Left Too Long?

Lucylocket

New Brewer here.. Back in November using the HomeBrew cider starter kit decanted x2 of 23 litres of apple juicer into the fermenting vessels. Both started fermenting pretty quickly. One seemed to stop after a few weeks and became clear on the top so I decanted into bottles. The second one has a white crust on the top and hasn't moved for weeks. Have I left it too long to rescue? If it's lost for cider drinking purposes is there any chance of using it for cider vinegar? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

MikeH

Hello,
I don't know much about cider (never brewed any and haven't really drunk any since that night when I was about 15... ahem) but this is what I'd do if one of my beer brews was like that, hopefully some one from HBO can confirm or rubbish this.

Firstly have a sniff, does it smell off? Assuming it doesn't, use a sieve or spoon or something like that (sterilised first of course) to remove as much of the white crust as possible. Once you've done that use a sterilised stirring paddle or spoon and give the whole thing a good mix up. Keep the temperature in the middle of the range the kit specifies and see if it starts fermenting again. If it doesn't you could try ordering a sachet of yeast and add that, the kit yeast may have died.

Hope this at least gives you something to go on. For a second opinion just give HBO a phone, they're always very helpful with brewing questions.

Cheers, Mike...

MikeH

Another thought occurs, if you want to err on the side of caution since it's been quite a long time and if you have another brewing bucket to hand you could try this...

Once you've removed as much white crust as possible instead of stirring up (the reason I'm adding this is because you say it's been weeks, normally stirring up is a good way to get a stalled brew going again but if it's been that long there is a chance that mixing up all the dead yeast and other detritus from the bottom of the FV will give off flavours) you could carefully syphon off into another FV and then add some new yeast. That way you'll leave the old dead stuff at the bottom of the first FV to avoid off flavours as much as possible.

More effort but might be worth it.

HBO_Staff

As MikeH says this is probably not a bad thing, is it juice from some apples you have pressed yourself? The white crust is quite common but you are best to just monitor it from time to time, if you have a hydrometer take a reading of the liquid so you have an idea of where it is at, this can then be used to monitor the brew.

Apple juice can take a long time to ferment as the sugars break down, try to keep it warm (around 20 degrees or so), all signs of bubbles rising through the liquid to the surface should stop too, and the hydrometer reading should be low and remain unchanged - this would all indicate fermentation is complete

Lucylocket

Thanks Mike and HBO - sounds good practical advice. I am using juice from my own apples. I will clear off the crust and stir as suggested and get a hydrometer to see what the reading is. If that is not productive I will try syphoning off into a spare FV. Will let you know how I get on. Thanks again