Opened brewing bucket to test SG late in fermentation and now no longer bubbling

[lrice648]

Because of time constraints I had planned on re-racking 5 gallons of cider that has been brewing for ~4 weeks. I used a new yeast I've not used before (liquid english cider yeast) and it seems to be moving a little slower than the champagne yeast I often use. It was still bubbling occasionally but pretty slowly. I opened it up and extracted some to taste and check SG, realizing it was still quite sweet (~ 1.020 SG). I made it with 2.5 quarts of honey, so thats probably why.

I decided it might be too sweet to re-rack (was going to try and filter out some of the sediment while I was doing it, was afraid to filter out/reduce yeast).

I put the lid and airlock back on, but after 2 or 3 days there is no bubbling. I figured the jostling around would probably increase the bubbling for a little while after or that seems like what usually happens when it gets moved, but I'm getting nothing. I've checked the bucket lid to make sure it is tight and adjusted the airlock to make sure its securely in there, but still nothing.

Does this indicate a problem? I thought it might just take longer to build up internal pressure to move gas through the airlock, but now I'm afraid something will go wrong with it sitting there not gassing after being opened and oxygen getting in there.

I could go ahead and re-rack it into another container as I already intended to, would that be worth doing?

I've never added nutrient to cider, it is fresh juice and the yeasts have never seemed to have a problem getting close to 1 SG without it, but I've not used this specific yeast before.

Thanks for the help!

 

[MNFirefly]

I would add the nutrient and start at 1/4 tsp but add more if you do not see a reaction right away.

 

[lrice648]

Thanks, I don't have nutrient at home today unfortunately but I'll pick some up tomorrow and will report back with the results.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[ba-brewer]

Are you using a 3 piece airlock? If so, when you drop the third piece back in does it stay at the same level or slowly drop? If the third piece drops you do not have a good seal. I have had that happen after removing the lid before. I sprayed starsan on the sealing area and reseat the lid and it started bubbling again.

If it is a one piece airlock and the liquid is equal on both side that might also indicate a bad seal. Have you rechecked the gravity to see if it is still dropping?

 

[stella_tigre]

What was your OG?

 

[lrice648]

@ba-brewer, its a 1 piece. That was my worry too, but it seemed to have a good fit before. It is not quite equal actually, the input side (going into the bucket) is slightly lower than the right side, so it seems like it is under pressure?

@stella, OG was ~1.085, so it has gone down a lot. It was bubbling slowly before I went to re-rack (1 bubble every 5 minutes maybe?), but it wasn't totally silent.

It may be that it is just going to take a while to re-pressurize enough to actually keep bubbling, but this cider yeast may need nutrient to finish strong unlike my other yeasts.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'll post back after I try the nutrient and see if that speeds things up. Of course, I'll have to open it again so that will release what, if any pressure, has built up so far.

 

[Yooper]

I must have missed it, but it's four weeks old and still in a bucket? When are you planning to racking to secondary? I'd say it's time, or past time, so I'd do it right away to protect it.

 

[stella_tigre]

I made a cyser with S-04, and it pretty much stalled out on me. It had built up a big gooshy layer of "krausen" on top, and slowed down, so I racked from underneath. It then stalled out on me. I actually added a pinch more of yeast to it, and it eventually got going again.
I like the idea of racking and adding a bit of nutrients, both. I'm assuming the yeast is good for 8+% abv? Which one is it?

 

[Yooper]

I made a cyser with S-04, and it pretty much stalled out on me. It had built up a big gooshy layer of "krausen" on top, and slowed down, so I racked from underneath. It then stalled out on me. I actually added a pinch more of yeast to it, and it eventually got going again.
I like the idea of racking and adding a bit of nutrients, both. I'm assuming the yeast is good for 8+% abv? Which one is it?

What are the gravity readings? It could simply be done, and not stalled at all. Fermentation happens fast- often in just a few days.

 

[lrice648]

I put 2 tsp of "Vinters Select" yeast nutrient and so far nothing. I'm considering 1 more tsp but if its not going to do anything it might just be messing up the taste.

With a SG of 1.020 (and tasting way too sweet), is it possible to pitch more yeast (champagne, for example, which has always done well for me) to finish it off? It tastes good, but is way to sweet for me.

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

[lrice648]

So I'm an idiot, it seems one of my initial not-fear-based thoughts was correct. The cider was continuing to ferment happily this whole time, the SG dropped from 1.020 to 1.010 in the last several days, I don't know why I didn't check it more often.

My theory is that there just wasn't enough gas being generated to push the sanitizer in the airlock enough to bubble. It was bubbling before because it was already at pressure in the bucket so any gas was expelled through occasional bubbling.

This probably wouldn't have happened in a carboy because there isn't a somewhat-elastic lid that is also moved by the expanding gas. This confirms other lessons I've had: trust the yeast, it will generally do what it is supposed to unless you do something really stupid.

 

[MNFirefly]

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