First cider, Fermentation stopped

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sanity1676

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About three days ago i began a fermentation in a clean mason jar with, a cup of sugar, a quart of water, and some cider spices,I dissolved the sugar completely, added spices, i added two packs of some past date bread yeast, then I shook it up and in fifteen minutes i got some pretty decent foam forming in my mason jar. I loosened the lid to let C02 out, and the foam kept up until the next morning. The next morning was moderately cold around 40F and i wanted to see if it was still producing foam or if that was just some floating bubbles on top, so i shook it again, and didn't get any more foam. I added a half spoon of sugar to see if it had exhausted all sugar but, that did not yield any Change in my situation. So yesterday I added a pinch of some fresh rapid rise yeast, which also didn't yield any result, I warmed up the jar with warm water, and it didn't seem to help either. I strained and tasted a sample and it was still really sweet and tasted about as alcoholic as a beer. and it is very cloudy (sorry i don't have a hydrometer) Any ideas as to whats wrong with my brew? or how i can restart my fermentation?? Thanks in advance
 
About three days ago i began a fermentation in a clean mason jar with, a cup of sugar, a quart of water, and some cider spices,I dissolved the sugar completely, added spices, i added two packs of some past date bread yeast, then I shook it up and in fifteen minutes i got some pretty decent foam forming in my mason jar. I loosened the lid to let C02 out, and the foam kept up until the next morning. The next morning was moderately cold around 40F and i wanted to see if it was still producing foam or if that was just some floating bubbles on top, so i shook it again, and didn't get any more foam. I added a half spoon of sugar to see if it had exhausted all sugar but, that did not yield any Change in my situation. So yesterday I added a pinch of some fresh rapid rise yeast, which also didn't yield any result, I warmed up the jar with warm water, and it didn't seem to help either. I strained and tasted a sample and it was still really sweet and tasted about as alcoholic as a beer. and it is very cloudy (sorry i don't have a hydrometer) Any ideas as to whats wrong with my brew? or how i can restart my fermentation?? Thanks in advance

:confused:

Wow. Where to begin. Frankly I am hoping that this is all an early April Fools joke, but on the chance that it isn't...

When you say the mason jar was clean, did you just use soap and water. or did you also use a sanitizer like Star San?

Adding "cider spices" to water in an attempt to make cider is like adding vasoline to water in an attempt to make gasoline. It just won't work. Also, were there any preservatives in the "cider spices"?

When you disolved the sugar in the water, was it hot, or room temperature? How about the temperature of the solution when you added the yeast? By the way, using bread yeast is a bad idea, and using expired yeast is a bad idea. So when you use expired bread yeast, that is a bad idea squared.

A temp of 40F will make yeast go dormant. If you let it get back to room temp (65 - 75), it may continue to ferment.

If you are really serious about brewing cider, get the following equipment:
1 gallon glass jug / carboy ($5.00)
Rubber stopper to fit 1 gallon glass jug ($1.00)
Airlock ($2.00)
Hydrometer ($7.00)
Wine or Ale yeast ($1.50)
Preservative free apple juice ($3.50)

So, approximately $20 to start, and about $5 every time you want to remake a batch.
 
Sorry about that, Im just starting, im looking for simple recipes for wines and stuff. I used bleach to sterilize then rinsed with water. And i loosened the cap. Soon im making a homemade airlock from some vinyl tubing. Sorry i sound so ignorant, Im on my first brews, and all I have is bread yeast. Ive had a successful wine with grape juice, and am currently experimenting with pineapple juice, I heat them to dissolve sugar, always. Thanks for your reply. Im just totally new to home-brewing.
 
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