Mold?

[macville]

Hey guys, I have been fermenting a two gallon batch of cider with safebrew-06 yeast for a about a month. My gravity went down to what I want, but when I opened it up, it looks like there is mold all over the top of the cider. I've got a picture of it and wanted to see what you all thought. I killed all the wild yeast with campden tabs before I started it, and everything should have been pretty clean as I used a cleaning wash on the bucket. Trying to figure out if it's mold, or just crap from the yeast.

Here is the picture: http://www.macvilleproductions.com/cider.jpg

Let me know what you all think...

Matthew

 

[hoppymonkey]

I never brewed cider before, but that looks just like a bacterial infection in beer. It won't hurt you if you drink the cider, but it may not taste good.

 

[gregbathurst]

Thats a good photo, certainly looks like mold. Could you have let too much air in?

 

[macville]

Thats a good photo, certainly looks like mold. Could you have let too much air in?

I don't see how. It was in a ale pail that I about broke my fingers to get into. Even if air came in, it could have only come in around the seal where the airlock was put in. Could it have done this because it took a while for the yeast to start eating the sugars? Or because I added more sugar without boiling it (I just realized that could have been an issue...)

Would this be safe to drink if I didn't get the mold in it?

Matthew

 

[gregbathurst]

I don't think sugar usually carries infection. I really don't know what that stuff is but the general rule is if it tastes ok you can drink it. It looks like you had a very big airspace and those buckets don't have a great seal so 1 month might have been too long. keeping the airspace as small as possible is a basic rule of brewing.

 

[Teromous]

Sugar can infect the brew, but it could be a number of things. It could be anything from the bucket to the juice. Even if you didn't sanitize your hydrometer. It looks like mold to me, as I haven't seen cider turn out that way before.

 

[SeamusMac]

The last brew I made for a friend was eventually infected, although I didn't notice until the end of a 3 week secondary. I kegged and carbed it anyways - tastes fine! If I were you I'd rack it again and make sure to leave the top layer of cider behind in the first carboy. At this point you could sulphite your cider and bottle it still, or keg and carb it. Although I wouldn't recommend bottle-carbing it...

 

[macville]

Just an update. I bottled it last week and it turned out very nice! It's sweet and has just a slight bubble to it--almost like you let it sit in the fridge and get a little hard.

Matthew