My first attempt, think I've already made big mistakes

[Charles Daniels]

Trying to make my first ciders. I got two DJs a gallon each.
Now as the juice I had to work with was fresh pressed off a farm, I thought I should add one crushed campden tablet to each of the DJs.
Just to kill off any wild yeasts.

From the guide I had, it said you could pitch the cider yeast at the same time, that would just lead to a slower fermentation kick off.

So I added the cider yeast. And some yeast nutrient.

I did all of this on Saturday afternoon.
And I placed the DJs in a cupboard.

Anyway, so far nothing has changed with the juice. So, I'm waiting to see if it kicks off.

I'm wondering if I actually killed off the cider yeast.
And I'm wondering how long I should wait for it to kick off before adding any more yeast.

And I'm wondering if the nutrient should be topped up too at the same time, or if I should just leave well enough alone.

Umm...any suggestions?

I've never tried to do any homebrewing at all.

Thanks!

[DrWorm]

The campden tablet may have slowed everything down. With fruit wines I tend to add the campden the day before adding the yeast.

You should see something between 24-48 hours, if you don't give it a stir with a sterilised spoon handle and leave for another day. If still nothing throw another sachet of yeast in there.

Best of luck.

[Charles Daniels]

Thanks!

What exactly should I see first? Like a layer of scum on top? Or some radical colour change?
At the moment they still look just like the apple juice I poured in on Saturday.

I appreciate the reply!

[TC2642]

Thanks!

What exactly should I see first? Like a layer of scum on top? Or some radical colour change?
At the moment they still look just like the apple juice I poured in on Saturday.

I appreciate the reply!

Once fermentation begins it'll usually go cloudy (although I'm thinking it already is) and start to fizz up, you may get a yeast head developing or you may not. Look at the water level in the air lock to see if its started.

[DrWorm]

Yes, basically what TD2642 says. All yeasts behave differently, some produce a big frothy head others only a steady stream of bubbles while fermenting but if you have an airlock fitted the bubbles pasing through it will be most noticable.

There is no need to despair yet though as long as you don't introduce air to it (don't keep taking the top off) it will be fine for a few days. If you do decide to pitch another yeats due to inactivity give it a sniff or taste then to decide if everything is still fresh.

It's pretty common to want to constantly check on your first few brews, throw a towel over it and ignore it for 24 hrs and see how it's doing or take a picture every 24 hrs and decide for yourself if any change is taking place.

Sorry about the disjointed post I'm writing this in between phone calls.

[Charles Daniels]

Once fermentation begins it'll usually go cloudy (although I'm thinking it already is)

Yeah the juice was extremely cloudy and had lots of small pieces of apple grit.

and start to fizz up, you may get a yeast head developing or you may not. Look at the water level in the air lock to see if its started.

I've just got a bung on it now, hope to get the airlock Wednesday. So, yeah, that should give me an idea of how much activity is going on in there.

Thanks!

[Charles Daniels]

Yes, basically what TD2642 says. All yeasts behave differently, some produce a big frothy head others only a steady stream of bubbles while fermenting but if you have an airlock fitted the bubbles pasing through it will be most noticable.

There is no need to despair yet though as long as you don't introduce air to it (don't keep taking the top off) it will be fine for a few days. If you do decide to pitch another yeats due to inactivity give it a sniff or taste then to decide if everything is still fresh.

It's pretty common to want to constantly check on your first few brews, throw a towel over it and ignore it for 24 hrs and see how it's doing or take a picture every 24 hrs and decide for yourself if any change is taking place.

Sorry about the disjointed post I'm writing this in between phone calls.

Thanks again Dr Worm!
I'll check it this evening see what the are up to. Just give it a quick glance.

[Charles Daniels]

Just checked, one of them has a very thin layer of foam on top! YAY!

[Charles Daniels]

Just had another quick look at them, one is definitely doing something, the colour has changed and there's a bit of foam on top.
The other is bubbling away quite dramatically!

[DrWorm]

Good to hear all is well.

[DREADSKIN]

its always a claming thought to realise man has been makin booze for eons. yeast wants to make us drunk! if they can do it in the middleages with no camdem tablets so can we!

[Charles Daniels]

its always a claming thought to realise man has been makin booze for eons. yeast wants to make us drunk! if they can do it in the middleages with no camdem tablets so can we!

Near Oxford there is a stone circle, the Rollright Stones, and they claim the stone circle has been there since about a thousand years before mankind discovered the secret of fermentation.
And I was thinking "Man, imagine having to move all those HUGE stones and not even being able to have a beer afterwards! That's just brutal!"

Anyway, this afternoon I took out the cotton that I'd jammed into the gromits and replace them with airlocks.
I thought "Well, the DJs don't look too active. I HOPE it's actually doing something." And walked off.

I just walked by and the airlocks are literally SHOOTING water into the air, extremely violently. And there's a weird GOOP! GOOP! noise going like mad.

It was just so much more violent that I expected!

[Charles Daniels]

Still going strong.
Feeling good about it now!

Thanks everyone!

[Minimasher]

Nice one, glad your having fun!

[Charles Daniels]

Just was wondering, is there any obvious visual sign if it's stopped fermenting?

There are a lot of white bubbles along the rim of the liquid, but they aren't very active. The are just steadily sitting there.

Also it looks like the air is still being pushed a bit in the airlock, so instead of a bubble on each side being filled, it's pushed so that the tube and two bubbles are filled.

Just wondering if the bubbles would clear away, or if there was anything else to watch for.

It kicked off about 15 days ago.