Cider hasn't started to ferment, 3 days.

[Corvato]

OK. My latest batch of cider:
5 gallons of water
10 frozen apple juice concentrate (no preservatives)
about 4 pounds of sugar
about 1/2 cup of fresh crabapples juiced (was hoping for wild yeast)

it hasn't started fermenting after 3 days at all, the airlock shows a SLIGHT pressure, but not really significant, and it hasn't started bubbling at all.

should i worry, and run out for some champagne yeast, which i have used in the past, or wait a few more days to see if it starts bubbling?

 

[Evan!]

So you didn't pitch any yeast, you're just waiting on the wild yeast from the crabapples? If I were you, I'd wait another week to see if anything happens. Wild yeast is notoriously unreliable and inconsistent, so you'll just need to see what happens. After another week, if you don't see anything, I'd say go with some dry yeast, but not champagne. Try nottingham.

 

[Corvato]

well, i will wait, wanted to try wild, since it was supposed to give more flavor. I wouldn't mind trying nottingham, but i don't have access to it. I refuse to spend $1 on a package of yeast, and then have to pay $8 shipping. My local brew supply store only has some ale yeast and champagne.

was thinking maby it might have TOO MUCH sugar? heard that can hurt fermentation too.

 

[Yooper]

well, i will wait, wanted to try wild, since it was supposed to give more flavor. I wouldn't mind trying nottingham, but i don't have access to it. I refuse to spend $1 on a package of yeast, and then have to pay $8 shipping. My local brew supply store only has some ale yeast and champagne.

was thinking maby it might have TOO MUCH sugar? heard that can hurt fermentation too.

No, I'm guessing a lack of yeast. That's a lot of juice, with a tiny bit of apples. Even if you had a bonanza of yeast on those crabapples, you're asking an awful lot from it. The juice wouldn't have any yeast of course, so it's a pretty "clean" must. You might have bacteria take hold way before the yeast.

 

[Tusch]

I'm with yooper, you are hoping to get wild yeast from a very small batch of juice. Perhaps a better method would have been to use the crab apple juice as a starter. If the wild yeast took hold in just that juice, then it could be added to the whole batch.

 

[Corvato]

I'm with yooper, you are hoping to get wild yeast from a very small batch of juice. Perhaps a better method would have been to use the crab apple juice as a starter. If the wild yeast took hold in just that juice, then it could be added to the whole batch.

thanks for that option. I will decide if i want to juice some more crabapples and make a small starter, get the yeast really going then add it, or just go for the champagne yeast

 

[Tusch]

I don't know much about wild yeast, I just imagined that they would have a better chance in that option.

 

[Corvato]

OK. a about a week and just a slight pressure indicated by my airlock.

i decided to go with what i did with my last batch, which worked fine:
Lalvin EC-1118 pitched into the airlock hole

the only difference between my last batch and this one

last batch was 5 gal with 9 defrosted combination of part great value and archer farm frozen concentrate. it took off pretty quick in a few days.

this batch i will wait a few day before even looking again.