Still Fermenting?

[Maverick986]

I started two one gallon batches of cider on 2/10, and they appear to still be fermenting. I initally used an older pack of yeast (Omega Yeast OLY-016 British Ale VIII) and ended up under pitching by a lot, but thought fermentation would just be slow to start. After about two weeks there was barely any progress, so I took what was left of the initial yeast pack I saved and built up a starter and repitched. Now over a month in my gravity is down to 1.030/1.028, OG was 1.058/1.048, and still have some slow bubbling going.

Should I just leave and let this go until fermentation stops? Or, should I rack to secondary at this point?
Is the cider going to still be any good, being it has taken over a month to get to a point I thought would take about a week or two from initial research?

 

[IslandLizard]

Keep on the yeast until they're done. Try to prevent oxygen ingress once fermentation has started, as it will cause oxidation and possibly infection.

Maybe keep them a little warmer? You want to keep them going, not stall due a temp drop.

 

[CKuhns]

The cider should be fine. As IslandLizard suggested keep air from it and long as your gravity is still dropping you should be good.

 

[Maverick986]

I will let it keep going then. I know I have gotten some air in from taking test samples and adding them back in, as well as likely when I tried swirling to mix up the yeast cake. How big of an issue is air, like this, in cider? I did not think it was a major issue, as it is when I make beer.

 

[S-Met]

What temp are you fermenting?
Hydrometer or refractometer for gravity?
If hydrometer, are you correcting for temperature?
If refractometer are you correcting for alcohol?
Have you tasted yet?
Does it taste more like juice or cider?

 

[Maverick986]

What temp are you fermenting?
Hydrometer or refractometer for gravity?
If hydrometer, are you correcting for temperature?
If refractometer are you correcting for alcohol?
Have you tasted yet?
Does it taste more like juice or cider?

Temp: 66-68°F
Hydrometer, I have calculated temp compensation.
I have not yet tasted any yet.

I have moved the cider to a warmer area of the house, which I believe is more around 70°ish.

 

[S-Met]

Did you confirm there were no preservatives in your juice?

Everything done thus far seems correct. I dont know the preferred temp range for that yeast so that may be the answer. If it is continuing to ferment, let ride. I like my cider like I like my bbq, low&slow.

 

[Maverick986]

The ciders used do have sorbate in them, which appears to be the only preservative.

The yeast temp range is 64-72° https://omegayeast.com/yeast/british-ales/british-ale-viii

I expected/wanted the cider to ferment slowly, but expected to be closer to two to three weeks to get there, not six and going.

 

[S-Met]

The ciders used do have sorbate in them,

I think you just answered your question. Sorbate inhibits yeast reproduction.

 

[Maverick986]

I missed that when I set to make the cider. Would it be possible to pitch more yeast to help things along in that case, or would it be more of the current situation?

 

[Maylar]

A big healthy starter with massive overpitching is the only known way around sorbate.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Cannon fodder!©™® ^

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

++ what Maylar said. I once fermented some juice with sorbate in it. A big roaring starter was the ticket.

 

[Maverick986]

Awesome, thanks for the input and help. I'll have to get some more yeast this week to add in.

 

[IslandLizard]

Awesome, thanks for the input and help. I'll have to get some more yeast this week to add in.

Only if you make a good sized starter first to ramp up cell count. Cold crash and decant, then add some good, unsorbated juice and pitch the whole thing at high krausen. You need a ton of healthy cells ready to go. Remember, they still can't reproduce when pitched:

A big healthy starter with massive overpitching is the only known way around sorbate.

++ what Maylar said. I once fermented some juice with sorbate in it. A big roaring starter was the ticket.

Cannon fodder!©™® ^

 

[Maverick986]

I picked up some more yeast today, and looking to make the starter now. Do I follow the same process as I do with beer, using DME and gravity of 1.040? How big, is big? I'm planning a 2 - 2.5L starter, and split between two one-gallon batches.

 

[Maylar]

How big is your batch? Instead of DME I would use un-tainted cider, even if it was made from frozen concentrate. 1.050 should be fine.

 

[Maverick986]

How big is your batch? Instead of DME I would use un-tainted cider, even if it was made from frozen concentrate. 1.050 should be fine.

2 x 1 gallon

 

[Maylar]

Can you add a liter to each fermentor? That aughta be enough. Use a bit of yeast nutrient to get those little guys growing in the starter.

 

[Maverick986]

Maybe a liter will fit, likely less. I planned on building the starter, then decanting majority of the liquid and pitching mainly just yeast.

 

[IslandLizard]

Maybe a liter will fit, likely less. I planned on building the starter, then decanting majority of the liquid and pitching mainly just yeast.

I think the idea is to pitch an active starter at high krausen for best results. Yeast goes dormant during cold crashing.
A liter (or a half liter) vitality starter each may suffice, as long as the yeast is in tip-top condition, ready to go at it.

 

[Maylar]

The key is to have high cell count. The sorbate will bind to the yeast cells and prevent them from budding. You need enough yeast to overcome the amount of sorbate that's in there. Once it's all bound, the unaffected yeast will grow and reproduce normally. The down side to all this is that some portion of your yeast has been damaged, and very often you get some odd off flavors because of that. Good luck with your cider.

 

[Maverick986]

Update: about the time of the last posts (~1mo) I built up a starter of 2L, then mixed the ciders together and pitched the starter into a 3gal fermenter. It fermented down to ~1.010, I unfortunately lost the paper I had the reading I made today on.

I decided to taste the sample, it very tart, like a sour beer. Not sure if that is OK, or if the batch is bad and I should toss?

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

You can try various things:

drink as is
mix with a sweeter cider (I am doing that right now with a very tart one)
pour half in a fermenter, add fresh juice to fill and ferment again

 

[Blacksmith1]

Mine , opened (bottled) today, was very tart. I tried to sweeten it and over did it. Swmbo said I should have left it alone and I agree. Age it and see, what you have. you can always b!end it later.

 

[Maverick986]

Thank you all for the replies. I was mainly concerned it went bad, since this is my first time making cider. Looks like I'll bottle and age to see what happens with it.