Hi - I joined specifically to ask cider experts whether a wild fermented cider I have in a fermenter is "safe" to drink.
Here's the short version - I have about 3ish gallons of cider that has been fermenting on wild yeast from the orchard. It had a rather dubious start - see details below. It has cleared nicely but has this greyish whitish crud floating on the top. Is this worth bothering with any further or should I just dump it in the compost pile?
Here is the long version: We have a small orchard and a 19th century cider press so we usually press 30-40 gallons of cider a season. Most of our friends take it home and drink it sweet but I ferment mine. This year the juice had an OG of 1.055.
One of our friend abandoned a four gallon carboy of un treated cider in our garage. After a month of being abandoned, without an airlock" and knowing that it was no longer going to be fit to drink as "sweet cider" I decided to rack it off the crud into a fermenter to see what would happen. It spent its first month from mid October to mid-November abandoned in my garage without an airlock, just a foilcover, at ambient temps of 40-60 degrees F on very roughly strained juice, bits of apple flesh floating on the bottom. After I racked it, and put an airlock on it, it spent another month in the basement from mid-November to mid-December at a fairly steady 65ish degree temps. Once moved basement it took-off. It never formed krausen but got very light colored and had a very active airlock. And this batch never produced the rhino farts that I got from the ciders treated with sulfites generated on Nottingham and Cotes du Blanc yeasts.
Once my little terrior test settled down in mid-December I racked it again. Since it was the Christmas season I didn't have time for bottling. Also - I was little scared of it. It has been lurking in the dark recesses of the basement and now that mid-winter doldrums have set in I have decided I have to deal with this scary little experiment. I am not sure what to do with it.
There is a layer of greyish white crud floating on top. It doesn't sink nor does it stink. Just sits there and I am not sure how to deal with it. I haven't tried it and I am not sure I should. There doesn't seem to be hardly any lees on the bottom just mostly this crud happily floating on the top. What should I do with it? Is it even worth spending any more time on this? Is this just going to taste like vinegar?
If you think its worth pursuing this, should I just try to rack the cider out from under the crud?
Then what? Should I bottle it still or should I condition it? My go to priming ratio is 1 oz corn sugar/gallon, should I try it on this stuff or is this going to be so sour there is no saving it?
Any advice is most appreciated.
Here's the short version - I have about 3ish gallons of cider that has been fermenting on wild yeast from the orchard. It had a rather dubious start - see details below. It has cleared nicely but has this greyish whitish crud floating on the top. Is this worth bothering with any further or should I just dump it in the compost pile?
Here is the long version: We have a small orchard and a 19th century cider press so we usually press 30-40 gallons of cider a season. Most of our friends take it home and drink it sweet but I ferment mine. This year the juice had an OG of 1.055.
One of our friend abandoned a four gallon carboy of un treated cider in our garage. After a month of being abandoned, without an airlock" and knowing that it was no longer going to be fit to drink as "sweet cider" I decided to rack it off the crud into a fermenter to see what would happen. It spent its first month from mid October to mid-November abandoned in my garage without an airlock, just a foilcover, at ambient temps of 40-60 degrees F on very roughly strained juice, bits of apple flesh floating on the bottom. After I racked it, and put an airlock on it, it spent another month in the basement from mid-November to mid-December at a fairly steady 65ish degree temps. Once moved basement it took-off. It never formed krausen but got very light colored and had a very active airlock. And this batch never produced the rhino farts that I got from the ciders treated with sulfites generated on Nottingham and Cotes du Blanc yeasts.
Once my little terrior test settled down in mid-December I racked it again. Since it was the Christmas season I didn't have time for bottling. Also - I was little scared of it. It has been lurking in the dark recesses of the basement and now that mid-winter doldrums have set in I have decided I have to deal with this scary little experiment. I am not sure what to do with it.
There is a layer of greyish white crud floating on top. It doesn't sink nor does it stink. Just sits there and I am not sure how to deal with it. I haven't tried it and I am not sure I should. There doesn't seem to be hardly any lees on the bottom just mostly this crud happily floating on the top. What should I do with it? Is it even worth spending any more time on this? Is this just going to taste like vinegar?
If you think its worth pursuing this, should I just try to rack the cider out from under the crud?
Then what? Should I bottle it still or should I condition it? My go to priming ratio is 1 oz corn sugar/gallon, should I try it on this stuff or is this going to be so sour there is no saving it?
Any advice is most appreciated.