New to Cider and Likker

[Realm_Fuelming]

Hey everyone,
I've made wine at home before, and beer in the past, but I'm trying cider from apple scraps right now. I'm looking for knowledgeable advice on what to do next, and was hoping some of you with more experience could help a girl out.

I started with about half a bucket of apple peels and cores (waste not, want not), and added hot water in equal measure. I let that sit for about 3-4 days to get some good juices out of it. I then strained it and added sugar - of course I don't remember how much sugar right now. I also didn't have my hydrometer handy, so I don't have an initial SG measurement. Nothing like not being very helpful, am I? I let it sit for a week or two to see if any natural yeasts would do their thing... but no joy. So... I pitched some champagne yeast I had on hand. It bubbled like a happy camper for about a week or so, and then stopped. I just checked on it, and it's still sweet, but the SG is 1.010, and there isn't much of an alcohol taste. I just racked it into a secondary fermenter to try to clear it (cause it's cloudy as a sand storm) and I don't have great hopes that it'll clear a lot on it's own, coming from the apple scraps - but my question to you all is, is there any value in trying to pitch more yeast to see if I can get any more ferment out of the sugar that there? The SG isn't high, but it's sooo sweet it just seems wrong?

Ideas and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. This is all just a great big experiement in how to not waste food and maybe get a little benefit off the side from it.

 

[T Murph]

Welcome to this forum. I'm no cider expert but it sounds like your yeast reached its tolerance. I would pitch a more attenuation yeast. Are you fermenting in a closed fermenter? And what temperature is it fermenting at?

 

[pvtpublic]

Steeping with hot water could have killed the wild yeast, depending on what temp you hit it with. The champagne yeast should have dropped it more than that, what was your OG? How old was the yeast? Ferment temp? Maybe I shouldn't ask such beginner questions, but sometimes when you have experience they can be easy ones to overlook.

 

[Realm_Fuelming]

I don't remember if I did the OG... If I did, I wrote it down somewhere I can't find it. The yeast was new to me, but bought on Amazon and stored in the fridge. The first one was a dud, but the second one I proofed first and it seemed to be good. It's in a closed fermenter with airlock at about 20 Celcius (bathroom with no AC). After I flipped it, I got a little more activity from the yeast... some bubbles in the airlock. I just thought the champagne yeast would make it dryer than a regular wine or beer yeast.

 

[Realm_Fuelming]

Welcome to this forum. I'm no cider expert but it sounds like your yeast reached its tolerance. I would pitch a more attenuation yeast. Are you fermenting in a closed fermenter? And what temperature is it fermenting at?

The yeast should have been good... is Saccharomyces Bayanus.... should I just pitch another package?

 

[T Murph]

If you can get your hands on some Lalvin D47 quicky it's worth a shot to get it going again. But if it has been a week since it stopped it may just finished.

 

[corkybstewart]

Just a thought, but cores and peels probably didn't provide nearly enough sugar to accommodate the yeast.