What's with all the infected cider? Here's mine! (photo)

[etownmickey]

I've made many batches of wine, some beer but this is my first cider.

Before I harvest my apple tree I thought it would be best to rule out as many variables as possible and do a test run with store bought apple juice.

If this is an infection, it is my first. I'm about 36h into a fermentation with commercial apple juice and Wyeast 4766 cider yeast, nothing else added. It was late when I filled my primary and pitched but I wasn't sloppy and used plenty of fresh StarSan on everything.

Can anyone with a more experienced eye than me confirm the infection? This is my first go with apple juice and also my first time with liquid yeast so, while it looks wrong to me, I'm willing to concede (and even a little hopeful) that the yellow glop might be normal.

 

[BargainFittings]

How does it smell? Take a sample and taste it.

I would guess it is fine if that is only 36 hours in.

 

[Yooper]

It looks fine to me. Cider doesn't tend to get much krausen, but sometimes there are globs of pectin.

 

[etownmickey]

So, the bright yellow colour is nothing to be concerned about?

 

[etownmickey]

The smell is fine, good in fact, I smell CO2 with sweet apple. I have it fementing cool at 19 Celsius and SG is slowly dropping as expected.

 

[etownmickey]

I spent some time with a strong, direct light and it seems to me that the yellow colour in the floaty goop is actually the same shade of yellow as the juice. It seems more natural to me now. I'm going to continue and assume that it's just some yeast that has clumped and will monitor.

I'll post back if anything terrible happens, but as of right now I feel pretty optimistic that things are still ok. Fermentation is really picking up; next to enjoying the finished product, this is my favourite part

Thanks for your help @Yooper and @BargainFittings