Checking a pressure barrel for infection

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mcc111

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I have a cider (kit) sitting in a pressure barrel. It's been there for 2.5 months now. I've had the odd glass along the way, but I'm trying my hardest to leave it alone. The thing I've noticed is that it's quite sour. This might just be the apples, but I'm concerned it might be infected. Can I open the top to see if there is an infection - i.e. will the CO2 protect it - or will this completely destroy it? Are there any other clear signs of telling if it's infected?
 
I'm a big cider fan and I know exactly what a cider should taste like - and what I've got isn't it. I appreciate that ciders take a long time to mature, but a highly acidic taste could also be a bacterial infection. This has been 4 months in the barrel now, and I would have thought this should be fairly drinkable.
 
I'm a big cider fan and I know exactly what a cider should taste like - and what I've got isn't it. I appreciate that ciders take a long time to mature, but a highly acidic taste could also be a bacterial infection. This has been 4 months in the barrel now, and I would have thought this should be fairly drinkable.
No knowledge of cider, but an acetobacter infection turns alcohol into vinegar. It shows as a thin white film on the surface, so only way to check would be to look in the barrel (release pressure first). If it's not infected, and you want to give the cider longer, you can re-prime and re-seal the barrel.

Cheers,
Chris
 
So just to clarify, you're saying I can look inside as long as I reprime and reseal - everything will be fine?? To be fair, I've got nothing to lose - I've been sitting on this for months now, and I'd rather be using the barrel for something else.
 
Don't worry too much about removing the top from the keg as CO2 is heavier than air and will remain as a blanket on top of the beer (as long as you don't waft anything around too much). If you like your cider fizzy, then re-pressurise with co2 after the top is back on, C02 absorption will be much greater if you refrigerate the keg.
As previous, be careful to vent the keg first :shock:

As a matter of interest, I visited many local cider producers whern I lived in Somerset and can't remember any which didn't have something floating in or on the fermenting liquor:?. The thing I remember most though was the temperature, it always seemed to be really cool around the fermenters.

Hope this helps and all goes well.
 
So just to clarify, you're saying I can look inside as long as I reprime and reseal - everything will be fine?? To be fair, I've got nothing to lose - I've been sitting on this for months now, and I'd rather be using the barrel for something else.
Yes, I've ocassionally had to do this with pressure barrels (of beer) which hadn't pressurised, when re-seating the lid usually fixes the problem. If I had to do this too long after secondary fermentation, I would prime again. No ill-affects - just added a fraction (decimal?) to the abv :smile: As cnelson says, if your barrel has an S30 or bulb valve, you could just pressurise with CO2 to keep air off the cider.

Cheers,
Chris
 
Okay, I checked the cider this weekend and there appears to be something floating on the top. I reprimed and resealed anyway, but I'd like to check what it might be. What was floating actually looked a lot like yeast - brown and spotty. There was no obvious film, but I had nothing sterilised to poke about with to check. It seemed odd to me that it would be yeast, so does anyone know if that would be a bacterial infection?
 
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