Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I noticed some curious behavior last night with my ciders that some of you might find interesting. I put two buckets of an identical cider, with identical sulfite levels and identical yeast & nutrient pitching rates in the fermentation fridge at 55F. 1 day after pitching, one of the two fermentors was bubbling away happily, while the other was just sitting there. I confirmed the airlocks, lids, etc, were all working as it out-gassed when I agitated the bucket (which also tells me the yeast were doing something, just not very quickly).

This morning nothing had changed, so I pulled the slower bucket out of the fridge and let it warm up to basement temps (70F). If it doesn't pick up, I'll pitch more yeast.

I find the discrepancy between the two buckets to be fascinating. I set those two fermentors with as nearly identical starting conditions as I can manage and am seeing a completely different response.

hmm, my only question would be in the yeast. did the yeast for both batches come from the same starter?

i have my own mysteries about my batch of cider. added my pectic enzyme after it had mostly fermented out. haven't seen any clearing yet. granted, last time it took several weeks to totally clear, but i had at least seen it working slowly. not worried about it yet. if i don't see it start to clear in the next couple weeks then i'll worry.

False alarm. Apparently there was a leak in my bucket lid gasket. After removing the debris and re-sealing the lid, it seems to be bubbling away at the same rate as the other buckets. Well, I guess I'll be able to compare a common cider fermented at 55F and 70F, with the same yeast.

Mine is still cloudy but now that fermentation is almost complete I expect clearing to take a few months. Having a cool basement should help.

I might get around to bottling last year's cider one of these days.

so while i was getting a hydrometer reading the other day on my imperial-red-frankenbrew, i stuck my wine thief into my cider to see what the end result on my fermentation was. i'm down to 1.002, but i still have a very strong sulphur smell present. should i be worried?

nope… wouldn’t be surprised if it went below 1.000 if its just cider. When its done fermenting, lock it down for 6-12 month in some cool storage.. then invite me over!


From: Bear [mailto:brew-tech@crbeernuts.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 4:11 PM
To: brew-tech@crbeernuts.org
Subject: Re: Cider Fermentation Observation


so while i was getting a hydrometer reading the other day on my imperial-red-frankenbrew, i stuck my wine thief into my cider to see what the end result on my fermentation was. i'm down to 1.002, but i still have a very strong sulphur smell present. should i be worried?




I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me. - Winston Churchill

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went down to check on things today, and the cider has dropped absolutely crystal clear. now i'm getting excited!!