What went wrong?

[clcarlton]

I tried out Tor's Hard Cider recipe this morning and the volumes do not add up.

By the time I was done with his directions, I had no more room left to pour the rest of the sugar blend. His recipe calls for 4-6 cups of sugar. I did 5. I ended up pouring it into a 2 gallon fermenter since it all of it wouldn't fit back into the original 1 gallon jug. I could understand having some of the poured off juice left. But I had roughly 2 cups of sugar blend that couldn't go back in.

 

[BrewStooge]

Directions say to disolve the the sugar and then put the cider back in it's original jug. If it's fully disolved there shouldn't be any difference in volume. Otherwise I might suguest simmer for a few minutes to reduce the volume (and incidentally increase the gravity) and it should fit just fine.

 

[clcarlton]

So, it's been 24hrs since the brew was made and no movement in the airlock. I'm pretty worried right now.

 

[dr_al]

Did you let the juice and sugar cool back to room temp before adding the yeast? If it was to hot your yeast bit the dust.

 

[smegger]

I've had a couple of batches appear to take a few days for the airlock to bubble. I'd say give it a little time before you worry too much.

 

[NiteBeest]

2 things that I can think of right now. Adding sugar to any liquid will raise the volume. Adding 1 lb of sugar to 1 gallon of water will net you 1 lb 10 oz after it is dissolved. So yes... you will have a little bit of juice left over.

Also, sometimes it can take yeast up to 72 hours to take off. If after 3 days there is still no activity, you might need to pitch another batch of yeast. As dr_al had mentioned, it may have been to hot for the yeast. Cool back down to room temp before pitching yeast so you don't kill it. As a side note: Sometimes there is yeast activity, but no activity in the airlock. I know when I ferment in my primary fermentation bucket with a drilled lid I'll never get activity. After 72 hours if you don't see any bubbles, take a hydrometer reading and check the SG against the OG. If the number has dropped the yeasties are doing their job.

 

[clcarlton]

I had thought about trying the yeast again but was worried about having "dead" yeast at the same time as putting in new yeast. Will use the hydrometer this evening.

 

[NiteBeest]

Dead yeast will act as a nutrient from what I understand. Most nutrients have yeast hulls in them. So if the must was overly hot then you now have yeast hulls for extra nutrient. Wait until you check the hydrometer though before you jump to the conclusion that they're dead.