Did I make Vinegar?

[crawfman]

My parents have an apple orchard in thier town, so I had them get me 5 gallons of unpastuerized cider to play around with. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring it to me within a day or two. Now, it is going on 5 days they have had it and they are finally bringing it to me. I had them leave the caps on, but not tight to allow co2 to get out.

The vinegar part...how long would it take 02 presence to affect it enough? I'm not wanting vinegar, I'm wanting a "farmhouse" style cider. I figure I will taste it when they get here today and then add sulfite to kill the remaining wild yeast and then pitch some T58 to finish the fermentation.

Bad Idea....Good Idea?

Thanks

 

[edmanster]

If it was kept cold it can last a couple weeks.. room temp and it will spontaneous ferment with whatever was in it in 3-5 days no problem..

Edit: it's the bacteria you need to worry about making it into vinegar..

 

[crawfman]

Shoot

It wasn't kept cold, more like perfect ale fermenting temps. I'll take a gravity reading when they get here. If it is still high (which will be hard to determine without a beginning number) I'll still pitch the yeast. Otherwise...any ideas?

 

[edmanster]

Most raw apple cider I get is 1.055 wich is kinda standard.. you could still sulfite it if the gravity is still high to kill the wild yeast and bacteria and do a controlled ferment and or sulfite at the end of the wild ferment but then you can only have it still with no carbonation unless you keg..

 

[Halbrust]

I'd also take a gallon of it and throw it in a sanitized carbiy, airlock it, and let it run. You could have bacteria... You could end up with vinegar... You could get the best cider you've ever had by using the yeast that lived on the apples.

 

[edmanster]

I'd also take a gallon of it and throw it in a sanitized carbiy, airlock it, and let it run. You could have bacteria... You could end up with vinegar... You could get the best cider you've ever had by using the yeast that lived on the apples.

If drank fast enough you won't have vinegar

 

[Halbrust]

True, but apple cider vinegar is good. So if it does vinegar, it's not a nescesarily a bad thing.

 

[crawfman]

Yeah, but I can't drink 2 or 3 pints of vinegar very easily .

Sounds good, guess I will see here soon what I am dealing with. I was just getting a little worried.

I also have alot of persimmon pulp that my mother (live on a farm if you didn't guess) gave me, so i'm thinking of adding some of the cider to a gallon carboy and then alot of the pulp as well to do a persimmon/cider thing.

 

[dinnerstick]

you're only going to get vinegar if you oxidize it AFTER fermentation! you are fine. it's the ethanol that is converted to acetic acid in cider vinegar making, juice can't go to vinegar without first going to cider, then getting more oxygen and acetobacter. sulfite may or may not stop the wild ferment you have going.

 

[Halbrust]

Oxygen does not create vinegar.

 

[dinnerstick]

indeed not. but acetobacter can't turn ethanol to acetic acid without oxygen. there is no ethanol at the beginning of fermentation but lots of oxygen. at the end there is lots of ethanol but no oxygen. add oxygen and you now have the potential for vinegar. but you need acetobacter, and time. unless you add a culture, it takes quite a while in my (limited) experience in making vinegar

 

[crawfman]

Finally got the cider. It smelled slightly fermented (not like vinegar like my mom had said) and tasted super sweet and slightly yeasty. Transferred to a carboy and added sulfites, yeast to be added later. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.066! Wow...it did taste super sweet.

Now I get the whole acetobacter/o2/acetic acid thing. I am good!