First brew attempt, stalled at the one week mark?

[bodhisoma]

Made my first batch of anything on March 30th. Sanitized everything that'd touch the liquid beforehand. Five gallons of frozen, almost certainly pasteurized, no-preservative apple juice in a food-grade bucket with a spigot. Added perhaps a pound of honey, SG of 1.050. Gave the champagne yeast a little sugar and 105F water, waited a few minutes then added the slurry to the pail. Gave the lid a few taps with the mallet, added the airlock and let it sit for a bit.

I've taken some 2oz (ish) sized samples (three, I think) from the spigot to a cup to understand the process a bit better.

Now it's Day 7 and the out gassing, which had been fairly vigorous starting from Day 2 until now, has stopped entirely. The temp in the room is always 70-76F, not sure what other information to offer.

My guess is that the next step is to pull enough to use the hydrometer to get an SG reading and then do the math to figure alcohol content. Can I assume that the alcohol content is sufficient to not worry about contaminant introduction if I simply remove the lid and place the sanitized hydrometer directly into the brew to take a reading? I sampled a mouthful tonight (spigot > cup > mouf) and if I had to guess I'd say it's in the 3% range though that could be wildly inaccurate as I'm not much of a drinker.

Do I spigot to a secondary ferment with nominal splash and then pitch more yeast if sufficient sugars are present? What levels would I look for?

Sorta lost at this point, I was expecting a minimum of 2 weeks before I had to make any decisions whatsoever.

Thanks much in advance for the replies.

 

[dallas996]

I would definitely take a reading. From my experience, when I use EC1118 rather than say Notty (ale yeast) it chews through the sugar at a much more aggressive pace; you may have "zeroed out" at this point.

 

[Bobinniti]

Its my first time too. I pretty much did the same thing. I have mine in a glass carboy so I can see whats going on. I started at 1.065 and it stopped at 1.020. The local brew shop had a couple that had the same thing happen. They added some more sugar so thats what I did. It started back up and again I am at about 1.020 and I can see the cloud of yeast dropping out again. I am just going to move mine to a secondary let it sit and see what happens. I used the Wyeast 4766 and it does not taste all that good. I hope this "it gets better with time" thing works out.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Its my first time too. I pretty much did the same thing. I have mine in a glass carboy so I can see whats going on. I started at 1.065 and it stopped at 1.020. The local brew shop had a couple that had the same thing happen. They added some more sugar so thats what I did. It started back up and again I am at about 1.020 and I can see the cloud of yeast dropping out again. I am just going to move mine to a secondary let it sit and see what happens. I used the Wyeast 4766 and it does not taste all that good. I hope this "it gets better with time" thing works out.

If you're using EC 1118 just make sure your SG is nice and low before bottling. I've used it twice and both times it went well below 1.000 before it stopped. At 1.020 you're not even close to done.

To the OP, my guess is that your fermentation is done. Check the gravity and then transfer to a secondary by attaching a hose to the spiggot that will reach all the way to the bottom of your secondary container. This will avoid splashing. Clean and sanitize everything first.

 

[bodhisoma]

I used Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast, not sure if that matters.

Can I just open the lid, drop in the sanitized hydrometer and take a reading?

 

[bernardsmith]

You might want to get hold of a measuring cylinder. It is possible that the hydrometer won't float high enough for you to retrieve it in any simple manner. What I would do is sanitize a new and clean baster or wine thief and draw off enough cider to allow your hydrometer to float. In my oponion, if the gravity is above 1.000 I would add a small quantity of yeast nutrient. It is possible that the apple juice does not contain enough nutrient for the yeast and that MAY be a possible cause of the stuck fermentation.

 

[Bobinniti]

I just moved to a secondary and it's building up pressure and bubbling a bit again. I guess it just needed a good mix up. I washed a good amount of yeast from what was left in the bottom of the primary.


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[dallas996]

I just moved to a secondary and it's building up pressure and bubbling a bit again. I guess it just needed a good mix up. I washed a good amount of yeast from what was left in the bottom of the primary.


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One thing I do (not sure if everyone does or not) I always use nutrient, and I agitate my fermentation vessel vigorously everyday in the first week. Knock wood, but I have never had a stalled batch and I tend to only use 2-3 teaspoons of yeast per 5 gallon batch.

 

[bodhisoma]

Just took a reading with the hydrometer, reads 1.002, maybe even a little less. Started with an SG of 1.050, so I think this puts me in the 6.5% range.

Moved to secondary via siphon, tilted the primary back a little to minimize sediment transfer, tilted the secondary forward a bit to minimize oxygenating, just ran the spigot slow and let it run down.

Considerable trub at the bottom. Impressive, actually.

What's my next step? Will letting it age improve its taste? Because it doesn't taste all that appetizing now, that's for certain.

If I do leave it in the bucket/carboy, is it safe to assume I should return the airlock to the inlet in the lid?

Can I assume the alcohol content is sufficient to prevent bacterial growth?

Thanks much in advance for the input!

[stealth edit: Is it OK to leave in brewing container (food-grade brewing bucket)? My plan was to spigot out into container as desired, fridge, enjoy. Thoughts?]

 

[hbrookie]

Aging will make it taste a bit better. Especially if you were fermenting above 72 degrees, but that's not the primary reason that it doesn't taste good. An SG of 1.002 is almost 0 sugar. Sugars help the flavors come out in the fruit. You're going to want to make a small batch of simple syrup to keep lying around. 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water. Boil it on the stove top. When ever you want to drink one of you ciders, add 1 tbls of the syrup to the glass before you poor.

As to your sanitation question. No, the abv is not sufficient to prevent infection. However, as long as you don't disturb it after it finishes degassing, the CO2 is sufficient to do the job for you. If you've disturbed it already, and there isn't any off gassing going on, you not only risk infection, but oxygenation as well. A simple fix to this is to throw a tbls of sugar in your bucket to get the co2 built back up. As long as you didn't already get an infection (you probably didn't), this will help protect you.

As an FYI, I've found that ciders seem to age quicker once bottled. I bottle prime for sparkling cider and I don't know if it's the pressure, the extra co2 or what, but that nasty vitamin C tang seems to fade much quicker once bottled. And so does the gasohol taste if you fermented at too high of a temp

 

[Sandow]

I've been using the red star champagne yeast too. It tastes decent once sweetened but it is yeastier that I'd like. Even a few weeks aging helped quite a bit with that though. Did one normal batch and one high gravity that I made into applejack. Was nice and fast to play with but I'm moving on. Until I need to make more applejack, I'm unlikely to use it again.

If you back sweeten with a fermentable sugar, it will take it all the way to dry with any sane amount of added sugar. That stuff attenuates around 17%

-Sandow