Is my cyser contaminated?

[William Wallace]

Hello everyone,

im new at home brewing and have tried my hand at cyser. I used 3lb of orange blossom honey, 1.5 liters of Treetop apple juice, D47 Lavlin yeast, and some dry yeast nurients. I am 4 weeks into fermentation and noticed this film at the top of the brew. It was rather frothy in the first 2 weeks with aggressive fermentation. It has slowed but fermentation is still active. Is my brew contaminated? Any help is appreciated!

 

[OleBrewing]

looks like floating yeast to me. do a search of lacto fermentation and moldy fermentation to get an idea of potential infected brews. there is a stark contrast. although some of those infections are the good flavor, some not many.

 

[Rish]

You'll get all kinds of strange looking stuff during fermentation. Taste it and smell it. If you like it, it's good to go.

 

[Kickass]

Hard to tell from the pictures. Does it look oily? Does it look like a thin membrane spreading across it? Regardless, taste and smell should be your primary determination of whether it’s worth keeping or dumping.

 

[William Wallace]

Hard to tell from the pictures. Does it look oily? Does it look like a thin membrane spreading across it? Regardless, taste and smell should be your primary determination of whether it’s worth keeping or dumping.

It is more like a cloud in the top 3mm. I havnt tried to disturb it but it doesn't look oily. It's holding together on the surface and shortly below. Someone told me that because the applejuice is denser than water some of the yeast has a harder time sinking. I was very careful and had everything sterilized so I'm confident it shouldn't be contaminated after some research. I'll be excited to tell everyone how it turns out

 

[William Wallace]

looks like floating yeast to me. do a search of lacto fermentation and moldy fermentation to get an idea of potential infected brews. there is a stark contrast. although some of those infections are the good flavor, some not many.

After some research I think you might be right. I am going to rack it into another carboy in the coming days and give it a try. I was very conscious of sanitation and am confident everything was thoroughly sanitized. I was told that because juice is "thicker" than water some of the yeast has a harder time sinking. I'll be sure to update how it turns out!

 

[OleBrewing]

After some research I think you might be right. I am going to rack it into another carboy in the coming days and give it a try. I was very conscious of sanitation and am confident everything was thoroughly sanitized. I was told that because juice is "thicker" than water some of the yeast has a harder time sinking. I'll be sure to update how it turns out!

pond scum is probably the best word to describe infection and mold is mold.

only had one infected brew and that was due to sampling readings. so if it was a good vigorous ferment and not a lot of lag almost all cases would eliminate infections happening.

 

[William Wallace]

To everyone who responded: we are good. Taste is great and testing just above 15%. Just a bit dry but still sweet and a bit tart.