Troubleshooting low density haze

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IlyaZ

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Hi!

This is my first year of making cider. I made two batches, one that I pasteurized+yeast and one that I added champagne yeast to only. Temperatures about 15C at launch about 2 months ago, now somewhat below 10C . pH about 3.5 . No sulfites.

At first racking I moved the cider to 3 secondary fermentetion vessels. One pasteurized, and two non pasteurized (had to mix in some pasteurized to top up the last non-pasteurized, i.e. a "mix"). A week ago I noticed film yeast in the mix-carboy. I proceeded to remove the layer, added 30 ppm of sulfite. Went to reduce the amount of air in the neck by adding 95%-alcohol. I might have filled it up too much though, liquid went a couple of cm in to the air lock. but there was still air to the alcohol layer inside the lock.

Now it looks like this. Basically three layers from the bottom-up. Cider-Slime-Clear liquid.

IMG_6311.jpg
IMG_6309.jpg
IMG_6313.jpg


It looked a little bit like ice, but here's a video that better conveys how it behaves:
https://zintranet.ddns.net/s/S4aZJPNYawNspQC (h265)

Smells ok.

Microbial haze? Can I save this? Killed off cells post-sulfite treatment?

The layering could make it viable to decant it. But if it's infected that might be no use.

Any ideas on how to proceed? Did I contaminate it during the intervention?
 
Others may disagree, but I am not seeing any obvious problem - I am ignoring your use of the word "slime" which if it was present WOULD suggest a real problem because slime suggests bacterial infection. But you would only know that "slime" was present through touch (fingers or tongue). What I see is a cider that is slowly clearing from the top as gravity pulls particles down towards the bottom of your carboy. THAT is what one would expect to see. And as you look at the bottom of your fermenter you should see a thick layer of lees (dead yeast and fruit particles that should be getting thicker and more packed as time progresses.

The other issue may be related to your statement about adding alcohol. Often when one adding liquids to high ABV spirits, those clear spirits become cloudy because of a phenomenon known as louche, because when you lower the ABV of the spirit by "adding" the cider, the alcohol in the spirit cannot now hold onto those oils in the way it could at the higher ABV
 
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Thanks for your reply. I havent done any further tests on it , my initial thoughts were something bacterial / vinegar mother. But I think you are right. I let it be and it seems to be gone (unless it dropped into the depths).
 
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