Is my cider ruined? (pictures)

[Shutteringfocus]

I have some cider and perry that has been in a secondary for about a year. The air locks are not active (no bubbles) and haven't been for months.

A milky film formed on the top of the cider and perry and it also coats the sides of the jugs. It began to form around the 3-4 month.

Since maybe month 6 it hasn't changed at all. Hasn't grown, hasn't gone away.

No funny smells.

No bubbles.

Are my batches ruined? What is this?

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[Gavin C]

Tasting it will likely answer your question.

Have you tasted it yet?

My guess is you've inadvertently and entirely expectedly made apple cider vinegar.

Any particular reason you decided to keep it in a secondary with all that head-space for months and months?

 

[dmtaylor]

You need to taste it. You have about a 50/50 chance of it tasting good or funky. It does not look like vinegar but rather some other sort of wild critters.

 

[user 211287]

If it did turn to vinegar, filter it, bottle it and save it. Homemade cider vinegar beats the heck out of the store bought stuff.

 

[brrman]

Definitely do not have that much headspace in your secondary the next time you do this. As little as possible is the rule.

 

[BourbonDevelopment]

Forgive the new guy, but We just finished out 3rd cider (Read: not an expert). 1st was cider, 2nd was cider vinegar. 3rd was cider. We let each primary for ~2 months, no secondary. Is there a reason it was going for 6 months?

 

[citytransplant]

2nd was cider vinegar.

Have you determined why the 2nd batch went bad?

 

[BourbonDevelopment]

Have you determined why the 2nd batch went bad?

It was a crap shoot for that batch. It didn't start fermenting until I pitched a second yeast with a nutrient. It sat for almost 10 days with no activity. I knew there was a chance it would be a bad batch.