Stuck Fermentation?

[Jrod]

It my first cider and I found some that was pasturized but didn't have any preservatives on the lable. Pitch some dry nottingham but I think the must was a bit cold so it took a while to even get moving. It's sitting at 70 degrees but its been a week and while the 3 piece airlock has lifted. I've never seen it bubbling away like I do with my beers. There is a 1/2 inch krausen on top but not much activity.

If it's not rolling along tonight I'm going to take a gravity reading and see if I've gotten anywhere. Thinking I may need to repitch...

Thoughts?

 

[oldmate]

Gravity readings are always good. Post your recipe as well. If it hasn't changed I would suggest adding some yeast nutrient dissolved in warm water before you repitch.

 

[Jrod]

3 gallons of Cider (Not the tastiest stuff I've found but only one w/o preservatives)
12oz of Turbinado Sugar
6oz of Dextrose
Nottingham Yeast

I forgot to take the initial gravity but it was at least 1.05 - 1.06

If I'm below 1.03 I'll assume I don't need to repitch yet.

Just got my Theif in and that has to be the greatest invention of all time.

 

[carltjones]

I have the same visible signs now at day 13. Just checked gravity and it's gone from 1.055 to 1.025 and sample tastes good. Seems to be much slower than ales.

 

[Jrod]

Just checked my gravity and Initial gravity must have been higher than I suspected because it is still at 1.07 and the Krausen has fallen in the past day. I'm going to get some yeast nutrient, shake the hell out of the cider and repitch with new yeast. Hopefully that will get it rolling this time.

Any other suggestions are welcome....

 

[Jrod]

Added a dose of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. Shook the hell out of the carboy to aerate and pitched another dose of Notty. Not bubbling super fast but its bubbling more than it has in the past 2 weeks.

Fingers crossed...

 

[Jrod]

Down to 1.06 from 1.07 in 3 days. Still chugging along.

 

[Jrod]

Checked this again on 10/16 and it's only down to 1.05. This is moving so much more slowly than any beer I have ever done. I wish I were more patient I just hope this can get down to 1.02 or lower and doesn't get stuck.

 

[Jrod]

Only just barely below 1.05 last night. Still bubbling once every 20 seconds or so. Any suggestions?

 

[Ch4s3]

If you're still at 70 F try raising the ambient temp up to 73 F. The temp increase should get it going a bit faster, but IMO slower fermentation isn't necessarily bad.

 

[Jrod]

The fermentation has sputtered out. It's been 9 days with no noticeable drop in gravity. Still hanging out at 1.05. Suggestions?

 

[ajbram]

Rack to secondary and let it clear up?

 

[Jrod]

I'd like to get the gravity lower 1.02ish I'm thinking I need to go get some hard hitting yeast. Maybe EC-1118? I'm not sure how to proceed.

 

[js82181p]

Not sure if it helps, but I've got some pictures of how a few different yeasts ferment (haven't taken any gravity readings as of yet).

https://picasaweb.google.com/108470702101834445590/Cider#

The album is a bit of a mess as of right now, but towards the end I labeled a couple of the photos by what yeast is used (Cuvee, Nottingham, EC-1118 and Weihenstephan Weizen™ 3068).

Look forward to seeing how yours ferments out!

ps, please refrain from heckling me for the red delicious, you work with what you've got!

-Jimmy

 

[Jrod]

I've got a starter of EC-1118 viciously chugging along now. I'm going to pitch it tomorrow and hope for the best. Damn notty completely wussed out for some reason. I will have cider damn it.

 

[Jrod]

Pitched the starter yesterday and we have fermentation again. Guess we'll see where we end up.

 

[Jrod]

Ok I give up. Even with the new yeast starter there is almost no activity and the gravity hasn't really dropped. It's still hanging out at 1.05. It's almost like it has preservatives in it but they weren't listed on the label.

 

[Pappers_]

Ok I give up. Even with the new yeast starter there is almost no activity and the gravity hasn't really dropped. It's still hanging out at 1.05. It's almost like it has preservatives in it but they weren't listed on the label.

You may be right, because there is definitely something amiss here. Either ale or wine yeast will normally eat right through apple sugars.

 

[Jrod]

Maybe I can just ferment 2 gallons of apple juice completely dry and then add that back in to the 3 gallons I have here. Pitch it in a keg an hope for the best. This has been quite a frusterating first attempt at cider.

 

[Jrod]

Any other ideas?

 

[Jrod]

Just poured half of the yeast cake from my Octoberfest into the carboy with the cider. I would have added it all but I ran out of room in the carboy. It's moving along again slowly I guess we'll see where it goes. I figure a slightly hoppy flavor beats ridiculously sweet anyday. This thing has had no fewer than 4 different yeast pitched in different forms trying to get it down.

Who knows..........

 

[HopsyTurvy]

You are gonna have the most unique cider ever. I hope it is only good and doesn't turn out mind-blowingly awesome cuz you'll have a hell of a time trying to replicate it, haha.

 

[Jrod]

I hope it is only good and doesn't turn out mind-blowingly awesome cuz you'll have a hell of a time trying to replicate it, haha.

You and me both. Trust me I have no desire to replicate this disaster. lol
Still bubbling slowly... The quest for attenuation continues.

 

[Jrod]

On a side note I added some of the same Octoberfest yeast to a 1/2 gallon of Simply Apple the other day and it was blowing stuff out of the airlock this morning. Something about that original cider...

 

[Jrod]

Added the half gallon of Simnply Apple that was rolling along nicely and another 1/2 gallon of the same to a new larger carboy and then racked the original carboy of cider ontop of that.

Results: Small Krausen and very slow bubbling (1/ 30 seconds)
I'll measure again tonight. Hopefully it's down a bit more. I guess we'll see.

 

[malc]

This may be a stupid comment, but I thought mine was stuck too. My reading was higher after four weeks than it was after two. I thought I made a mistake. Then I remembered…degas the sample.
The reading dropped three points…not stuck. It was done. Apparently there was a lot of co2 in solution.
Not sure if this is your issue, but you never know.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[Jrod]

Well there was almost no movement the other day and the best gravity reading I could get was still 1.07 after the additions of the new juice and yeast. Was convinced it was stuck. I gave it a good swirl 2 days ago and tonight for some strange reason it's bubbling once every 15 seconds or so.

It's not dead but I'll just play it out and see where we end up. Time for a seasonal beer.

 

[Jrod]

I hate open ended threads so I figured I should give this one an ending.

It continued to ferment and finally got down to about 1.002. Very dry and quite sour. I racked it into a keg and added about 1/2 gallon of apple juice to sweeten it up a bit. Purged the keg and gave it some C02 pressure then sat it outside to cold crash. May carb it up and see how it tastes on New Years.

 

[Jrod]

Update: I let it sit in the keg for about 6 months. It's still quite sour and has a slight acetic acid (vinegar) flavor, but not so much as to be completely off putting. Almost like a flanders red. It's different but not bad. I bottled up about 6 liters and a growler and then dumped the rest (about a gallon) We'll see what the future has but there is no way I'd ever get that keg empty. I'll have to give cider another try later this year.