Ike
nOob for life
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2015
- Messages
- 532
- Reaction score
- 186
I know, I know: pictures pictures pictures. Unfortunately, this was a bit too hard to get the camera to focus on to get a good shot. So, to describe:
This SHOULD be a perfectly normal batch of cider for me; in fact, it's supposed to be a control to compare against a test batch of two new recipes. Juice, light brown sugar, pectic enzyme, a bit of nutrient, my usual ale yeast. Unlike my usual hooch, however, there are two interesting differences:
1.) It hasn't cleared. In general I know that unexpected cloudiness = trouble. OTOH, this one thing has happened in the past with no off flavors; it doesn't bother me too much and I'd be willing to write it off to kegging this cider a bit quicker than I normally do (just 30 days so far, I usually let it sit at least 60 for good MLF) BUT...
2.) There appears to be a clear, oily layer on top of the cider. WTH? It isn't covering the entire surface, but it looks like bubbles of it all over the surface. Ever add oil to boiling water to keep it from boiling over, and how the droplets of oil just chill out on top of the water until it actually starts boiling? That's what it looks like. When I agitate the carboy slightly, I can see the little bubbles smearing up and down the side of the carboy. They're perfectly clear, no whiteness or anything that would suggest fungus or lacto.
I did some googling around and came up pretty empty-handed: one post about wine seems to point to a possible lacto infection and starts talking about adding eggs and campden... in beers they point to hop oils, but this cider isn't hopped.
The smell is OK, but I've had a reasonably decent history of NOT having infections, and want to keep it that way. To that end, I'm inclined to dump this 5 gallons and relegate the $10 plastic carboy to the round file just for good measure. I was curious if anyone had any thoughts.
THANK YOU!
This SHOULD be a perfectly normal batch of cider for me; in fact, it's supposed to be a control to compare against a test batch of two new recipes. Juice, light brown sugar, pectic enzyme, a bit of nutrient, my usual ale yeast. Unlike my usual hooch, however, there are two interesting differences:
1.) It hasn't cleared. In general I know that unexpected cloudiness = trouble. OTOH, this one thing has happened in the past with no off flavors; it doesn't bother me too much and I'd be willing to write it off to kegging this cider a bit quicker than I normally do (just 30 days so far, I usually let it sit at least 60 for good MLF) BUT...
2.) There appears to be a clear, oily layer on top of the cider. WTH? It isn't covering the entire surface, but it looks like bubbles of it all over the surface. Ever add oil to boiling water to keep it from boiling over, and how the droplets of oil just chill out on top of the water until it actually starts boiling? That's what it looks like. When I agitate the carboy slightly, I can see the little bubbles smearing up and down the side of the carboy. They're perfectly clear, no whiteness or anything that would suggest fungus or lacto.
I did some googling around and came up pretty empty-handed: one post about wine seems to point to a possible lacto infection and starts talking about adding eggs and campden... in beers they point to hop oils, but this cider isn't hopped.
The smell is OK, but I've had a reasonably decent history of NOT having infections, and want to keep it that way. To that end, I'm inclined to dump this 5 gallons and relegate the $10 plastic carboy to the round file just for good measure. I was curious if anyone had any thoughts.
THANK YOU!
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