Bubbles or Infection?

[kraizter]

OG: 1.048
SG@Time of Racking: 1.002
Yeast: Cote de Blancs

Cider (5 gallons) was fresh pressed directly into 6.5 gallon carboys. They use UV pasteurization and I did not add sulphites.

I racked this cider into a 5 gallon secondary fermenter 4 days ago after fermenting for 9 days. There have been no bubbles in this fermenter or the other one (on the same schedule but with Safcider yeast).

The safcider yeast shows no bubbles still but here is an image of the bubbles/infection in the cote de blancs carboy. Airlock activity has been minimal and barely present in the last 24-36 hours. (I decided to add the safcider photo for comparison sake)

I guess the question is should I continue to let it clarify in secondary? Add sulphites and/or bottle to remove headspace?

I am trying to end up with a fizzy dry cider approx. 6%ABV

 

[CKuhns]

I cant say for sure if that is an infection or not, I have no experience with them, however does look like some of the ciders i have had that continue to ferment in secondary. Cotes Des Blanc is a pretty big yeast for cider and will likely go dry 0.998 or so. If the gravity was / is > 1.000 then i suspect you are still fermenting a bit.

 

[Scrumpy!]

Before you do anything else, get a specific gravity reading with your hydrometer then top up that carboy to within 1" of the top. The hydrometer reading will tell you how close you are to a complete fermentation and the reduction in headspace might save you from producing 5 gallons of apple vinegar.

The pictures seem to show what is likely a healthy cider. If the floating bubble patches turn into opaque white mats with very small bubbles, you may have a film yeast infection. Topping up your carboy will kill this rather quickly.

If the specific gravity is above 1.010, it still has some fermenting to do. If the specific gravity is less than 1.010 but higher than 1.006, bottle it as is in strong bottles (not 12 oz beer bottles). If it is closer to 1.000, go on the web or on this forum and find a calculator to determine how much dextrose (priming sugar) to add then you can bottle it in weak bottles.

 

[kraizter]

Thank you for the timely responses and helpful info!

I will double check the gravity and top them off to be sure.

These are my first of many batches, cheers!!