevin on the sticky)
1) Everything gets a Star-san bath in the brew bucket
2) Took OG readings via hydrometer and calibrated BeerBug to match (1.078)
3) Pitched the (apparently dead) yeast directly into the juice, no starter
4) Waited but had no activity or reading changes for almost 2 days
5) Increased temp of brew to ~75 F with no change in activity. The BeerBug readings went up, oddly enough, but I believe that was due to the temperature increase more than anything. Not too sure.
6) Went back to HBS and picked up second packet of Nottingham
7) Made a starter per the directions on the packet using juice from the bucket and allowed it cool to room temp
8) Pitched the active yeast into the 75 F bucket. AND THEN THERE WAS FOAM!
9) Cleaned and replaced the airlock and BeerBug since they got filled with foam
10) Happily watched my brew bubble away
11) Turned temp controller back on and set for 60 F

However, two days ago, my airlock activity completely stopped and my BeerBug readings have been at ~1.062 since then. I’ve verified the reading as dead-on using my hydrometer. I’m not sure what caused the stall and I'm looking for advice for next steps.

Also, I have a few questions regarding basic cider making:

1) Based on my setup, what should be the expected amount of time spent in primary before racking to secondary? I can’t seem to find this answer anywhere other than “once you reach 1.0xx”, and that doesn’t help me benchmark my progress. I’d like to avoid off-flavors from sitting on the lees for too long, if possible.

2) For secondary, I plan on racking back into the glass jars the juice came in and use new caps once done. But, how long should I keep the juice in secondary before bottling it? Is there any point in using the BeerBug to monitor SG while in secondary?

3) I’m going to attempt to cold crash the yeast using my temp controlled fridge and hope it works out. Does anyone have any best practices for this?

4) Has anyone tried cold pasteurizing their hard cider using UV lamps? I know this can skunk beer, but I'm not adding any hops to my cider. I’m hoping to hear from someone who has tried it, not so much opinions of how you think it may turn out (no offense). If no one has, then I will and report my findings here.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MindenMan]

I would run the temperature back up to 68*F or so, swirl the heck out of it and hope it starts up again. I did something very similar thing a couple of years ago; I brought the temperature back up and swirled the heck out of it and it restarted. Do you have any bread yeast? If so, take a couple of tablespoons of the yeast and boil it in 1/2 cup of water for ten minutes, coll and add to your cider. By warming up your must and throwing the yeast some nutrient, it may restart and finish normally.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi d rock150, Sounds like you are making beer rather than cider (a wine). Best to aerate the cider during the active period of fermentation by stirring - helps remove CO2 which can inhibit fermentation.
You might want to add yeast nutrient too.
As you know yeast is a living organism and does not work to a clock but typically I think you can expect the fermentation to drop the gravity to around 1.005 in about a week. Best to measure the gravity after three days and guesstimate the rate of fermentation.
Better yeast choice (IMO) is 71B - designed for wine - but 71B has a strong affinity for malic acid. (As you may know, apples' acidity comes from malic and malic is a harsh acid). 71B reduces the sharpness of the acid.
You may want to check the pH of the cider. That can be a cause of stalled fermentation. You want it to be around 3.5. Not sure the preferred temperature of Nottingham but too low a temperature can stall the fermentation too.

 

[phug]

I'm thinking the sharp temp drop may have stalled it. Warm it up again and once going, bring the temp down slowly

 

[d_rock150]

I'm going to try warming it up, adding 4 grams Fermenaid-K and then stirring the excess CO2 out of it.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

I'll report my results

 

[Yooper]

I must have missed it, but what is the current SG?

 

[madscientist451]

Yeah I didn't see the current gravity either? If you have any WL oo2, you could pitch that, it was very dependable in numerous trials here last fall and produced good flavor. You could try adding some fermaid O, the organic version of fermaid K, supposed to work better but haven't tried it yet.
Or like someone else suggested give the carboy a swirl and increase the temp to 68 or so. My ciders have been in the carboys for 5-6 months now and have really improved the last 60 days. Although I've been drinking them before that. You have to be patient with cider.
But start by getting a gravity reading. Maybe its just done?
For your questions:
1. Expected amount of time in primary? Hard to say, too many variables with the juice, yeast, temperature, and other factors. Don't have a set time schedule, let the gravity readings tell you when its done and not fermenting any more.
2. Racking into glass jars and how long until bottling? I've heard its better to keep cider/wine/beer in bulk for aging/conditioning, but I don't have any tests to prove that.
So you could use the original jars, but if you have a carboy to spare, I'd rack to that.
Don't bottle until you reach a taste profile you are happy with. Maybe sooner, maybe later, again no set time schedule. Beer bug during secondary? Don't know, but I don't think you really need to.
3. Cold crash in the fridge? Sounds like a good plan. Just make sure its done fermenting first.
4 I've never pasteurized my cider, so can't help you with that. Another option is to keep the cider cold after bottling if you have the fridge space.
Good luck! Cheers!!

 

[bernardsmith]

OP says the starting gravity was 1.078 and then it stalled at 1.062...

 

[d_rock150]

I just added the Fermaid-K and stirred the bucket. The krausen on top looked kind of... rubbery. Is this normal? That's the best I can describe it. How do I tell if I contaminated it?

@Yooper - I have a BeerBug in the brew monitoring my SG constantly. Here is the link to see the current readings as well as history (SG is the green chart):

https://www.thebeerbug.com/main/index.php?id=20000c2a6908be64

There may be a bit of turbulence in the immediately recent data points from stirring, so just ignore that.

Thanks again for all your help you guys

 

[phug]

That doesn't look stalled at all. It's just slowed down. Most fermentation a are going to show that kind of curve with greater activity at the beginning of fermentation than at the middle/ end