Wild yeast cider - need help

[Kbloom]

I’m a beginner and decided to make a cider from pears that we grow. I found a very simple recipe that basically said juice the pears, stick them in a growler and rubber band a coffee filter on top. It’s been about a day and a half and there is some stringy mold growing on top. See photos. What do I do? What did I do wrong?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hi, welcome to HBT.

I don't see anything that looks like mold in the photo. Could you get a better shot of what you think might be mold?

Looks like there's a lot of pulp in the juice. It'll probably overflow when fermentation starts.

At what temperature do you have it?

 

[Kbloom]

It’s really hard to get a good photo because of the glare on the glass. It looks like very faint white hair or cobwebs

 

[Kbloom]

Not sure the exact temperature, but I have it in a dark closet in an air-conditioned house

 

[Dinadan]

I would give a little more time and see what it looks like.

Last time I fermented using apple juice, it took about three days for the fermentation to really kick in. I was using beer yeast, not wild yeast.

 

[Kbloom]

Will do
Thank you

 

[RPh_Guy]

It’s really hard to get a good photo because of the glare on the glass. It looks like very faint white hair or cobwebs

Hair-like growth definitely means it's mold.

Unfortunately that means it needs to be dumped. Mold is potentially dangerous.

As for what went wrong ...
Cooler temperature is best, around 50-60°F.
"Punching down" the upper layer of pulp a couple times a day would also have helped.

 

[Kbloom]

Here is the latest. The sediment has separated much more from the juice. The growth on top has grown quite a bit more. When I smell it, it smells like fermentation not mold. What do you think? Growth on top worries me, but I hate to dump two jugs of the stuff out.

 

[SnowDogCider]

Pears are really hard to juice. The “pulp” is really thick and coarse. One of the first ciders I tried was pear and it turned out pretty nice. I told a pro cider maker about starting with pear and she asked me why I started with the hardest one. Lol
Not sure about the growth. When it separates more try to rerack it to another bottle. Taste it and see where it is. If it’s nasty... bye bye!
The last pic looked just like mine. It might be just fine. Taste test for sure before you bottle. Good luck,
Jeff

 

[RPh_Guy]

Here is the latest. The sediment has separated much more from the juice. The growth on top has grown quite a bit more. When I smell it, it smells like fermentation not mold. What do you think? Growth on top worries me, but I hate to dump two jugs of the stuff out.

It does look like mold. It should NOT be tasted. As I said, it's a health hazard.

 

[Kbloom]

A little update. I started this on August 1. Transferred it over to a new container. It seem to be working out great, lots of activity going on. But now I look at it and it has some more growth at the top. What do you think?

 

[RPh_Guy]

A little update. I started this on August 1. Transferred it over to a new container. It seem to be working out great, lots of activity going on. But now I look at it and it has some more growth at the top. What do you think?

You already had mold on it buddy. It should be dumped.

 

[rsquared]

I'll strongly second what @RPh_Guy says. Once there is mold, even if you can't see it any longer, it may have left behind something called mycotoxins, and you REALLY don't want to be consuming that. Cut your losses and dump this one!

 

[wasully]

Pears are really hard to juice. The “pulp” is really thick and coarse.

What's your process? Equipment? What varieties?

Last fall I juiced half a dozen perry pear varieties and a couple culinary, and the only issue was blet. Which is kind of the opposite of thick and coarse.


A rented correll cider grinder/press combo had the juice flowing at~50% yield. If anything the pomace looked a little large(little bigger than the 'pea size' recommended in books), and I was just cranking things down by hand. You really don't want to be pressing whole/large chunks of fruit.

 

[wasully]

double post

 

[bracconiere]

i malt my own barley, i can atest to mold being bad....damn my liver was painfull for a month, and i had to cut back to a 12 pack a day to heal it.....lol

but someone had to try bluecheese the first time! if evil kenevil was your hero......he didn't make every jump.....(had a lot of broken bones though)

learned malting ain't like brewing, CLEAN, SANITIZE with bleach.....still safer then eating chicken though!