Stopped fermenting early - why?

[Richard Kutschman]

Making cider using 6 gallons of Walmart Musselmans apple cider, 2 lbs brown sugar and 1 packet of Wyest cider & mead yeast. Put into my SS Brewtech Chronical BME - 7 gal.

OG was 1044 before adding sugar. Started bubbling at 12 hrs. All going well, Day 10 it seemed Ferm was slowing down so I wanted to check S.G. = 1020. This caused Chronical to start leaking from sampling port. I panicked and grabbed a bucket, sanitized it and transferred cider into it. Put on top and airlock and let sit for overnight. Next AM it was bubbling good again. I thought, ”cool, all is good”. Added 3 lbs cherry purée.

Next day, nothing. No bubbles. Watched for another 24 hrs. No bubbling. SG 1020. Added 2nd packet of same yeast.

Today is Day 14. Completely still. Cherry purée has no preservatives - I double checked.

Temps have been well controlled between 65-68 throughout.

Possible mistakes:

1) in my rush to transfer to the bucket, I failed to take blow out tube out of Star San. Looks to have sucked up about 4 oz.

2) also, in my rush, I didn’t allow Star San to dry on bucket before transfer, so some liquid still in bucket

Thoughts? Could this amount if Star San have halted my original yeast and then prevented 2nd dose from working?

I haven’t checked SG today yet. Thought was to just leave it alone for a week and then put in keg to carbonate and enjoy?

 

[bleme]

It's definitely not the StarSan. When StarSan is diluted, it becomes yeast nutrient.

 

[yoop89]

What yeast did you use? I dont see a Wyeast Mead & Cider yeast. A quick calc with your sugar additions puts the OG @ ~1.062(estimate), which puts you around 67% attenuation which is low for even most ale yeasts. Cider yeast should bring it lower than that I would think.

 

[bleme]

What yeast did you use? I dont see a Wyeast Mead & Cider yeast. A quick calc with your sugar additions puts the OG @ ~1.062(estimate), which puts you around 67% attenuation which is low for even most ale yeasts. Cider yeast should bring it lower than that I would think.

Attenuation only applies to beers. It is a measure of how the yeast processes disaccharide maltose, trisaccharide maltotriose, and maltodextrines. Cider doesn't have any of that so those attenuation numbers don't apply.

 

[Richard Kutschman]

What yeast did you use? I dont see a Wyeast Mead & Cider yeast. A quick calc with your sugar additions puts the OG @ ~1.062(estimate), which puts you around 67% attenuation which is low for even most ale yeasts. Cider yeast should bring it lower than that I would think.

Wyeast 4766 Smack Pack. I was shooting for 1060 after adding sugar. If not the star san, not sure why the 2nd dose of yeast didn’t kick it offf again. Should be plenty of fermentable sugars left, especially after adding the cherry purée!

 

[bracconiere]

looking at Musselmans apple cider....between what the pics look like on the net of the juice, and the 2lb's of molasses covered sugar....1.020 seems like a possible FG? i know when i ferment molasses for other things, it only ferments about 50-60%, and that juice looks really cloudy....

 

[Richard Kutschman]

looking at Musselmans apple cider....between what the pics look like on the net of the juice, and the 2lb's of molasses covered sugar....1.020 seems like a possible FG? i know when i ferment molasses for other things, it only ferments about 50-60%, and that juice looks really cloudy....

But, how about the cherry purée? Shouldn’t that have restarted ferm even if the juice and sugar was used up?

 

[bracconiere]

acording to the USDA nutrient db, 1200g's of cherries only has 74g's carbs?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Considering the brown sugar, I'd say it's probably done.

 

[kh54s10]

I didn't see mention of taking a gravity reading after adding the puree. Did you take a reading? If not I would say you have a leaky bucket lid.

 

[yoop89]

Attenuation only applies to beers. It is a measure of how the yeast processes disaccharide maltose, trisaccharide maltotriose, and maltodextrines. Cider doesn't have any of that so those attenuation numbers don't apply.

I dont know why I always forget that. Thanks again!

 

[bracconiere]

I didn't see mention of taking a gravity reading after adding the puree. Did you take a reading? If not I would say you have a leaky bucket lid.

i was thinking of saying something about bucket lids, but after seeing cherries only having ~70g's of sugar for three pounds.....figured that's only about a 1/4 cup of actual sugar added.....barley enough for priming sugar....

 

[Richard Kutschman]

I didn't see mention of taking a gravity reading after adding the puree. Did you take a reading? If not I would say you have a leaky bucket lid.

Looks like final gravity is 1020. So, looks like i am just about 5.0% ABV. Taste test has it a bit “sour” - not tart, but sour.

Should I let it just sit for another week then rack into keg for carbonation? Or should I rack into sanitized bucket to separate unused yeast and then let sit to clarify for a week before racking? Thoughts???

 

[Richard Kutschman]

Also, what can i do in future ciders to increase my ABV? I’d like to get up around 7-8%. I have no apple orchards around me, so I’m kinda stuck getting “commercially” available. Also, is there a better sugar adjunct than brown sugar? Thanks for all the input. BTW, I checked and my lid is on tight - no air leaking there.

 

[Vale71]

acording to the USDA nutrient db, 1200g's of cherries only has 74g's carbs?

Which is not surprising considering fresh fruit is around >90% water.