Should I Start Over?

[Brewgaloo]

Hi everyone,

Looking for a bit of insight.

I’ve started to make some cider with a blend of ornamental pears (don’t Know the kind) and gala apples. 40lbs pears, 18lbs apples. I used a blendtec blender to mash the fruit and a press to press the juice. I did NOT use campden tablets at this time. Probably should have. I just used a yeast starter (Lalvin 1116) and some pectic enzyme.

I realize now that I had way too much headspace in my glass carboy and caused mold and bacteria to grow.

I left the cider to ferment while I went on a short vacation. It was sitting for 9 days.
The specific gravity was 1.054 when I left and only 1.057 when I came back. It was in a heated garage at 15°C

When I came home, I siphoned out the cider through cheesecloth into three 1-gallon carboys.

There seems to be lots of CO2 built up today, which is just overnight from the racking to the 1 gallon carboys. If I take the lid off, it will foam up and overflow like crazy.

I put some potassium metabisulphite in this morning and may hit it with another round of yeast after a re-rack.

I’m curious though, if I’m too far gone. Do you think it’s still salvageable?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Here’s some pics of the process.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Mold can produce toxins. I would dump that batch
At least please don't serve it to anyone else even if you're not concerned.

You want to avoid putting the seeds in a blender. It'll release a bunch of the cyanide.
I've heard you don't want to puree the fruit to press it anyway. Just mashed or diced is better.

Way too much headspace. Oxygen promotes mold growth.

The specific gravity was 1.054 when I left and only 1.057 when I came back.

This doesn't make sense.
Make sure the hydrometer isn't hitting the bottom of the carboy. You won't get an accurate reading. It also might break, ruining the batch.
My hydrometers are too long to use in my 1 gal carboys; maybe yours is too.

 

[Brewgaloo]

Thanks for the info RPh_guy. I'm thinking that the hydrometer may have caught up on the top of the carboy and stuck to the spout. I agree, it shouldn't gain specific gravity if I didn't add anything to it.

Cheers!