So this is my first cider attempt and there is nothing going on after 50 hours. I used raw cider from a local orchard no preservatives, no pasteurization , the OG was about 1.050, so i bumped it up a little by dissolving one lb of light brown sugar into 16 Oz of warm water, not boiled just heated to disolve the sugar…after the added sugar the OG was up to 1.055. I added the entire batch into my 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket, crushed five tabs campden and put them in as well. Swirled for a few to get it mixed up well. Let it off gas over night, loosely covered lid and tin foil over the airlock hole.
I used Nottingham ale yeast that i got the day before, from a reputable local brew shop, they keep it in the fridge, it spent one night in my fridge and 12 hours out before i rehydrated, everything santized, i hydrated per temps and time on yeast pack, got plenty of froth after 20 min, brought the yeast to within 10 degrees of my must by adding cold water until it was at the right temp and pitched it…Now its been about 50 hours…and i know everything is slower with cider, but used my refractometer and there has been no gravity change…i tasted a few drops that were left in the pipet and it tasted slightly vinegary …what gives??? should i re-pitch…or give it a couple days and recheck gravity??
I would question your use of Nottingham ale yeast. That yeast is not built for cider, plus that strain has often had quality issues over the past ~5 years which is why I won’t use it anymore. I used to love that yeast, but not anymore.
Recommend you pick up a pack of Cote des Blancs yeast, it is great and things should get going fairly quickly.
Also realize that you don’t need to rush your cider. It might lag a little longer than a beer would. Although 50 hours… yeah, that sounds kind of long, doesn’t it.
Did you add any yeast nutrients and energizer?
Was looking to get a sweet cider instead of a dry one from the champagne yeast, thus the Ale yeast, brew shop said it would leave it a little sweeter. Did not use nutrient or energizer…what now?
Also, this seems very slight but the gravity had gone from 1.055 on brewday to 1.057 today…
I am not all that knowledgeable on cider, but I recently used WLP 002 for a cider. It took about 2-3 days to really get going, which surprised me. Just as a note I, I thought 002 to might leave me with a little sweetness, but it fermented out completely dry. From about 1.047ish to 0.98. I backsweetned with a little apple juice, tasted great.
I’ve had a similar situation twice now–I think it’s probably your addition of the campden. It takes a while for that to gas out of your container. Twice now it has taken my must approximately 72 hours to start fermenting after adding the campden.
I’d add another packet after 72 hours and it should start up within a few hours depending on the yeast, temp etc.
Problem solved…yesterday morning, brought the batch upstairs from my basement to raise the temp up a little from about 65 to 70, dry re-pitched one pack of nottinghams ale yeast, added one tablespoon of energizer and nutrient…24 hours from re-pitch, everything is working fine!..keeping it upstairs until ferm temps push it up to high then its back to basement
