cider foam

[damlamb]

This is my first time making cider. I used a centrifugal juicer I had to juice the apples. I was left with a foamy layer about 3 inches thick on top. Should I suck this layer off before pitching my yeast today or is it ok to leave it. I think it might spoil the cider due to the fact that its full of tiny air bubbles.

 

[LeBreton]

I leave it in personally, it'll either be re-absorbed into the juice or get stuck to the sides of the fermenter.

 

[damlamb]

Thanks for your suggestion. If it doesn't settle out can I just rack the juice from under the foam after fermentation? After almost 24 hours it doesn't seem any of it has dissipated hopefully it will dissipate with the addition of the yeast

 

[ColbyJack]

Leave it. And btw, oxygen is good for yeast!!!

 

[Pommeau]

I leave it in too. No worries. Mine is still in there from Saturday's pressing. Fermentation will break it apart.

 

[damlamb]

Thanks to all who replied. Sets my mind at ease. I think I will build a press for my next batch to avoid having so much foam and probably will extract more juice than my juicer did.

 

[damlamb]

Here's a picture so you can see what I'm talking about. Added the yeast a few hours before I took this photo.

 

[ColbyJack]

Waaaaay too much headspace!!! IMO.

 

[dinnerstick]

Waaaaay too much headspace!!! IMO.

no, that's fine for fermenting, just not for afterwards.
personally i like to get rid of that foamy stuff, i also use a juicer for all of my small (5-12L) batches, and at least in my case that gunk can be super persistent, i find it inconvenient. it hangs around after fermentation and sticks to the racking cane like crazy. but as the others say there is no difference flavorwise or fermentation-wise in leaving it in as far as i can tell, having tried both ways many times. i have also tried to shake and swirl in down during fermentation and sometimes it half- crashes out to the bottom.
i now generally do the following: juice the apples into a big pot or bucket, treat with sulfite, leave overnight, rack the clear juice out from under the foam, not very precisely, and then pitch yeast. i have tried every old thing with the foam, cooking it, cooking and straining, leaving it to drain in cheesecloth, i just can't find a use for it, it stays as foam and doesn't taste that nice.

 

[damlamb]

The yeast does seem to be breaking up half the gunk and settling it in the bottom, however in the future I'm going to opt to use a press too avoid this issue all together. Since I have so much head space in this container I will try to find 3 one gallon jugs or a 3 gallon one if such a thing exists to use as a secondary. In the future I will also make a larger batch to fill the carboy to the top. This batch was the test/education batch so I didn't want to spend a ton on apples in case it failed.