First cider kit - white spots on top

[Yellow Ox]

Hi everyone. Grateful for any help. First home brew decided to do a ciderworks superior cider kit (very impressed with it)

However 2 weeks in primary fermenter and it's got a lot of white things on top. I think it smells cidery but the fun spoiler says it smells vinegar.

Contaminated?

I think its probably ok but being the first time would welcome more experienced or knowledgeable opinions!

Pics below.
Further details:
New bucket and equipment rinsed with mains water and sanitised with sodium percolate no rinse sanitiser (I rinsed anyway)
Did not do my research and struggled to get wort down to temp for yeast. Pitched it around 27-28 in the end after a lot of waiting and stirring with it open.
Been two weeks in primary fermenter at between 15 and 22 degrees.
SG now at 1006.

Pics from Flickr (one with flash one without)

https://flic.kr/p/28tK6fb
https://flic.kr/p/28tK65m

 

[Dutto]

Welcome to The Forum!

If it is infected (and it might be) the vinegar smell won't need anyone to tell you that it's there 'cos we are talking "pungent"!

The bits floating on the top aren't anything to worry about at this stage and at 1.006 the SG is about where it should be after two weeks.

Pitching the yeast at such a high temperature may be causing the smell and it may disappear in the next few weeks.

Alternatively, stirring with it open may have resulted in stirring in a fruit fly and it may be infected as a result.

I suggest that you stick the lid back on, put it somewhere cool and dark and then wait for a couple of weeks before opening it.

At that stage it should be either so rank that you know it has to go down the drain or it will have become a nice cider ready for bottling.

Best of luck! For me, much of the "fun" in brewing is the time I spend praying for a good outcome!

 

[Yellow Ox]

Sounds like good advice thank you

 

[ScottE75]

You could add 2 campden tabs which should help with infection. If it doesn't work you haven't lost anything.

Did you sterilise? Not teaching you to suck eggs, but it is super important. Some use starsan, but I use sodium betabisulphate, which is what campden tablets are made of.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

These are the pictures in Yellow Ox's OP -

 

[Yellow Ox]

Thanks chippy

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks chippy

:thumba:

 

[Nicks90]

Looks alright, but really impossible to tell yet.
As others have said, stick the lid on and wait it out. Brews are tough buggers and it actually takes a lot to muck them up with infection, unless you introduced something very aggressive or lots of bugs in one go.
Remember tap water has bugs in it and we happily brew with it and the yeast quite easily over powers them.

 

[Yellow Ox]

After leaving 2 weeks in the cold the spots had cleared so I bottled. Tasted ok. Thanks for the help!

 

[Cwrw666]

Bear in mind that when you take a big sniff out of your FV what you're actually inhaling is CO2 which smells - vinegary. Don't do it. Same applies when you crack open a bottle of beer or cider, all you smell is the CO2 and it's not pleasant. Pour your brew into a glass and then take a sniff. Totally different.