Airlock Issues in Primary Fermentation

Yeast & Fermentation
1

I recently started brewing my first batch of cider. I got some unpasturized, unfiltered apple juice from a local orchard, poured it into a 6.5 gallon plastic brewing bucket, added some potassium metabisulfite, waited 24 hours, then added some hydrated Red Star Champagne yeast. I then closed the lid and installed an airlock in the hole in the top. I put the bucket in a dark, cool room and let it sit for about a week and a half, checking the airlock daily for bubbles, but I saw nothing. Absolutely no movement in the airlock. I then measured the SG with a hydrometer and got a reading of 1.000. The original gravity was about 1.060. I am a bit confused as it seems the cider has completely fermented but shouldn’t I have seen bubbles in the airlock? The only thing I can think of is that there was an air leak somewhere and so I didn’t see any bubbles. Should I proceed to racking it into my glass carboy for secondary fermentation or is it screwed? Am I too late? Thanks so much for the help!

2

If you’re confident on the gravity reading then yes, it fermented and there’s a leak in the lid somewhere. I would let it sit for another 4-7 days to let the primary yeast finish their work (you could leave it for several weeks if you like) before racking to the secondary.

3

OK great. Isn’t there some risk of air contamination now though as the bucket it is currently in is not air sealed?

4

I have 2 buckets I ferment in occasionally. Neither seals or shows airlock activity. The CO2 is taking the easy path and escaping around the lid.

I wouldn’t do an extended conditioning in them but then I wouldn’t do that in a bucket anyway. For the average 2-4 week fermentation you’re fine because there’s enough CO2 pushing ‘out’ to keep contaminants from getting ‘in’.

5

Awesome! Thanks so much for your help. Another question…

 I want my cider to be carbonated. I understand this can be done by adding an amount of yeast and sugar before bottling. I believe it is called priming? Can you explain how this is done exactly? Thanks again
6

before pitching to keep the cell count as high as possible – I say that and I am typically an advocate for NOT rehydrating – in this case it just makes good sense.???