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Zoebisch01, I've made two things with my starter so far. A batch of pancakes after the initial burst of life, and a pizza dough after a few weeks of refrigerator life. The flavor that I've experienced with this particular yeast is fairly strong, and pretty sour. If anything, it seems to...

Melana, It smells sour? Did it froth up or anything, because a sour smell from a sourdough starter (unless you used milk) usually indicates that it is working... If there is space, add a half cup of flour and a half cup of warm water (like 80ish) to the starter. It may have started...

Melana, How long has it been? What kind of flour did you use? Around what temperature is it where your yeast is? Have you been shaking it up a little once and a while? It shouldn't take more than a few days. Mine fired up almost immediately, but I've had some starters take almost a week...

I don't brew beer, generally only cider, but the advice is cross applicable... I would recommend buying a set of 3-5 1 gallon jugs along with the appropriate airlocks for experiments. I actually end up using mine for secondaries a lot, because I generally only make small batches, but with...

That, and the byproducts of the fermentation will all create varying levels of stink, especially at the beginning. The Montrachet yeast is REALLY awful about stink, but all of them, in addition to the apple juice itself, can and will create a stink. I wouldn't ferment with the stinkier...

Nobody ever accused homebrewers, who often amuse their buddies with yeast-induced flatulence stories, of being particularly classy! ;)

Anytime anybody uses improvised equipment for small batches the question comes up... EDIT: I should mention that I am not saying that YOU are a teenager making hooch. I can clearly tell you are not. I was merely noting that brewing in the juice bottles gives the image of the teen brewing...

Yes, it will work. It looks to folks around here like a teenager is trying to make hooch, but it will work. We don't like teens making hooch. Anything longer than a few months of time in the bottle and you want to consider glass, but yes, the juice bottle will work. Any container will work with...

Well, the stuff came the other day, and I have to say, I'm impressed. It started faster than any other sourdough starter I've tried, and it smells amazing. I'm going to make a batch of pancakes with it tomorrow night, and once it has a few feeding cycles down I'll make some bread or pizza...

If you use a live yeast cake from another fermentation you might be able to use cider with preservatives, I'm currently fermenting such a batch, and it has gone fine so far. Very active. It will be a few months before I have an idea how well it came out, but it DID ferment. I've been able to...

Not to encourage any further tomfoolery in this thread but... This puts a whole new meaning to putting meat in your cider...

AND my local homebrew store had ONE vial of White Labs English Cider Yeast in stock. Today was a good day for cider!

Hey folks, I finally managed to score some FRESH cider without preservatives. The Whole Foods had some from a Georgia orchard (Mercier) today. I haven't seen it there before, so I imagine they just started pressing recently for the year. It was expensive in my opinion, $5.99 a gallon, but it...

I don't think that is going to work. I'm guessing a bit here, but I think that will at best make an alcoholic apple mush. At worst... If you do it, post pictures. :D

OdinOneEye, For some reason my mind read "Zeigler's" into your comment, despite the fact that the word was not found in the post. Odd how the mind works sometimes! :drunk: This definately wasn't Krausen. It was an orange-brown clump of sludgy material under the surface. It sank after the...

Well, on the forth day I am still seeing around 20-30 blurps per minute, with considerable swirling for cider, imo. The crud settled to the bottom after the second day, and the color is a nice butterscotch. Seems like that Zeigler's will settle out some if you let it sit for a few days. On...

98EXL, I generally only brew in somewhat over one or somewhat over two gallon batches. I use 1 gallon jugs as secondaries, that way I can just stick a "cork" in them when they are done, saves space and cost. I also feel cider belongs in a jug. After all, they are called cider jugs. I'm really...

Nah, I've got a batch of cider in my living room that has been bubbling furiously for over a week now.

24 hours is not a long wait with cider. I've had a few batches that didn't show any signs of activity for days. Others started fermenting visibly before the show I was watching was over. Give it a few days. If you are really worried, smell it. Sulphur stink almost always comes out when...