Cider airlock not bubbling

[Latteforsarahmo]

We are stumped. We are on our 5th year of making hard cider. This year we purchased 15 gallons of cider from a brewing company. We sanitized everything. We put in sulfates, waited 48 hours then added pectic enzymes and champagne yeast. We followed our steps from previous years and it was been a couple of weeks with ZERO bubbles in the airlocks. We checked the seal and it seems sound. We added more yeast and it foamed at the top so we thought it was going to be good... but no bubbles. We do have a 2 year old now so I’m wondering if we got distracted and missed a step or something. Help! Thoughts? Should we bag it.

 

[bmd2k1]

Have ya checked the SG...any drop in those 2 weeks?

 

[S-Met]

Was your seal tight? Air lock activity is not indicative of fermentation. Have you tasted it? How much sulfate? Was your yeast viable and properly stored?

 

[RPh_Guy]

(72 for lagers) = fermenting below 60°F

Cheers

 

[Latteforsarahmo]

Have ya checked the SG...any drop in those 2 weeks?

I haven’t...I should do that!

 

[Latteforsarahmo]

Was your seal tight? Air lock activity is not indicative of fermentation. Have you tasted it? How much sulfate? Was your yeast viable and properly stored?

The seal is tight! Yeast was viable! I think I’ll test the gravity and taste it and see what’s going on. Otherwise...‍

 

[Latteforsarahmo]

View attachment 597732
(72 for lagers) = fermenting below 60°F

Cheers

That is a great visual! We have it at about 70 degrees which is what we have always done... maybe a little warmer. Do you recommend cooler for cider??

 

[RPh_Guy]

That is a great visual! We have it at about 70 degrees which is what we have always done... maybe a little warmer. Do you recommend cooler for cider??

Lower is generally better, as low as your yeast can tolerate.
The reasoning is that the apple flavor/aroma compounds are volatile and more will be lost if the temperature is higher.

Cheers & welcome to HBT

 

[Latteforsarahmo]

Have ya checked the SG...any drop in those 2 weeks?

I need to check it!

 

[MarkKF]

Any chance the juice had sulfates in it or that you added some by mistake?

 

[Geremy]

I waaaay overdid sulfite addition in a batch recently. Had to repitch yeast a 3rd time, I also splash racked right before third pitch and it kicked off. One thing I did wrong was seal the vessel before allowing sulfites to blow off. Have you trapped the sulfites in by chance? If so, splash rack and cover with a thin towel to allow them to blow off before you add more yeast.

 

[ten80]

I waaaay overdid sulfite addition in a batch recently. Had to repitch yeast a 3rd time, I also splash racked right before third pitch and it kicked off. One thing I did wrong was seal the vessel before allowing sulfites to blow off. Have you trapped the sulfites in by chance? If so, splash rack and cover with a thin towel to allow them to blow off before you add more yeast.

GLARGH!!!! I'm fighting this very issue with a batch of ice cider. 4 yeast pitches and nothing more than a couple tiny bubbles in a month with no drop in SG. Going for a splash-rack and/or CO2 bubbling as the next step.