5 Gallons Turned to Vinegar

[BFD175]

Im new to the making of Hard Cider. I started with a 5 Gallon Car boy full of Cider from a local Cider Mill. I don't believe they Sanitized the bottle. ( My wife surprised me with it as a gift.).

The Cider was untreated. I sanitized a 6 gallon Fermentation bucket and fermentation went very slow. I used an SO4 Yeast. Took about 14 days or so. ( I ended up having to pitch another yeast which help bring the SG down. It never got below 1.000. It smelled and tasted pretty good in the beginning. I racked back into the carboy after i cleaned and sanitized with Sodium Metabisulfate .

So to make a long story short I noticed that I had lost a lot of volume after I had racked it. Probably a good 3 or 4 inches from where it probably should be in the Car Boy. Not really thinking to much about it at first and not really knowing to much about it it sat for a few weeks. I finally started to really question why it hadn't cleared up much after trying to cold crash it and there was a lot of sediment.

Yesterday I decided to rack it out again. To make a long story as short as possible, when I opened it I noticed a slight vinegar smell and tasting it confirmed it.
To much head space? Was I doomed from the beginning of it sitting in the unsanitized bottle from the mill? Thanks

 

[MindenMan]

The cider was untreated and thereby covered in "natural" yeast(s). The bottle may or may not have been sanitized before filling. Your best bet would have been to treat the cider before you pitched your yeast. I don't believe you were doomed before you started; the fact that you had to re-pitch yeast and probably introduce some O2 by accident, and the extra head space most likely didn't help either. A bucket of apple cider vinegar isn't a total let-down. Treat it as though you were making applejack; when you pour off the first concentrate, taste it. If it does taste like vinegar in the making, pour off 1 gallon (maybe a little more) and put it somewhere dark and cool for a couple of months to have some super high quality apple cider vinegar when it is finished. The rest will sadly go down the drain; I feel your pain as I have been in the same predicament myself.

 

[turbos17]

On another note start with gallon batches to perfect what you like then go to larger batches. Good luck!

 

[BFD175]

Thanks. I had already started fermenting another 5 gallons that I was able to get before the Mill closed down for the season. I did a few things differently this time so hopefully it will help.