Black Rock Cider - Fermenting Problems?

[eldertaco]

G'day all..

We've just done a Black Rock Cider kit, followed the instructions.. Used a kilo of dextrose in it.. All seemed to be good..

The following day however, the top of the fermenter seemed to be full of thick frothy foam, so full that it started to push it's way out of the airlock and now theres some scum on the top of the fermenter lid.. :blink: :huh:

We've replaced the airlock with clean water, and the foam seems to have gone down a bit inside the fermenter, but did we stuff something up? What was it?

 

[NRB]

It's all good eldertaco - some fermentations (particularly wheats and so-called big beers) produce a larger krausen which can crawl out of an airlock.

Don't worry about it!

 

[peas_and_corn]

Yeah, I've heard about this before, but it has never happened to be personally.

Make sure that you sanitise your airlock, since it could possibly happen again, which could possibly pull infected material back into your wort. I use vodka (well, the cheapest, nastiest stuff I could find) in the airlock, because it's totally sterile.

 

[eldertaco]

Thanks for the quick response guys..

Good to know there's probably nothing to worry about..

Cheap nasty vodka eh? I'll keep that in mind, I think we have a few litres laying around somewhere still.

 

[tangent]

boiled water is for the airlock (maybe with some sanitiser)
vodka is for your throat don't go wasting alcohol on your airlock unless you're going to leave it for a month

 

[pint of lager]

Alcohol is a great sanitiser. If you have some cheap alcohol lying around, put it to good use.

Make sure, whatever you have in the airlock, it doesn't get sucked back in when you lift the fermenter up.

Have done a few ciders, but have never had one go through the airlock. If you have the same problem, fit a blowoff tube, basically replace the airlock with a pice of tubing, and run the end of the tubing into a jug with a few cm of water in it.

 

[nonicman]

No infection, photo taken after discovery and before clean up. Nothing to worry about eldertaco, just good active yeast (WLP004 Irish Ale in my case).

 

[tangent]

ive seen at least 1 winery with a piece of tube into a cordial bottle

 

[Wortgames]

I had the exact opposite with a black rock cider recently. Didn't get any kind of krausen at all, so I added more yeast the next day and still didn't get anything.

My theory is that it must have krausened briefly overnight but didn't leave any evidence due to the lack of body.

BTW it turned out to be the worst thing I've ever had the misfortune to brew. I've still got most of a keg here, you can have it if you want it, it's awful!

:wacko:

 

[muga]

^
I agree, made this before it was foul!
I ended up pouring it out after trying to drink it and failing, that is something that happens once in a blue moon.

 

[Shunty]

The reason the black rock cider cocks up so often is the lack of yeast nutrients in the can plus the state of the yeast. I've done it 10 or so times, and about half the kits i bought had dud yeast. I can only guess that the cans don't turn over very fast, and black rock have em sitting around for a fair while (the cans i bought were all from the store i work in - all bought within a couple of weeks of ariving here)
I always add a bit of tronozymol as well as fresh yeast, will ferment through in a week with the nutrients vs 3 weeks without, and improves the flavour a lot

 

[Hopman]

I have made the Black Rock Cider three or four times now - and they have all been fine. Generally, I leave them about 4-5 months in the bottle B4 starting to drink. The longer you leave it the better they are.

I also finely cut up about 6 large granny smith apples and chuck them in after pitching the yeast. Had a bottle last night - was great!

PS Alc comes out at about 6%....

Hopman

 

[mistylane]

I just did a cheap Brigalow cider batch - used Coopers brew sugar plus 100 grams white sugar (just as a test).

I also rehydrated the yeast and nutrient packet for 20 mins in cooled boiled water.

Lets see what happens...... lots of air space in the 23 carboy as the kit only makes 18 liters.