slow or stuck fermentation? Cider Barrel
jonypiana
I'm not sure the members of this group remember me. I'm the fellow
who was enquiring about a thin film on the surface of my cider barrrel
this past winter. The barrel had not been bubbling since the end of
december and I was worried about it going to vinegar. After much
thought I decided that what I needed to do was heat up the barrel
(which I did by wrapping it with gutter heat tape), add water to top
the barrel off, add raisons to give the yeast some nutrient/energy,
and add a small amount of olive oil to seal the cider off from air. I
also noticed a leak of some sweet dark substance the color and
texture of molasses leaking out the back of the barrel. I covered
these areas with beeswax. The next day the barrel began bubbling
again. It bubbled for three weeks. Then it stopped. Yesterday I
saw that the leak from the back of the barrel had come back. Again, I
covered it with beeswax. I took the heat tape off because it has been
warm and was thinking maybe the cider was too warm. the temperature
of the cider was 80 degrees upon removing the heat from the barrel. I
then took a hydrometer reading of the cider, which read a low 1.023.
I hope to take another in a week to see if it is indeed fermenting
albeit slowly, or if it is stuck.
The 1.023 spg reading makes me think that I need to add some yeast
energizer or something of this nature. I'm not interested in adding
something manufactured in the lab. I'm looking for something raw,
from nature. bee pollen? peppercorns? more raisons? any suggestions?
The barrel began early last november with wild yeast from the apples
(no added yeast) but sugar was added at the beginning.
Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can restart or speed up my
cider barrel fermentation?
Cheers,
jonny
Andrew Lea
> The 1.023 spg reading makes me think that I need to add some yeast
> energizer or something of this nature. I'm not interested in adding
> something manufactured in the lab. I'm looking for something raw,
> from nature. bee pollen? peppercorns? more raisons? any suggestions?
People in the 21st century add ammonium phosphate and/or thiamine. You
in the 18th century can add a piece of raw meat. It will do the same job.
Pollen, peppercorns or raisins will not help you at all.
Andrew
--
Wittenham Hill Cider Page
http://www.cider.org.uk
jonypiana
much raw meat per gallons of cider would you advise? Is there a
particular type of meat that might be better than others? If I do add
meat, I'm thinking about using grass fed ground beef, but don't know
how much. If I'm lookig for a fairly dry finish with some sweet what
would be a desired sg reading? It seems I have three options, I can
add raw meat, I can add yeast hulls, or I can pitch a yeast. Which
would you recommend?
Cheers,
Jonny
Andrew Lea
that it was done in the past to re-start ciders which had stuck. The
meat provides free amino acids and thiamine which the yeast probably
needs. It would probably be more effective than yeast hulls (which does
not add nutrients) or fresh yeast.
Here's my guesstimate... you need about 200 ppm of free amino acids.
Steak is about 30% protein so say 600 ppm of meat. Let's allow 1000 ppm
for protein availability and hydrolysis. That's 0.1% or 1 gram per
litre. So if you have a 40 (US) gallon barrel that's 40*4 = 160 litres
or 160 grams or around 6 ounces of meat (a small steak) per barrel.
(Check my maths, someone :-) Which I think is pretty much in line with
tradition.
The sort of SG you are looking for is around 1.010 I'd say. However I
should warn you it might be almost impossible to stop it there once the
fermentation gets going again. Do you know how much sugar etc you added
in the first place? In other word what was your starting gravity? If it
was high to start (New England fortified style?), it might be stuck due
in part to high alcohol. You might prefer to stay where you are now if
you do not like dry cider.
Andrew