This is my second time brewing so I am way beginner. First time I followed a kit and it was actually a really successful brew and was pretty enjoyable.
Second time is now, (still brewing) a cider. I went to a natural grocer and bought unfiltered, pasteurized, no preservative cider and a couple other juices just as an experiment. I also had a kit this time. I'm also super careful about sanitizing everything.
I don't have a great place to store (gallon glass fermenter) so it's mainly been sitting around 73 F and 78 F which I've been told is a bit high for ciders. I moved it out to my garage for a bit, which dropped it to 63F-64F.
Beginning couple of days, things were working fine and the yeast seemed to be happy, but around day 4 or 5, fermentation seemed to halt. I was already going to add more juice into the batch, as I was told that if juice was added later into fermentation, you may get a sweeter finish (due to the yeast not eating as much sugar). I had my girlfriend add the juice, but unfortunately did not warn her she needed to stop filling at a certain point so the fermenter was way too high.
I hoped it wouldn't be a problem, but sadly, after a couple hours I come to find the airlock overtaken by the floating fruit gump. I decided it would be best to empty some out so it wouldn't be a problem long term so after sanitizing a bunch, I used a tube to remove some of the wort (is it called 'wort' with cider?).
That's when things get sad... Day after, it seems fermentation has come to a halt. No bubbles. It's now like 5 days in and I'm thinking I've ruined it. Frantically, I'm looking for answers on what's up with it. Some people say the fermentation is already done, which I'm not sure is true and don't want to bottle so early on (the recipe said wait 2 weeks), but I also don't just want it sitting there for another week doing nothing. Anyway online unfortunately tells me I should aerate some more to get the yeast active again. So I shake the fermenter around day 7 to see if I can get it to be active again. Then I'm looking online again, and I find that actually, it's not a good idea to aerate it in the middle of fermentation because of introducing other bacteria into the mix. I realize my mistake and worry I may have completely messed it up this time. The fermentation is still stagnant. I am now fear I have completely lost this batch, but I'm too attached.
I decide to add slightly more juice in hopes the yeast will wake and begin eating again. When doing so, I notice the smell is slightly off. Still yeasty, but now sour. There is no visible signs of any compromise though. Online tells me varying things, some saying it's compromised, and some saying it is just not done fermenting and it should smell sour because all the sugars are gone.
We are now about 2 weeks in, and since adding the sugars, I haven't touched it. It is still bubbling and seems to be fermenting, although it is now way less vigorous, but still I see bubbles forming (unlike when I saw it day 5-6).
Do y'all think this is infected? I know it can be a sour, so I suppose I can taste before bottling, but at this point I'm not sure what my plan is.
I've heard of people adding Campden tablets, and I'm still not exactly sure what they're used for but did read you can add them before bottling. Does anyone do that and if so what is the reason for that? From what I've read, I'm worried if adding campden will stop the fermentation from carbonating when I bottle the cider.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Second time is now, (still brewing) a cider. I went to a natural grocer and bought unfiltered, pasteurized, no preservative cider and a couple other juices just as an experiment. I also had a kit this time. I'm also super careful about sanitizing everything.
I don't have a great place to store (gallon glass fermenter) so it's mainly been sitting around 73 F and 78 F which I've been told is a bit high for ciders. I moved it out to my garage for a bit, which dropped it to 63F-64F.
Beginning couple of days, things were working fine and the yeast seemed to be happy, but around day 4 or 5, fermentation seemed to halt. I was already going to add more juice into the batch, as I was told that if juice was added later into fermentation, you may get a sweeter finish (due to the yeast not eating as much sugar). I had my girlfriend add the juice, but unfortunately did not warn her she needed to stop filling at a certain point so the fermenter was way too high.
I hoped it wouldn't be a problem, but sadly, after a couple hours I come to find the airlock overtaken by the floating fruit gump. I decided it would be best to empty some out so it wouldn't be a problem long term so after sanitizing a bunch, I used a tube to remove some of the wort (is it called 'wort' with cider?).
That's when things get sad... Day after, it seems fermentation has come to a halt. No bubbles. It's now like 5 days in and I'm thinking I've ruined it. Frantically, I'm looking for answers on what's up with it. Some people say the fermentation is already done, which I'm not sure is true and don't want to bottle so early on (the recipe said wait 2 weeks), but I also don't just want it sitting there for another week doing nothing. Anyway online unfortunately tells me I should aerate some more to get the yeast active again. So I shake the fermenter around day 7 to see if I can get it to be active again. Then I'm looking online again, and I find that actually, it's not a good idea to aerate it in the middle of fermentation because of introducing other bacteria into the mix. I realize my mistake and worry I may have completely messed it up this time. The fermentation is still stagnant. I am now fear I have completely lost this batch, but I'm too attached.
I decide to add slightly more juice in hopes the yeast will wake and begin eating again. When doing so, I notice the smell is slightly off. Still yeasty, but now sour. There is no visible signs of any compromise though. Online tells me varying things, some saying it's compromised, and some saying it is just not done fermenting and it should smell sour because all the sugars are gone.
We are now about 2 weeks in, and since adding the sugars, I haven't touched it. It is still bubbling and seems to be fermenting, although it is now way less vigorous, but still I see bubbles forming (unlike when I saw it day 5-6).
Do y'all think this is infected? I know it can be a sour, so I suppose I can taste before bottling, but at this point I'm not sure what my plan is.
I've heard of people adding Campden tablets, and I'm still not exactly sure what they're used for but did read you can add them before bottling. Does anyone do that and if so what is the reason for that? From what I've read, I'm worried if adding campden will stop the fermentation from carbonating when I bottle the cider.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.