Cider fermented hard and now stalled

[LilFugg]

Hi,

I'm doing my second batch of Apple Cider. Essentially I have 24L of shopping center apple juice, 500g of white sugar, ~3 cups of tea, a cup of chopped raisins in a fermenter. I'm using S04 Ale Yeast. My last batch was without the raisins or 500g of sugar and I used MA33. It was pretty good.

This batch fermented like crazy for ~72 hours; so loud it sounded like a frying pan was being used and you could visibly see the rising C02. In my haste I forgot to measure starting gravity. Current specific gravity is 1.032, so it is definitely still very sweet and far from finishing. When the severe fermenting stopped, a layer of bubbles/foam (?) formed (see attached/embedded).

Is something amiss? I'd reckon I increased the sugars by ~22% (2300gs in 12 2L containers vs 2800g with the added 500g). Would that be enough to wreck something?

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Your recipe sounds good. And a slow down after initial hard fermenting is normal. I say everything is probably fine. However, if it is going to be a slow ferment, I would consider moving the batch to a secondary fermenter now. 1.03 is the normal point for that in wine.

Not everyone uses a secondary for ciders, I do sometimes, esp if the ferment slows down and I think it is going to last for a long time.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

2300gs in 12 2L containers

Did I catch that right? You are fermenting in 12 2L containers?

It will be very hard to have consistent quality of brew across so many small batches. I suggest you find some larger equipment. You can even use the 1 gal plastic jugs that much apple juice comes in. I ferment in those a lot.

 

[LilFugg]

Did I catch that right? You are fermenting in 12 2L containers?

It will be very hard to have consistent quality of brew across so many small batches. I suggest you find some larger equipment. You can even use the 1 gal plastic jugs that much apple juice comes in. I ferment in those a lot.

No, sorry I wasn't clear. It is in one 25L fermentation vessel. The apple juice comes in 2L jugs, I then tip all 12 of them into the fermentation vessel.

 

[Dland]

Do you know what your starting gravity was, could it be the 04 is overpowered by the ABV level? , it is just a ale yeast. Back when I made cider/mead I used champagne yeast, I was hitting wine alcohol levels.

 

[BrewSavage]

You added 2.3 kg of sugar (5 lbs) to 24 liters (just over 6 gallons) ? I'm using US units just help me get my head around it.

That would add something like 40 points to the gravity? So instead of a SG of 1045 (or so for juice) you started with something like 1085? Just some quick guess work on your numbers.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

No, sorry I wasn't clear. It is in one 25L fermentation vessel. The apple juice comes in 2L jugs, I then tip all 12 of them into the fermentation vessel.

Oh, that makes a lot more sense.

 

[LilFugg]

Your recipe sounds good. And a slow down after initial hard fermenting is normal. I say everything is probably fine. However, if it is going to be a slow ferment, I would consider moving the batch to a secondary fermenter now. 1.03 is the normal point for that in wine.

Not everyone uses a secondary for ciders, I do sometimes, esp if the ferment slows down and I think it is going to last for a long time.

I should consider a secondary, but I hear so much hearsay about whether it's good (not on the lees etc) or bad (gainless oxygenation) that I'm not sure what to do.

You added 2.3 kg of sugar (5 lbs) to 24 liters (just over 6 gallons) ? I'm using US units just help me get my head around it.

No, 500 grams (1.10 pounds) to 24 liters (6 gallons), hence the ~22% increase in sugar. I suppose that would be approximately a gravity increase of 08 points if I go on the assumption that 5 pounds increases gravity by 40 points?

Do you know what your starting gravity was, could it be the 04 is overpowered by the ABV level? , it is just a ale yeast. Back when I made cider/mead I used champagne yeast, I was hitting wine alcohol levels.

That's my worry. I worked out my last batch (no added sugar) should be about 4-5% based on specific gravity readings. Theoretically the additional 500grams of sugar shouldn't take us to 10+% territory where the ale yeast would flounder. Anecdotally, it felt a lot stronger than that but I am not a seasoned drinker I suppose.

Something I don't quite understand is that extra sugar seems to correlate with a slower ferment? When I primed my last batch I did a trial run of 6 bottles with vastly above priming sugar with intent to try pasteurizing. These bottles primed much much slower than my normal bottles. I had given up on them and just put them into the fridge, to avoid bombs, before I realised they'd finally carbonated.

 

[Dland]

Some of the best cider I ever had was in a from a 50 gallon whisky barrel that had stalled, for over a year. It was in my uncles cellar, he had added quite a bit of honey and it was drinkable, but too sweet for our taste. He encouraged me to bottle it up, and take several cases home. It all started working again after being bottled, and it all came out nice and sparkling, sweetness dried up some, but luckily no bottle bombs. It helped we used some heavy duty Canadian liter beer bottles he had collected.

So maybe a secondary fermentation would be worth trying if nothing happens, but I'd pitch some wine type yeast first.

 

[BrewSavage]

OK, so yes adding 500g to 24L sugar should add 8 or 9 points to the OG.

My experience with apple juice has always been near 1045 give or take depending on the batch so your OG was probably within a few points of 1.055 so nothing unusual.

Just give it time, and maybe a stir?

 

[thenugsmoustache]

I would say give it more time and maybe some yeast nutrient.

Did you boil or invert your white sugar before adding it? If not the yeast will invert it on their own but it will take them longer to ferment it and may stress them.