First cider batch, no fermentation

[Kob]

Hi guys,

Last week the grocery store had apple cider on sale for a buck a gallon. So of course I get 5 and am planning on making some not adult cider.

I basically just put the cider in a carboy and added 2 lbs of brown sugar I had in the pantry. As this was a " fly by the seat of my pants type operation I put in about a tablespoon of some instant yeast from the freezer. No fancy yeast here, just something simple and available. After a week of no activity and a gravity reading of 1.066 I figured the yeast did nothing. I made a small starter and got good response and two days later still no activity.

I'm thinking I need to go to the LHBS to get some actual brewing yeast but I can't imagine why the instant yeast wouldn't work.

Thoughts?


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[kcmobrewer]

Did the cider have potassium sorbate in it? If it did it won't ferment.


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[Kob]

We'll look at that. So do I have 5 gallons of apple cider to drink now?


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[kcmobrewer]

If it has potassium sorbate in it then yeah. Sorry man. That stuff is used to kill yeast to prevent spontaneous fermentation in the jug.


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[Kob]

Ha ha oh man... Good thing it was a dollar a gallon.


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[kcmobrewer]

Happens to the best of us . For future reference either organic or Amish markets are great places to pick up the right cider. Still check the label though.


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[bernardsmith]

All is not lost, Kob. You say you made a starter. That is good. Here's what I would try. I would pour the apple juice into a bucket and really whip air into it. After 24 hours or so I would then take your starter and pour that into a carboy or another wide mouthed bucket and add about the same volume of AJ as you have starter. There may be enough active yeast in that volume to begin to ferment the sorbated juice. After an hour or two, I would double the volume by adding more of the sorbated juice and agitate it fiercely. I would repeat this another couple of times and then add the remainder of the juice after you have about a gallon or two in the primary. I would also add a small quantity of nutrient to the mixture. I think you want the mixture to be at a higher temperature than the temperature you typically ferment.
My understanding is that the first batch of yeast you pitched has begun to bind with the sorbate leaving the apple juice more vulnerable than it was when you bought it. By slowly adding small quantities of the AJ to the active starter you are not overwhelming the yeast with a flood of sorbate and you are allowing the starter to grow and so be able to accommodate to the rather inhospitable environment offered by the preservatives. (for the record, I am deliberately fermenting some sorbated juice after freeze concentrating it (raised the gravity from about 1.045 to about 1.090. It is still fermenting (allbeit slowly) after almost 3 weeks). I pitched 71B-1122.

 

[MoonDawg]

Questions for Kob: How old was the yeast?(Some have expiration dates), did you follow the directions for activation?, What was your initial gravity?

 

[Kob]

My og was 1.066. Not exactly sure where it's at now but there's been some decent activity.

I made a big starter a few days ago and let that do it's thing for a few hours to really get cookin. Yeast was really active so I'm not worried about bad yeast at this point.

Took the starter and pitched it. Decent activity and an inch or so kraussen. So there's activity, fermentation, but it's really slow. I guess worst case scenario at this point is I add starters every so often until I get a good fg.


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