infections in your cider what are the main ones

[terryf3661]

a was just wondering what are the infections your homebrew can get and the main causes of them i know not cleaning your equipment properly would play a big part in most cases but what about were you live like were a live its quite dustie at times not the house the area lol could this cause anything and what about rapid changes in temp cause anything not that any of mines has changed temp like this but its just one of the things a would like to find out

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I'm not sure I follow completely, but I'll try and answer as best I can.

"Infections" in cider are pretty much the same as what you will encounter in any spoiled food or spoiled beer if your equipment isn't clean. I don't know all of the specific names, I'll leave that to the more scientific brewers. If my cider had a film on the surface or just tasted or smelled like barnyard animals or dirty socks...I'd dump everything and clean and sanitize all of my equipment from top to bottom.

Rapid changes in temps won't usually cause infections but could cause off flavors. If you ferment at very high temperatures (outside the range of your yeast strain) you will probably start producing fusel alcohols. You'll get really 'hot' tasting cider and probably a bit more headache from it.

Dust? Don't worry about it...it's everywhere. There's nothing you can do about it but hope that the yeast you inoculated your cider with will out compete anything that might have floated in. Keep in mind, once you put the airlock on your vessel, it's a closed system. O2 and CO2 can escape, but nothing can get in.