Do I have mold???

[applejack-frost]

Still new to this whole cider thing. Did two - 1 gallon batches of fresh-pressed apples from our orchard. Initial SG was 1.045, used EC-1118 and it stopped fermenting after about 10 days. Moved them to another jug to sit. FG was less than 1.000. I have now noticed what looks like mold on the surface? Any ideas? Both that were done at the same time have the same mold looking scum on top. My others that I'm letting sit right now do not have this on the surface. Any ideas?

 

[Rick Stephens]

More likely a pellicle, but better pictures would help. Pellicles come from a bit of bacteria and a little oxygen.

To eliminate most introduction of oxygen in secondary means limiting both the amount of airspace left at the top of a carboy by topping off and limiting surface area of the must by using a carboy with a tapered neck that when filled has very little surface. Large surface areas allows easy access to contaminants.

 

[applejack-frost]

Thanks for the info. Is the batch ruined or can I salvage it by siphoning the lower contents below this into another carboy? (I am bearing in mind that could be a stupid question).

Thanks in advance.

More likely a pellicle, but better pictures would help. Pellicles come from a bit of bacteria and a little oxygen.

To eliminate most introduction of oxygen in secondary means limiting both the amount of airspace left at the top of a carboy by topping off and limiting surface area of the must by using a carboy with a tapered neck that when filled has very little surface. Large surface areas allows easy access to contaminants.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I would surely rack it off and leave behind any 'scum'. How to handle pellicles is always a debate. I dislike them and feel they have to have negative taste effects on my cider, so I try and either rack off n top off, hoping it doesn't return, or rack off and bottle early.

If it is a pellicle, it will get to being an obvious dry film over the top of your cider. When you rack off it is really easy to get that film to break up and drop into the must, so be careful. Last time I had one form I racked off into a clean carboy, at the time I was using big mouth bubblers for everything. It took just one day after racking and leaving the pellicle behind for it to start to reform. So I bottled it that day.

Nowadays I use standard narrow neck carboys for all secondary fermentation, saving the big mouth bubblers for messy primary where they are easy to keep clean.

 

[jseyfert3]

Is it fuzzy at all? The picture isn't the best. If fuzzy, it's mold and the batch must be dumped.

Also from the picture it appears you have a lot of headspace. As already mentioned, you want as little headspace as possible for all secondaries, which means filling carboys up into the narrow part of the neck.

 

[Yooper]

While it’s not hopeless, it doesn’t look good. If it was me, I’d immediately crush one campden tablet per gallon and dissolve in some water, and put that in a smaller carboy and rack the cider into it. If you have, say, four gallons, put it in a 3 gallon carboy and 1 gallon jug and make sure it’s topped up. If the pellicle regrows, it can be hit with a bigger dose. It will get sour/tart and maybe ropy without any treatment.

Always remember to keep the carboy to the top (within an inch of the bung) once fermentation slows/stops.