What did i do wrong?

p40whk · Oct 28, 2013

So I've brewed a few batches of beer successfully and with an apple orchard by my house I thought I'd give a hard cider a try. Sterilized everything, poured the cider in the glass carboy, added dissolved brown auger to bring the OG to 1.056 and pitched the yeast last night at 75 degrees.

This morning I have no fermentation and white spots floating on the surface (probably a bug).

podz · Oct 28, 2013

My ciders always take 24 hours to show visible signs of fermentation.

Did you remember to kill the wild yeast first?

Which type of yeast did you pitch?

njs170 · Oct 28, 2013

Be patient. Give it 48 hours to show signs of fermentation. Not all ciders, beers will have the head on top. As long as you have bubbles in the airlock you are good.

p40whk · Oct 28, 2013

Off the top of my head I think it was the Wyeast cider smack pack. I activated it about 4 hours prior to pitching it. I'll give it some time and take a couple of pics of what it looks like when I get home.

Almost forgot, I did not kill off the wild yeast. I read somewhere that it wasn't necessary. I probably should have heated the cider first or bought some campden tablets. Sometimes hind site sucks!

p40whk · Oct 29, 2013

Well, you guys were right, it's fermenting now and it looks healthy! I'm not used to cider so should there be a thick Krausen or should it just be a thin layer of fizzing bubbles (what I have now)?

podz · Oct 29, 2013

p40whk said:
I'm not used to cider so should there be a thick Krausen or should it just be a thin layer of fizzing bubbles (what I have now)?

With Kitzingers, I get a foam swell after 24 hours that lasts for about a day then drops. With US-05 I get a thin foam that fills the headspace and often times the airlocks like forever - I never get done cleaning and reinstalling my airlocks.

I did three batches with US-05. I will never use top-fermenting yeast for cider again. I don't like the taste and I also don't like the physical behaviour of this yeast in cider - it's very slow and extremely messy.