A tale of two ciders

[airbrett]

After 7 months in the secondary, check out these two ciders.

Actually, this is the same cider that came out of the same primary fermenter. I got some farmers market unpasteurized cider and decided to do a 2 gallon batch with English Ale yeast. I had issues with the airlock on the lighter colored one and the screw top under the airlock on the darker color one. I need a better solution for long periods in the secondary obviously.

So I bottled today and the lighter color one smells sour and vinegary with little apple smell. The darker one smells like cider but has some vinegar and almost flower notes.

I have low expectations but still am going to bottle carb for 4-6 weeks and see what happens. Worse case scenario I have some very expensive homemade apple cider vinegar for salads and such. Will keep you updated.

 

[dmtaylor]

Hmm. Funny isn't it.

My own cider has been in primary for 8 months now. I keep saying "maybe tomorrow I'll bottle it." Then tomorrow arrives and becomes today but I say the same thing again. And again. My own cider looks a lot like your light colored one on the left, but a little clearer as I did use gelatin. On the other hand, maybe it's good I haven't bottled it as I looked at the fermenter closely today and noticed that it is STILL fizzing away in there!!!! So I don't know what the heck to do. Probably just bottle it and keep it cold. The gravity I know is below 1.000, somewhere in the mid 0.990s, so it's safe to bottle anyway I'm sure. Maybe tomorrow.

Best of luck to you. Hopefully one or both of these are still pretty good.

 

[Drewed]

I've had nothing but bad luck with those screw top and three piece air locks. Go with drilled bungs at least, and I now prefer the one piece s-shaped air lock.

 

[Yooper]

The one on the right is showing signs of severe oxidation. The dark brown color is a dead giveaway. Think of an apple, how you cut it and it's nice and white and crisp, but as it's exposed to air, it turns brown. That's what happened here- a huge amount of headspace and a non-airtight type of closure is to blame. I don't know about the one on the left- apparently enough air contacted it to infect it with something, but it's not showing the brown discoloration, at least not yet.

Bummer about the batches. next time, keep them topped up to near the bung and make sure the top is secure.

 

[airbrett]

The one on the right is showing signs of severe oxidation. The dark brown color is a dead giveaway. Think of an apple, how you cut it and it's nice and white and crisp, but as it's exposed to air, it turns brown. That's what happened here- a huge amount of headspace and a non-airtight type of closure is to blame. I don't know about the one on the left- apparently enough air contacted it to infect it with something, but it's not showing the brown discoloration, at least not yet.

Bummer about the batches. next time, keep them topped up to near the bung and make sure the top is secure.

Yep, I'll switch to the rubber stopper and s-style stopper next time I try starter. I've always had trouble with the stoppers not sticking after sanitizing due to being wet. I'll find a way though as I'm 0 for 2 on the screw top plus 3 piece airlock combo.

 

[MarkKF]

I just dry the stopper and neck with a napkin after it sits wet for a while first.

 

[airbrett]

I just dry the stopper and neck with a napkin after it sits wet for a while first.

I guess the infection risk from anything transferred from a fresh paper towel is negligible compared to not having a good seal, correct? If I were paranoid I could get some sealed sterile cotton balls from a pharmacy. If I were paranoid...

 

[Yooper]

I guess the infection risk from anything transferred from a fresh paper towel is negligible compared to not having a good seal, correct? If I were paranoid I could get some sealed sterile cotton balls from a pharmacy. If I were paranoid...

Wiping the sanitizer off with a clean paper towel won't infect your cider, don't worry!

You want to have an airlock that allows c02 out, and minimizes oxygen exposure. It will NEVER be airtight, so a perfect seal doesn't exist. That is why you do the best you can with a bung and an airlock (even though oxygen does go through the water in the airlock and through the plastic of the airlock into the neck of the carboy). Minimizing headspace is the single best course of action to protect the cider from oxidation once active fermentation is over.