pitched yeast, no activity.

[stinkiestbink]

hello friends,
i tried to brew my first cider the other night by dumping 1 gallon of non preservative cider into my carboy and then pitching Red Star Cote des Blanc. Wanted to start simple. It has been 3 days and i see no activity. i saw the airlock bubble once, thats it. there is a golden scum on top of the cider where i pitched the yeast. Do i need to add some malt extract or yeast energizer to kick it into gear?

Thanks.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Don't add extract...it's a Cider

What size Carboy is it?

BTW, welcome to the board! Lots of good folks around here

 

[stinkiestbink]

that may be my problem... the only available carboy i had was a 5 gallon. quite a bit of air space but i figured that once the fermentation kicked off, it would purge the o2.

Thanks for the welcome. I have been perusing it for days! Great site.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Well there's your problem!

Yup, it'll be fine...just keep an eye out on it and I'm sure you'll see signs of fermentation.

Happy brewing!

 

[stinkiestbink]

its been a while now, and there is still no signs of fermentation. The cider has turned cloudy; very white in fact. should i try different yeast? maybe add some energizer? Start over?

 

[bigjohnmilford]

just let it be

 

[Yooper]

Actually, what you are describing sounds very much like fermentation! Wine and cider often just ferment along quietly.

If you take a sg, you'll be able to tell right away where you're at.

I would recommend you dig out a 1 gallon jug if you can find one. Carlo Rossi jugs work great, and with a #6 stopper and an airlock, you're all set. You have way, way, too much headspace.

 

[Adolphus79]

Firstly, that's way too much headspace... you're just begging for problems fermenting 1 gallon in a 5 gallon carboy... like Yooper said, go get a carlos rossi jug... I use them all the time for test batches, and they're great at bottling time to bottle Apfelwein by the gallon....

Secondly, that may be your problem regarding airlock activity... if there is that much headspace, there is that much air for the fermentatin to try to build pressure in... take a gravity reading, and I'm sure you'll see that it's going... with pure cider, Cotes de blancs, and no extra sugar, you'll be done with primary in about 2 weeks... then I would recommend racking it to the rossi bottle...

 

[stinkiestbink]

AHH HAA! Racked to secondary 1/2 gallon wine bottles tonight. the SG was at 1.000 which i was surprised to see, (started at 1.047). It tastes very tart, but not undrinkable.

Anyway, how long do i let it sit in secondary?

BTW, thanks for all the input on this. I went right out today and bought the 2 bottles from a redemption center for 8 cents each.

 

[Yooper]

Well, 8 cents is ok, I guess. You could have found them cheaper if you shopped around a bit.

Anyway, told you so! It was fermenting the whole time. Now, it'll be really quiet in secondary and the yeast will drop out and the cider will clear. When it's clear and there aren't any more lees dropping, it's done.