unstoppable fermentation

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tooomanycolors

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Ahhhhhhh, so i tried to kill a fermentation with potassium sorbate and metabisulfite (please dont crucify me), also I left it outside in about 12 deg F cold for about 10 hours and the fermentation wont quit, WTF?

I used 5 gallons of Schnuks apple juice, pasturized no additives from concentrate and one pack of muntons brewing yeast, not the gold one.

Also we added gelatin to attempt to clear the cider.

Please help me out.:ban:
 
Your yeast is possessed! :eek: Get a yeast priest to call out the evil demons and send them back to hell, then bottle as usual.
 
haha, i like it, I already have the local home brew guy befudled...

anyway OG was 1.062, on the 13th 1.024, today(16th) 1.020. So I think its making progress towards stopping, so now does anyone have any ideas to clarify this liquid? And its "final" stop will be in a home keg for the kegerator, of course the true final stop will be my tummy/liver!!!
 
1.062

Kinda low isnt it?

I think mine was 1.09 and took about 30 days before it was down to 1.012 and I kegged it. It was not clear even after 5 days @ 40f. But I kegged it anyways and after a week of carbing it came out crystal.
 
First of all, how long ago did you start this cider? It sounds like you barely started before you tried to stop it. Your F.G. could go all the way down to probably around 1.000 (or lower) if you let it. If you're force-carbing anyway, next time just let the yeast do its job and finish dry, THEN you can add the stabilizer and metabisulfite to inhibit refermentation and backsweeten to taste. For my cider, I left it in primary for 2 weeks, and then racked over to secondary for at least another 2-3 weeks to allow it to clarify and age a little. In summary, be patient! And good luck.

MikeFlynn74 -- The OP's S.G. is not low at all, considering he did not add any additional sugar to his juice. Your O.G. was rather high, considering your final ABV is close to 10%.
 
Exactly- stopping fermentation once it's going is like trying to stop a train. Sometimes you can, often you can't. What I do is let it ferment out completely, then add the campden and sorbate, wait a few days, and then sweeten just like jmulligan said.

What sorbate actually does is stop yeast from reproducing. It doesn't kill them. So, you've got some nice healthy yeast that can still ferment and plenty of them. That's why it didn't stop.

After it's done, it'll clear.
 
I forgot to say I added 2lbs of dark brown sugar, Im trying to stop the fermentation to have a final product similar to woodchuck once its kegged.
 
why do you want it to stop at 1.020?? Thats still quite sweet.

Try this... let it finish, which should be .998-1.002, take a half cup of unsweetened cider and add a small (known) amounts of splenda to it. Sweeten to taste, then multiply the addition you liked to a ~5 gallon batch and add it in. I'm at 1.5cups of splenda per 5 gallons. Let it age for ~3 months and enjoy.
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
Jmulligan-

Thats why I was so damn drunk...... lol


That would do it. My first batch of Apfelwein was about 9.5%, so if you follow Ed's 3-glass rule... things can get interesting.
 
Put it this way... 1.062 will make ~8.3% ABV... 1.053 will make 7.2% ABV. After three glasses of this stuff ANYTHING will taste good!
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
I did follow the 3 glass rule- Except they were .5l glasses

And I drank 6 of them


All I can say is it's a good thing scientists are working to create us new livers, because I think more than half this forum are gonna need them (myself included)! :mug:
 
YooperBrew said:
Exactly- stopping fermentation once it's going is like trying to stop a train. Sometimes you can, often you can't. What I do is let it ferment out completely, then add the campden and sorbate, wait a few days, and then sweeten just like jmulligan said.

What sorbate actually does is stop yeast from reproducing. It doesn't kill them. So, you've got some nice healthy yeast that can still ferment and plenty of them. That's why it didn't stop.

After it's done, it'll clear.
Your right it can be hard, but cooling the whole thing way down... Why did that not stop it?
 
z987k said:
Your right it can be hard, but cooling the whole thing way down... Why did that not stop it?

Because yeast go dormant at cold temperatures, but do not die unless they freeze. And even then, they might survive. They are hardy little creatures!
 
I stopped my cider by racking, adding campden, gelatin, and wine stabilizer (potassium sorbate) and cooling in my kegerator, released pressure every couple days, but there was not a whole lot. Racked to another keg after a couple weeks, backsweetened a little with apple concentrate, and carbed and served
 
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