POSSESSION cider!

[Sir Humpsalot]

This batch is possessed.

It's in a carboy, regular 3 piece airlock, no obstructions. 4 gallons apple juice, 2 cans of apple juice concentrate, 1 vial of WLP300 Hefeweisen yeast, aerated the cider with pure O2.

Today, I stuck my carefully-sanitized autosiphon into the cider to pull a sample and check the SG. The result? It's about half done fermenting and.........


I got fizz. The moment I stuck the autosiphon into the cider, it fizzed up. Not just little bubbles rising to the surface. I mean it fizzed like I dropped a cup of granulated sugar into 4 gallons of root beer. The foam/bubbles were at least an inch high. The autosiphon didn't work because there was too much foam to have a siphon going. I had to just "pump" the foam into my glass until I had enough to take a sample.

After being within the glass, the foam subsided within a minute and the taste is quite good.


Anybody have ANY idea about what happened? Should I maybe toss some yeast nutrient in there?

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

CO2 outgassing

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

You were right. I just shook my carboy and got the same thing to happen. But wowsa wowsa!!!!! That's a HELL of a lot of CO2 in suspension! I couldn't even start a siphon!!!!!

I shake it with a three piece airlock and it sounds possessed! Like a raspy banshee wailing....

 

[thomcat333]

Yep, the cider was supersaturated with CO2, and the autosiphon provided a good nucleation surface. Mythbusters does a good job explaining it when they discuss mentos and diet coke. Apparently rock salt is better than mentos. Who would have thought???? The same sort of principle applies if you microwave distilled water in a perfectly clean and smooth glass. It will get superheated, and when you drop in some sugar it will spontaneously boil. Cool if a bit dangerous. Careful!

I'm getting ready to start my first batch of cider. Can't wait. Best of luck!

 

[mgayer]

Hefeweisen is nortorious for doing this. It does create a major amount of suspended CO2. Had this happen during racking one time, what a mess. Your fine just need to stir gently to remove some CO2. They make a degasser that fits on a drill or can be spun by hand. But use very slowly!!!