How Quickly Can Cider Ferment?

[flyfishnevada]

I put up two batches of cider last weekend. One was simply unfiltered apple juice and Notty yeast. The other was half clear apple juice and half blackberry juice with Notty...all national brands bought at the grocery store, none of it had preservatives.

The unfiltered juice fermented well. The airlock bubbled for a couple of days and has more or less stopped.

The half and half batch bubbled a little on the second day but not much since. However, the side of the bucket have crud on it as if it had a nice krausen at one point. I forgot to check for fermentation until about 24 hours after I closed up the bucket. Could it have done it's thing in less than 24 hours? I've considered introducing some more yeast to make sure.

 

[nDub]

I'd check it with a hydrometer. Most my ciders finish around SG 1.000.

or

Taste it. If it has alcohol it'll taste "hot", like rocket fuel.

 

[kaffeenjunkie]

I did a batch with local fresh cider and Wyeast's Cider yeast. It took about 6 days to even get going. After about four days I pulled it off the lees at 1.023 and cold crashed. Nice semi dry with a natural sweetness.

I dropped 5 gallons more on the yeast cake and it was at 1.010 in three days.
I cold crashed and pulled it off the lees, its been sitting in my fridge since October.

 

[PKnotlost]

No you have a problem somewhere. Are you sure your lid isn't leaking? It can ferment up to and even more than 4 weeks depending on temps. It will go hard with right temps for a week or more, then it much slower. Sometimes its so slow it only shows up with taking a reading 6 days apart. Some slow and reduce the secondary fermentation with chemicals or cold crashing but don't mistake that for it being finished.

 

[flyfishnevada]

Lid might be leaking but the other batch is the exact some type of bucket and I've used them before without enough leakage to keep the air lock from bubbling. I might check it to see if it's not locked on or if the gasket is missing.

I might add some more yeast and put it in a warmer spot. It's about 68 degrees where it is.