1st brew issues

[hobotot]

Hello I am a complete noob, and have run full pelt into my first brewing experience this last weekend.

I have attempted to start off two different ciders using mainly shop bought juice.

Cider 1 all freshly squeezed (Shop bought) apple juice, with the juice from a few cooking apples which I pressed myself

Cider 2 Mostly apple juice, but also mixed with some pear and raspberry (Its looking pretty pink!).

I have a gallon of each one in its own demijon, and have added a heaped teaspoon of wine yeast (from wilkinsons) to each one.

I did not add any sugar to either as they tasted sweet enough to me already (Although I have no prior experience so im not sure how sweet is sweet enough!!)

Both ciders started to get a bit of foam on top after about 12 hours and were possibly giving off the odd bubble.

After 36 hours the pink one has got a good inch of frothy foam, and is bubbling through the airlock about every 10 seconds.

The plain apple one is doing nothing, the froth has cleared from the top and its not bubbling at all.

Im now really not sure what to do to it, its been over 48 hours and still nothing is happening. I have just moved it to a warmer position in the hope that it will give it a bit of a boost and I was wondering if I should maybe add some sugar now?

Or possibly take some out and add sugar and more yeast and start it fermenting in a small amount then add it back into the main container?

Im a bit confused and very worried that the plain apple one is going to be **** so any advise would be much appreciated.

 

[alandkell]

the one with pear and raspberry? did it have any preservatives in it?if so apparently they can stop fermentation. if not then i would leave a couple more days and see what happens also make sure your airlock is tight down and no gas escaping! :thumb:

 

[hobotot]

The pear and raspberry one did not have any preservatives in they were all 100% pure squeezed juice, and it is chugging along nicely.

Its the apple only one im worried about :|

 

[Hawks]

I'd leave it in the warmer place for a day or so first, maybe sterilise a stirry thing and try and rouse up the yeast in the bottom.

 

[hobotot]

Ok so I will give it a stir tonight and give the bung a good firm push down leave it for one more day and hope for the best.

If nothing by tomorrow then I will try to restart fermentation gradually.

 

[Moley]

Can I assume you don't have a hydrometer?

If not, get one, they are about £3 from Wilko's and a trial jar (£2) is useful but not essential.


Edit: Sorry if that sounds terse but we can't offer much advice unless you can give us some numbers.

 

[hobotot]

I didn't have one when I started, but I have now found my dads old one which was in the back of a cupboard.

I haven't ventured as far as actually using it yet.

 

[Moley]

Excellent :thumb:

Well if you can tell me how much juice / how many apples went into your brew I can calculate an Original Gravity, then if you can take a current reading we should be onto a winner.

 

[hobotot]

In total there is 4.5 litres of juice

About 0.85L was from some Bramley Apples which I pressed myself

Leaving about 3.65L of supermarket apple juice.

 

[Moley]

Well apple juice on its own should give an OG in the region of 1.040 to 1.045

 

[hobotot]

Ok so it turns out that I have managed to make a bit of a noob mistake.

The bung was not pushed far enough in an it had not made a tight seal so the CO2 was escaping out the side of the air lock oops

Ah well it is bubbling away nicely now, im getting a bubble about every second. I still don't understand why there is two inch's of froth on top of the pear and raspberry one but nothing on the apple one?

Anyhoo's emergency diverted and looking around this forum has given me a lot to think about in regards as to what to do next.

So thanks for the help :thumb:

 

[snail59]

I wouldnt worry about the apple (I had the same concern with my 1st :whistle: ) im on my 2nd cheeky vimto and neither have grown a yeast head :wha: . Apparntly ciders dont do that sort of thing (or so im told) and I kind of belive this lot know a thing or two about brewing :thumb:

 

[LeicesterLad]

yea its true my Cheeky V is the same i was quite concerned after doing a Wurzel Orange in the DJ which almost got a bit messy...but no such problems with the vimto must be the apples then.

 

[hobotot]

Ive been doing a bit of reading and thinking about how I want to go about bottling my different ciders and I have a plan but im not too sure if its a good one.

I think I have the apple only one sorted in my head so im not going to bore you with the details of that one, but I was hoping somebody wouldn't mind critiquing my idea for the Apple, pear and raspberry cider.

I want to end up with it being relatively sweet, and have a nice amount of carbonation.

My plan as it stands is to let ferment until nearly finished.
Then rack and add a bit of sugar.
Let ferment until nearly finished again, and so cider is nearly completely dry.
Rack again, bringing through a SMALL amount of yeast
Add enough Splender or other non fermenting sugar to taste, and half a cup or normal sugar.
Bottle and leave in a cool place for 2-3 months

Any comments on weather this is a good, bad, average or terrible idea would be great.

 

[Samarith]

That's the way I have done it in the past.

I'd syphon off a pint from the cleared cider at the top and back sweeten, that way if you over sweeten you can mix it back into the larger volume and try again.

Once you know how much non-fermentable sugar to add to a batch you can throw it at the beginning.