Apple Cider fermenting not even opened from the store

[psi3000]

Hey guys
I went to my local orchard again to pick up four 1 gal bottles of apple cider to make hard cider with. I left it out on my counter to get to room temp and did not get around to cleaning the fermenter for 3 days. So they sat on the counter for 3 days. Well I cleaned out my fermenter today and looked at the four 1 gal bottles and noticed that two of them were bloated and pressurized. No doubt that fermentation had started to take place. My question is can I still use these two bottles that had started fermentation with the wild yeast that was in the bottle with them? The cider from my orchard is only flash pasturized so I guess you gata keep them cold or else this could result.

 

[brett]

What a great opportunity to experiment with making scrumpy!

I would dump it all into a carboy, let them ferment out, and save the wild yeast from the cake if it's good!

 

[psi3000]

I was thinking that too. Anyone else have any objections?

 

[talleymonster]

It'd be a neat experiment. I believe Landhoney recently did an experiment like that where he left the carboy in an orchard for a few days with cheesecloth over the opening in hopes of "catching" some wild yeast.

 

[psi3000]

Ok just put it in the carboy with 2 lbs of dark brown sugar. I over did it on the brown sugar as my SG was 1.076. Well I guess thats as good a starter as any for the yeast to grow in.

 

[brett]

It's such a toss-up on whether it will turn our palatable or not. You could be creating a cider that uses a yeast not yet tasted by many.

I applaud your audaciousness! Would you be willing to send/trade me a bottle in 3 months or so; I'd love to taste this one!

This is so cool you're letting this one go on wild yeast. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Could me in on the trade as well. I would definatly humor myself with this experiment till I wanted the carboy for something else. Could be really interesting or could be a waste of time and might lead too off flavors for every single batch of cider and beer you will ever make eventually causing you to go mad due to all your batches being infected you are forced to leave the country and live with other crazy people, hint up North, eh. Or it could just be fun. Start another batch with a different controlled yeast so you can compare them.

 

[shafferpilot]

You did the right thing!!!!!!

What kind of yeast hangs out on apples?? The kind that likes apples! The kind that people used for apple cider centuries ago because they didn't even know that yeast existed!! This is grass roots brewing if i've ever heard of it...... Then again it may turn out to be a big nasty turd! Who cares, i'm pumped just to hear about it! Good Luck

 

[zoebisch01]

I have one 5 gallon carboy fermenting 'Au Natural' from this years pressing. The biggest challenge is to keep it from turning into vinegar. My understanding is that really it is or hit or miss if this happens, although you can minimize the chances by keeping it under airlock (I think fruitflies are one of the biggest culprits of contamination but that's just a guess really, I am not sure if the Aceto's are there on the apples from the get-go...probably are).

What is really interesting is, that I have another 5 gallon container (aside from two other 5's and a 6 that 2 of which I killed off the wild strains with campden, the other is the formerly mentioned batch) that sat in the fridge with hopes of holding it off as long as possible for use fresh. Well that one smells vinegary , although I haven't had time to really check it out. All the others smell as I would expect.

The way it used to be done was, they'd press and put the cider into barrels and let it ferment. You can drink it in just about any phase really, it won't hurt you. Thing is it would go through all these phases....fresh...tingly...super tingly....fermented....dry..sour....vinegar. That is sort of how it goes. Unless you can intervene at some point (either via campden, or flash pasteurizing again). I am experimenting now to see if oxygen absorbing caps are enough to keep bottled naturally fermented cider from turning. I will post my results in a few months.

 

[rabidgerbil]

Ok just put it in the carboy with 2 lbs of dark brown sugar. I over did it on the brown sugar as my SG was 1.076. Well I guess thats as good a starter as any for the yeast to grow in.

Have you used brown sugar in cider before?
Did you like the results?
I found that the brown sugar that I used made my cider so tart that
almost no one will drink it. Something to do with the table sugar fermenting
out and leaving the molasses behind.

 

[shafferpilot]

In this situation I'd keep a really close eye on it and nail it with camden and sorbate the instant it tasted/smelled at all like vinegar or when the gravity hit about 1.010 or the sweetness dropped to a level that seemed appropriate.

 

[alowishus]

Have you used brown sugar in cider before?
Did you like the results?
I found that the brown sugar that I used made my cider so tart that
almost no one will drink it. Something to do with the table sugar fermenting
out and leaving the molasses behind.

I am currently working on a 5g batch of apple cider (pasteurized only) that has 3 lbs of light brown sugar in it.

It's pretty much done fermenting at this point, and I tasted it - not tart at all, but it's only 3 weeks old at this point.

I would guess that using dark vs light brown sugar contributed to the overtly high "tartness" of your batch - that seems to be the general consensus of folks on the forum.

Maybe try light brown sugar next time?

 

[Sea]

I guess I'm too late, but I would have suggested fermenting each of the gallons seperately in 1 gal glass jugs. Who knows if both swelled containers had the same yeast in them? you could have had three very different results.

 

[rabidgerbil]

I am currently working on a 5g batch of apple cider (pasteurized only) that has 3 lbs of light brown sugar in it.

It's pretty much done fermenting at this point, and I tasted it - not tart at all, but it's only 3 weeks old at this point.

I would guess that using dark vs light brown sugar contributed to the overtly high "tartness" of your batch - that seems to be the general consensus of folks on the forum.

Maybe try light brown sugar next time?

It was light brown sugar. I don't buy dark brown, for baking or anything else, and I am the cook/baker/brewer in the house.

I did not taste the cider itself before I mixed it with the yeast, there is alway a chance that it was tart to begin with, all I know is that I have found a number of places on here where others have found the same thing, that use of brown sugar in a cider made it tarter than they had expected.

 

[shafferpilot]

It was light brown sugar. I don't buy dark brown, for baking or anything else, and I am the cook/baker/brewer in the house.

I did not taste the cider itself before I mixed it with the yeast, there is alway a chance that it was tart to begin with, all I know is that I have found a number of places on here where others have found the same thing, that use of brown sugar in a cider made it tarter than they had expected.

You may have to back sweeten it with something non-fermentable to knock the tart down. Still, I'd try to stop the fermentation before it's completely finished to try and keep a little sweetness in it.

 

[dave36640]

I have used dextose aka corn sugar and both light and dark brown sugar. I have been letting them age and see if the taste improves or not.

The dark is very tart when I first bottled it, I just tried one now that it is 2 months old and found it to be much better.

Over all I prefer the corn sugar. Edwort's recipe is excellent as is!